I would boldly say that Dance has been in my survival kit since I was able to move in my mother’s womb.
I was lucky enough to be born in a family that loved music and dancing. I remember my parents’ parties and what fun I had jiving with my uncles, aunts, and my father who also taught me waltzing, pasodoble and his own version of tango.
I regularly danced alone in my bedroom and took over the living room whenever the house was empty, such fun!
Dancing was my safe, expressive and creative haven; a major external resource along with writing and walking among the trees surrounding our house.
For a long time I was never as at ease as when I danced. Dancing was my shape-shifting go-to, a gateway to freedom, to letting my soul go wild and free.
Movement helped me to explore the possibles, to test and find my abilities. I could sense my infinite aliveness when I danced and I met aspects of myself that I did not feel safe to explore in any other way.
It helped me shape who I am and little by little reveal my true spirit, my soul to myself.
I know it has saved me from a million deaths and each time ignited my being. No need for pills or drugs of any kind, I just needed to put on the music I loved and danced. How wonderful!
Cherionna Menzam-Sills writes about how essential movement is to bonding, learning and connecting with the world around us:“I now know how difficult it is for a young child to take in and process information without movement. We learn through our bodies,” she says.
She adds, “If we are separated from our body movement, for example by being forced to sit still in school- or standing in a corner in punishment, or being strapped in a stroller instead of being worn by Mom- we have trouble sensing.” ( The Breath of Life, An Introduction to Craniosacral Biodynamics, 2018)
Physiologically, “You appear to get a much bigger release of endorphins when you dance than during other forms of exercise; it also connects with the emotional centres in the brain. For many people, dancing prompts an emotional release – often that’s uncomplicated happiness, while for some it can make them cry. It’s cathartic – a letting go of pent-up emotions, ” says dance psychologist Dr Peter Lovatt of the University of Hertfordshire. (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/good-news/seven-seas/why-dancing-feels-good/)
Thanks to biodynamic craniosacral work I now understand what is happening to me when I dissociate and how dancing has helped and is helping me switch on my vagus nerve, a great safety mechanism in our bodies. While I anchor and surrender I can also sense my inner anatomy react to movement.
Craniosacral work complements dancing perfectly in my reintegration process. I am able to intimately travel within and witness, marvel at my inner landscapes without fear. I can unveil pure wonders behind my eyes, beneath my skin and become the Queen of my kingdom even when I do not dance.
Through dancing and cranio sacral biodynamics we can reach an expression of pure harmony and coherence that is rare and difficult to match in our world today because there is so much dissonance, disconnection, conflict and we are very often projected outside of our bodies unable to face and feel the music within.
During a biodynamic craniosacral session, I listen and witness the constant inner dance going on in your body and mine and it is just the most enthralling, the most fascinating, the most surprising and inspiring show. It is Life in movement.
No matter how rigid and unable to move we believe we are, there is always movement within and it is intricate, fluid, subtle, layered, and so creatively exquisite. No matter how outside of our bodies, how dissociated we are, we can own these dances again, we can claim them as ours and safely, fully re-join the extraordinary ballet that is the human body, that is being human.
Just like the dervishes seek divine ecstasy while spinning, our souls blissfully express their unique beauty when we are embodied and completely let go while dancing.
Likewise everything is possible when the client and therapist, fully present and resourced, surrender to what unfolds within. What happens is incredible, it is miraculous indeed.
We are not at the mercy of the outside dramas tying us down and holding us back, there is always a way out and it begins with diving in.
Biodynamic craniosacral therapy is a great inner gateway to embrace and dance the jig of Life.