Defy Age Naturally

How to Relieve Stress with Five Rhythms
A few days ago I was talking to a friend and Five Rhythms meditation dance came up. Only a few hours later I was with another friend who told me about this amazing Five Rhythms dance class she goes to on Sundays.

I figured that since the subject randomly appeared twice in one day, it was time to put my dancing shoes on. I know it is one of the great stress relievers.

5Rhythms is a movement meditation practice developed by Gabrielle Roth in the 1960’s. It combines world traditions such as shamanism, ecstatic, mystical and eastern philosophies with modern Gestalt and transpersonal psychologies.

Fundamental to the practice is the idea that everything is energy, and moves in waves, patterns and rhythms. Roth describes the practice as a soul journey, and says that by moving the body, releasing the heart, and freeing the mind, one can connect to the essence of the soul, the source of inspiration in which an individual has unlimited possibility and potential.

I was excited to see that a UK mental health charity has conducted research on the effect of Five Rhythms on woman with mental health problems. The study showed that this form of dancing had many positive effects on their wellbeing and was one of the great stress relievers. All of the participants claimed that they were able to let go of their feelings and feel more liberated.

Many of them also claimed that they felt less stuck in their current situation. You can read more about the study at http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk.

I have actually tried Five Rhythms once many years ago, but was a bit put off when I had to dance with a rather creepy old man. This being about eight years later, I figure I am more equipped (not to mention getting older myself) to deal with the complexities of an old man.

So my two friends and I made our way over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito in Marin County. I was happy to hear that this venue is where the Five Rhythms began.

We were lucky to get the last few tickets, the class sells out every week.

We got inside the venue, which was a school gym, and the music began playing. Many people were already dancing. My friend asked me “Are they going to tell us when to start?” I was thinking the same thing. I guess it is that feeling of not knowing where you are what you are “supposed to be doing”.

Eventually we got up and started dancing and getting into it like the rest of them. The music takes you on a journey through the five stages that are

• flowing
• staccato
• chaos
• lyrical
• stillness

There is plenty of literature out there that explains what each stage means, but it seemed intuitively obvious by the music.

And the music was absolutely amazing…a huge range of very energizing music from all over the world.

After an hour of hard dancing, the DJ said something about dancing for the next hour and a half. I thought “Another hour and a half? How can I possibly carry on for that long?” But as soon as I stopped thinking and just danced, time seemed to go by.

It was really fun dancing with other people, but there are no doubt a lot of people looking to hook up there. If you are single and looking to find a good place to flirt, find your local Five Rhythms class!

How to Relieve Stress and Transform

I feel that this form of dancing can bring about issues around intimacy and relating. It made me remember my discomfort with the old man and think, perhaps he wasn’t that creepy. Maybe it was an issue inside me.

I noticed that when some people wanted to dance with me that I had reactions such as worrying about them liking me, and discomfort on some level.

Overall, this practice made me feel absolutely fantastic. By the end I really felt as I do at the end of a good yoga class…stress free, seriously worked out, and very blissful. I can definitely see that regularly practicing could potentially bring about some powerful transformations.

And if nothing else, it is a brilliant way to sweat, express yourself, and dance your heart out to some amazing music in a safe, alcohol and drug free zone!

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 11th, 2008 at 8:27 pm and is filed under Reduce stress, meditation, positivity, yoga.

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