Ecstatic Dance
Taking a risk
Let’s chat a bit about WHY movement in general, and Ecstatic Dancing specifically, is important. We as men hold our bodies to mediate the environment, in addition to our breath – it is how we manage physiologically what we are feeling in our bodies. this tends to be become rote, patterned, because we humans gravitate toward what is familiar.
My niece Alexi, for example, only listens to music that is familiar whereas I often times listen to what is unfamiliar. I want to be surprised, to get out of that listening rut, to discover something new and fresh in the music I listen to. The same principle goes for movement, and as you may have guessed, how we play erotically!!!
Ecstatic Dance, held in downtown Oakland and San Francisco every Sunday morning and Wed evening, is a perfect place to experiment, to find that unfamiliar place in your body to move in and out of, to let the music move you with eyes closed, and to MOVE OUT OF the patterned ways we move our bodies on a day-to-day basis. This is about taking a risk physically and emotionally.
I cracked up to see that women are comfortable taking their shirts off just as the guys do during the movement. It’s a nice crowd ranging from small children running around to folks in their 60’s, about half gay and straight, a circus at times with skateboards weaving in and out of the crowd to hula hoops.
Check it out as a great way to open your body, lose a few pounds, or just breathe……
Get Moving
Check it out guys! I’ve been doing this for the last 10 months or so – it is a great workout and a friendly place to move your body to some some rocking grooves………..
Certified Massage Therapist and Yoga Instructor David Burke of Sensory Energetics.
