Gabrielle Roth inspires and empowers conscious movement in “Sweat Your Prayers.”
In the 1970s, Roth reignited a transcendent dance movement that started with ancient Greeks. Today, nearly every major city worldwide hosts ecstatic dancers who show up for numerous wellness benefits.
Whether spiritual, emotional, physical, psychological, or social motivations, mindful movement brings people into their bodies and into psychological flow, according to 2021 research.
“Having the invitation to move however my body wants to move itself, allows me to work through stuff that just doesn’t come up generally. Exercising all helps, but moving however I need to move, makes things right. I feel like I’m able to tune into my body and unwind things. It’s more efficient than exercise for working through anything emotional that is stuck or stored,” shared Ava Maag, a local ecstatic dancer.
While I’ve been dancing for years, I got into ecstatic dance as a regular practice in the last year. More recently, I’ve been dancing nearly every day with curiosity and surrender for numerous reasons.
“Working out should be inspiring, like having a conversation with your body and spirit. It should be personal, intimate, and holy, not boring and painfully repetitive. A spiritual practice requires discipline, the willingness and commitment to show up not just physically, but mentally and emotionally, as well,” writes Roth.
Roth’s work and bestselling book, “Sweat Your Prayers: 5 Rhythms of the Soul,” continues to inspire my journey. Free-form dance feels like an accessible shadow work practice, a way to engage in active imagination, that helps with balance and wholeness.
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Ava’s Dance Journey
Over the last few months, I’ve been able to witness Ava’s process with ecstatic dance. Her energy seems deeply present, open, adventurous, playful, and genuine.
I interviewed Ava for a few minutes about her dance journey during lunch last week. We found a cozy nook in the Mission and enjoyed chatting about our creative projects and inclinations.
Ava described a long-time journey with dance, starting with more structured dance early on (i.e., ballet and Irish dancing) and getting into more contact improv and conscious movement in the last several years.
“Coming home from contact jams, I was biking and feeling this elation. This lightness and movement in my body, like a subtle movement. I felt more creative access, and I just noticed day to day how I would feel less anxious overall,” Ava explained.
We talked about tuning into different parts of our bodies and listening to the inclination to move.
“It feels like something that just happens that I just do. I’ll move really slow and really feel into the impulse to move, tuning into that, becoming aware of that, and seeing it through. I call it unwinding. Feeling like my shoulder wants to go this way, then letting it. Rather than instructing my shoulder to move a certain way, letting my impulse instruct me. Doing that brings me to myself and clears the tension,” Ava shared.
While we have many other dance topics to explore, I asked about what she’s currently processing with dance.
“I want to get into the impulse to show off versus the impulse to feel myself and honor my own feelings. I feel like the highest self I envision is really moving within my own desire. There’s also, like the way I dance is a little showy. Some of that is honest expression. Some of that is that I like attention. I like to show off a little bit. I’m finding the balance in that,” Ava explained.
I feel grateful to be co-creating with thoughtful dancers like Ava on Sunday mornings. Seeing others’ journeys helps with inspiration and mutual encouragement.
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Conscious Movement Research
Insights and benefits our ancestors knew intuitively, we’ve been discovering more clearly with formal research. The 2021 UCLA Health study shows how conscious dance helps people, especially those who experience depression and anxiety.
Researchers focused on identifying the perceived effects of conscious dance, such as ecstatic dance or five rhythms. Additionally, they wanted to assess associations between frequency or duration of practice and psychological well-being.
Researchers surveyed over 1,000 dancers across the world and found some exciting results:
- Most participants (99%) experienced mindfulness, feeling “more present in my body,” and psychological flow, “I felt like I was ‘in the zone’ or ‘in the flow’ of things.”
- Most participants with stress-related health conditions expressed therapeutic effects, i.e., ecstatic dance “helped them cope.”
- While therapeutic benefits correlated most with relieving depression or anxiety (96%), it significantly supported participants with a trauma history (95%), chronic pain (89%), and a history of substance abuse or addiction (88%).
- Frequent practice, once a week or more, was associated with higher mindfulness.
- Conscious dancers with five or more years of practice showed significantly higher mindfulness and life satisfaction compared to newer practitioners.
Overall, this study clarified how consistently participants with stress-related health concerns found conscious movement helpful for coping. Additionally, regular dance leads to higher psychological well-being.
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Tuning into nuances in my body helps me feel more whole, rounded, and connected with exciting and difficult parts of myself. Emotional regulation happens naturally, and I feel a sense of freedom with that.
In “Sweat Your Prayers,” Roth starts by explaining how she reconnected with God, sex, and her body. Her journey with conscious movement led to the famous five rhythms approach and empowered many people along the way.
“If I could get people to breathe down to their toes, it would be no less than revolutionary. Because if we were to be completely alive and spontaneous, we’d be impossible to control. My mission was clear: to seduce people back into their bodies, into their God-given power. I considered this holy work,” Roth shared.
Free-form dance feels efficient, to Ava’s point, and necessary for connecting to our souls.
“It takes discipline to be a free spirit. Taking up this challenge means diving into the mysterious depths of your own soul. Doing what I call ‘the five rhythms’ is the surest way to drop whatever you are carrying and to move beyond the baggage to a new you, a new body, one that is fueled by its soul,” writes Roth.
Read more dance inspiration in my previous posts:
- “How One Dance Guide Inspires My Ecstatic Journey”
- “How One Devoted Ecstatic Dancer Builds Self-Trust”
- “Heal Your Soul in Dance With 5 Rhythms”
- “How Roth’s Dance Archetypes Facilitate Wholeness”
- “How Ecstatic Dance Supports My Healing Journey”
Photo Credit: Unsplash, by Brooke Cagle
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