this speaks to me the way polyamory does: terrifying but intuitively, I understand it is right for me. I'm actually moving to your city end of summer. can I ask where you go for your weekly boogie-ing?
I can understand why you feel scared of it, but I would say that the actual experience of ecstatic dance itself is not going to be as scary as your imagination is right now. Trust me, everyone there is doing their own thing, their own crazy movements, they're not judging. In a lot of the spaces the lights are turned down low as well. The space I go to is lit only by fairylights.
If anything it feels more like the unselfconsciousness of being a child. I have said to my friends (and they agree) that ecstatic dance is the second most enjoyable physical activity there is. (Aside from sex). It's extremely pleasurable and fun and cathartic and liberating. You can just be yourself. You can move how your body wants to move, you can sing, you can roar, you can roll on the ground, or sit quietly in meditation.
Last time I was dancing I felt some anger come up and my friends created a little circle for me to express it in a healthy way. We jumped up and down, punching towards the ground and yelling. Suddenly my anger turned to laughter as it flowed through me. I've seen people weep, and be supported. I've seen people laugh in sheer joy. I've seen children dancing, and elders (in their 80s) alongside. I've seen heterosexual men dance together, holding each other tenderly. Middle aged mothers reconnecting with their true selves and their own desires. Ex-addicts finding community and healing through the joy of dance. You can do anything. Dance with friends. Dance alone. Everything is allowed, so long as you respect the consent of other dancers and allow everyone to have their unique experience.
I am not sure what city you're moving to but I would recommend looking on Meetup.com for events and also googling "Five Rhythms". I found my group through Meetup.
I love this! I also discovered ecstatic dance when I moved to Seattle last year. I completely agree with everything you've said about it. It's the most wonderful liberating practice.
"I think a lot of people feel intimidated by ecstatic dance because they only know how to look at their body from the outside and aren’t used to expressing their internal experience in a totally uninhibited way" - this is very true. I used to have an eating disorder for 10 years, and it was only after an ego death experience that I realised that I had been "thinking about myself the third person", looking at myself as if from outside. It was so normal to me I didn't realise I was doing it, and so I would spend ages looking at myself in the mirror, not out of vanity but trying to bridge the gap between this "outside" concept of myself that I had internalised as "me", and my sense of subjectivity. But when I had the ego death experience I realised that I was not an image, and the idea that I could be was ridiculous. All the concepts about myself, all the images, all the ways I think I am perceived - that's not me. I am first person consciousness, I am experience itself. In that moment I also realised that first person consciousness was the nature of the universe. That I am a manifestation of universal consciousness in a particular place and time. And in that moment the eating disorder went away, and never came back. It's been over 3 years since then and it's still gone.
Getting back to ecstatic dance, I had always had a hankering to dance but I only felt comfortable doing so in my room alone. One time my mother caught me stamping and spinning to Florence + the Machine's "Strangeness and Charm" and berated me because it was "too loud". Before moving to Seattle I would dance in my apartment alone while stoned.
And then when I joined ecstatic dance in Seattle it instantly felt like home. I was in a state of flow, I was uninhibited. I was able to connect to people. I also joined raves, and I find raves are the same kind of experience as ecstatic dance - a flow state of dance where everyone is doing their own thing.
I recently have also discovered the intense and awesome power of ecstatic dance! I agree with everything you said about it's healing properties. I also deeply appreciate that it is a sober space and has a strong focus on consent. I used to love going club dancing to move my body but it never felt totally safe but ecstatic dance provides such a beautiful container for me to let go safely without worrying about someone's alteted state becoming my problem.
I am enamored with ecstatic dance and intuitively connect with the practice for all the reasons you mention. For the past several years I've been holding a pain that has kept me away from it. In short, I was then and am now a fat person. I sweat profusely when exercising. The last time I went to ecstatic dance, a rail-thin hippie man sneered at me and berated me for ruining the dance floor. My sweat had made the space "dangerous" and "unsanitary" for him. I deeply regretted impacting his experience and never returned. For all the feel-good vibes that community espouses, I truly believed that I found the one way to do it wrong: being fat. It feels odd to ask this of strangers on the internet, even here in your Substack, but can someone help me learn how to move freely again in a body that scares others by existing?
That is truly rude and I’m sorry that happened. Where I dance there’s lots of body diversity. Also I am always literally dripping with sweat by the end. I think that’s normal.
Yesterday I did ecstatic dance for the first time because of this piece and your previous mentions of it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for spreading the word about this healing practice!! I have PTSD and I believe this has helped shift some of that. I am so grateful for you and for this practice.
this speaks to me the way polyamory does: terrifying but intuitively, I understand it is right for me. I'm actually moving to your city end of summer. can I ask where you go for your weekly boogie-ing?
I can understand why you feel scared of it, but I would say that the actual experience of ecstatic dance itself is not going to be as scary as your imagination is right now. Trust me, everyone there is doing their own thing, their own crazy movements, they're not judging. In a lot of the spaces the lights are turned down low as well. The space I go to is lit only by fairylights.
If anything it feels more like the unselfconsciousness of being a child. I have said to my friends (and they agree) that ecstatic dance is the second most enjoyable physical activity there is. (Aside from sex). It's extremely pleasurable and fun and cathartic and liberating. You can just be yourself. You can move how your body wants to move, you can sing, you can roar, you can roll on the ground, or sit quietly in meditation.
Last time I was dancing I felt some anger come up and my friends created a little circle for me to express it in a healthy way. We jumped up and down, punching towards the ground and yelling. Suddenly my anger turned to laughter as it flowed through me. I've seen people weep, and be supported. I've seen people laugh in sheer joy. I've seen children dancing, and elders (in their 80s) alongside. I've seen heterosexual men dance together, holding each other tenderly. Middle aged mothers reconnecting with their true selves and their own desires. Ex-addicts finding community and healing through the joy of dance. You can do anything. Dance with friends. Dance alone. Everything is allowed, so long as you respect the consent of other dancers and allow everyone to have their unique experience.
I am not sure what city you're moving to but I would recommend looking on Meetup.com for events and also googling "Five Rhythms". I found my group through Meetup.
Happy dancing!
I love this! I also discovered ecstatic dance when I moved to Seattle last year. I completely agree with everything you've said about it. It's the most wonderful liberating practice.
"I think a lot of people feel intimidated by ecstatic dance because they only know how to look at their body from the outside and aren’t used to expressing their internal experience in a totally uninhibited way" - this is very true. I used to have an eating disorder for 10 years, and it was only after an ego death experience that I realised that I had been "thinking about myself the third person", looking at myself as if from outside. It was so normal to me I didn't realise I was doing it, and so I would spend ages looking at myself in the mirror, not out of vanity but trying to bridge the gap between this "outside" concept of myself that I had internalised as "me", and my sense of subjectivity. But when I had the ego death experience I realised that I was not an image, and the idea that I could be was ridiculous. All the concepts about myself, all the images, all the ways I think I am perceived - that's not me. I am first person consciousness, I am experience itself. In that moment I also realised that first person consciousness was the nature of the universe. That I am a manifestation of universal consciousness in a particular place and time. And in that moment the eating disorder went away, and never came back. It's been over 3 years since then and it's still gone.
Getting back to ecstatic dance, I had always had a hankering to dance but I only felt comfortable doing so in my room alone. One time my mother caught me stamping and spinning to Florence + the Machine's "Strangeness and Charm" and berated me because it was "too loud". Before moving to Seattle I would dance in my apartment alone while stoned.
And then when I joined ecstatic dance in Seattle it instantly felt like home. I was in a state of flow, I was uninhibited. I was able to connect to people. I also joined raves, and I find raves are the same kind of experience as ecstatic dance - a flow state of dance where everyone is doing their own thing.
I try to recommend it to everyone I can now!
I recently have also discovered the intense and awesome power of ecstatic dance! I agree with everything you said about it's healing properties. I also deeply appreciate that it is a sober space and has a strong focus on consent. I used to love going club dancing to move my body but it never felt totally safe but ecstatic dance provides such a beautiful container for me to let go safely without worrying about someone's alteted state becoming my problem.
I love that it is a sober space, supportive and nonjudgemental.
This sounds AMAZING.
I am enamored with ecstatic dance and intuitively connect with the practice for all the reasons you mention. For the past several years I've been holding a pain that has kept me away from it. In short, I was then and am now a fat person. I sweat profusely when exercising. The last time I went to ecstatic dance, a rail-thin hippie man sneered at me and berated me for ruining the dance floor. My sweat had made the space "dangerous" and "unsanitary" for him. I deeply regretted impacting his experience and never returned. For all the feel-good vibes that community espouses, I truly believed that I found the one way to do it wrong: being fat. It feels odd to ask this of strangers on the internet, even here in your Substack, but can someone help me learn how to move freely again in a body that scares others by existing?
That is truly rude and I’m sorry that happened. Where I dance there’s lots of body diversity. Also I am always literally dripping with sweat by the end. I think that’s normal.
Yesterday I did ecstatic dance for the first time because of this piece and your previous mentions of it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for spreading the word about this healing practice!! I have PTSD and I believe this has helped shift some of that. I am so grateful for you and for this practice.