5 Rhythms

I hit up a 5 Rhythms class last night. It was only my second class ever. The first one was in Michigan. Jude went with me this time and it was different than my first experience, but both times were a blast! I remember my first one. I had an organic chemistry test the next day, but my friend Emily invited me to come dance. I couldn't resist the offer, so I blew off studying for the test to go dancing. Not an ounce of regret about that decision.There was a club through the school. It was in a Judo building rented out, they lit incense and shut the lights off and there were about 15-20 people just dancing, to their bodies liking. Everyone was free, and creative and in an almost trancelike state...both times I went. It's kind of a therapy or a release through dance. It's also called the wave because the music leads you through one long wave. Man was it a workout too. I was DRIPPING sweat. Jude fell asleep, I thought my sweat dripping on him would wake him up. A lady Gabrielle Roth is accredited with creating "the wave" or ecstatic dance. She says,

"Over the years, I discovered-in observing my own body and thousands of others-the five sacred rhythms that are the essence of the body in motion, the body alive: Flowing...Staccato...Chaos...Lyrical...Stillness"

Here's a tid bit about Gabrielle. The last line made me chuckle, especially after reading your (mom) last post.

"Gabrielle Roth is an internationally renowned theater director, philosopher, and recording artist who has created her own form of ecstatic dance. She is the best-selling author of Maps to Ecstasy: A Healing Journey for the Untamed Spirit, Sweat Your Prayers: Movement as Spiritual Practice and Connections. Her teachings, for the past forty years, have permeated many areas of the culture and included many diverse settings such as schools, hospitals, corporate offices, theaters and growth centers. Her work has been featured in Self, Elle, Mademoiselle, New Age Journal, Body Mind Spirit, Shape and many other national publications. Her award winning musical recordings are on the cutting edge of shamanic trance/dance music. Gabrielle's workshops and retreats have an electric intensity that mates contemporary currents of rock music, modern theater and poetry to the ancient pulse of shamanism. She lives in New York City. "

I guess there are some great things coming out of that hustle bustle mad city. I think Jack Kerouac was from NY. It's definitely not for me though! I am in the woods with you mom! I actually like to bounce back between both, but my primary residence I feel is harmonious and peaceful. It would be difficult for me to feel like that in NYC I would think. I love my mountains. Well I think that this dance thing might be taking me on a new journey. It almost felt like fate just going to the class. I randomly mentioned it to a fellow mom I met hiking...well sure enough she goes and was actually at the class last night! I would love to learn more! Just dance your ass off!


"What is the 5Rhythms®?

The 5Rhythms is a simple, powerful moving meditation that anyone – of any age, size, or physical ability - can practice. There are no steps to follow, no choreography to learn, no way to do it wrong. The only requirement is a body that is still breathing, a heart that is still beating, and mind that is still curious!

Just like light, sound or ocean waves, a dancing body when moving freely passes through five distinct rhythmic patterns. These patterns continuously repeat themselves in a wave of motion.

The 5Rhythms are:
•FLOWING – the fluid, continuous, grounded glide of our own movements
•STACCATO – the percussive, pulsing beat that shapes us a thousand different ways
•CHAOS – the rhythm of letting go, releasing into the catalytic wildness of our dance that can never be planned or repeated
•LYRICAL – the rhythm of trance, where the weight of self-consciousness dissolves, where we lighten up and disappear into our own uniqueness
•STILLNESS – the quiet emptiness, where gentle movements rise and fall, start and end, in a field of silence


Here's another great qoute by Roth...



Sweat Your Prayers


"To sweat is to pray, to make an offering of your innermost self.

Sweat is holy water, prayer beads, pearls of liquid that release your past.

Sweat is an ancient and universal form of self-healing, whether done in

the gym, the sauna, or the sweat lodge. I do it on the dance floor.

The more you dance, the more you sweat.

The more you sweat, the more you pray.

The more you pray, the closer you come to ecstasy."



Gabrielle Roth