Yoga and Dance: Two great Sacred arts and disciplines reunited

Since I was a child dancing has been a way to connect with my inner Self. Through Dance and movement I can express what words cannot. Dance has been feeling always very natural to me. I think that we as humans have an innate predisposition to music and dance.

 

We have a constant inner movement: our cells, our blood, our fluids and the air in our body are constantly moving. We cannot resist movement!  We need to allow our natural movement to flow with the movement of life.

Dance is an impulse that begins with life itself. I discovered very early in my life the beautiful balance that exists in between a firm, steady, relaxed pose and the flow of movement. During my childhood I used to include asanas while playing without knowing that there were yoga postures. Later in my life, as a Yoga teacher, the exploration of the connection of Yoga and Dance has enriched my life, moving with awareness and dancing my own dance connecting with the whole.

 

In the Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4, Verse 18 we read “One who sees inaction in action, and action in inaction, is intelligent among men, and he is in the transcendental position, although engaged in all sorts of activities”. We can feel at peace during intense activity and we can meditate while dancing.

I understand dance, not as a performance, but as a devotional activity that purifies, as does yoga. Dance could be an artistic self-expression through movement, but when you dance as if no one is looking at you in a conscious meditative way, the act of dancing become a vital experience where we allow the Divine energy to flow through our being so we are not identified anymore with the body but we are aware of it, using it as a creative temple of expression of the vibration of the emotions that comes with the music and the connection with what is around in the present moment.

Yoga and Dance; both forms are interconnected and coming from an infinite source of Oneness.  These two great sacred expressions and disciplines were intimately united in the ancient past. Yoga is a divine science of life revealed to enlightened sages in meditation, the unification with our true Divine Nature.

We can see dance roots in Yoga. In the Hindu tradition the image of Nataraja represents the god of gods, Shiva, the Cosmic Dancer, embodying the constant change and movement of life with his four arms extended and one foot lifted in a graceful way choreographing the eternal dance of the universe.

One of the central texts of yoga, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, was inspired by an encounter with Nataraja:

“Shiva is dancing out of his own delight and it’s the vibration of his joy that creates the longing to move. He is so full of bliss that he can’t stand still”

Conscious Yoga Dance born from my dream of blending Yoga and Dance, becoming aware of the body as a vehicle of our spiritual journey. While listening to world inspiring music, the breath becomes rhythmical and we express in a creative and fluid way where the body becomes the spiritual path. By joining Yoga and a Dance, I have reached another plane, finding freedom in the discipline. Conscious Yoga Dance is a connection between Yoga and Dance to tune our mind with our inner flow, allowing our body to come fully alive and express itself, building an energy field and breaking inner boundaries.

 

Conscious Yoga Dance brings the awareness to the present moment which is always moving, listening to your body and finding your own ‘inner guide’. It is and active meditation. This is very therapeutic for our emotions and our whole being.

Stillness in stillness is not the real stillness. Only when there is stillness in movement can the spiritual rhythm appear which pervades heaven and earth. ~ Taoist Saying