What is the Gaia Dance™
technique?
Gaia Dance ™ is a meditative, expressive, creative
and spiritual practice that came into being after many years of personally
experiencing the healing powers of dance and later, extensively researching sacred
dance. It is a holistically therapeutic form of dance that embraces the sacred,
encourages self-empowerment and recognizes the value of proactive involvement
with life. This integrated
system of holistic healing is rooted in the ancient traditions of belly dance
blended with yoga inspired flowing asanas, breath work and meditative practices,
authentic movement and traditional techniques for
resonating with the rhythms & cycles of the natural realm. Gaia Dance
™ can be seen as a type as sacred dance practiced as a form of moving
meditation, embodied prayer, holistic fitness, and as a medium for spiritual
path working. The Gaia Dance™ technique involves exploring many methods (using movement, dance & meditation)
of connecting with our authentic selves for the purpose of creating and
maintaining holistic wellness. We delightfully play with natural, organic movement as a medium for
awakening the divine feminine within knowing that as we awaken ourselves we
serve the whole of creation. Awareness of the natural cycles of nature and
consciously resonating with them is a big part of the Gaia Dance™ practice. This
aspect of the practice enables us to harmoniously create in a natural rhythm. We
begin to grow proactively with the natural flow of nature. Results of practicing this
system include physical fitness, emotional wellbeing, mental stimulation,
spiritual clarity & personal empowerment. Practitioners of the
Gaia Dance ™ technique often
report experiencing an overall sense of integrated wholeness, greatly improved
sense of self worth, inner strength,
fortitude, physical vitality & spiritual connection.
– just to name a few!
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What is Gaia?
The concept of Mother Nature or Mother Earth has been
around since the dawn of time. Nearly every nation & tribe through out history
has personified the energy of the natural realm as a feminine, life giving
Goddess in one form or another. The ancient Greeks called their Earth goddess
Ge or Gaia- (the Greek common noun for "land" is ge or ga). At some
point this name caught on and became a common name or word used to describe the
original Earth Goddess or Mother Nature. Gaia (pronounced: Guy-a) embodies the idea of an earthly
Mother, the mother and nurturer of all living entities that make up the Earth. Gaia’s energy is gentle, feminine and nurturing, but is also capable of being
fierce & destructive. New growth arises out of the ashes of the old.
Also known as the Universal Mother; Earth Goddess & Mother Earth, the name Gaia was adopted by science in the 1960’s when James Lovelock proposed the “Gaia Hypothesis”. A scientific theory that proposes that our planet functions as a single organism that maintains conditions necessary for its survival. In other words scientific hypothesis says that the Earth itself is a living being! Many people use the name Gaia as sort of pet name for the Earth itself.
Today, the word Gaia is universally used as a term to describe the Goddess of all Goddesses, Earth Mother and Mother Nature. Since the work that I do with therapeutic dance is rooted in awakening the Divine Goddess within us and we consciously work with the rhythms and cycles of the natural realm using a dance style created from natural movement it made sense to name the dance practice in honor of the Great Goddess Gaia. The synchronistic Greek connection between the origins of the word Gaia and the art of belly dance was just icing on the cake.
The Gaia Dance Path
The living, healing art of the Gaia Dance
technique can be seen as an eternally cyclic path of self discovery expression,
empowerment & spiritual awakening. Since the practice itself is rooted in
principles pertaining to resonating with the cycles of the natural realm this
path is truly one of eternal unfolding. The Gaia dance path leads to self
discovery, self healing, self empowerment, inner peace & fortitude,
centeredness, creative self expression, Heightened sense of inner knowing,
deeper connection with nature, self love & acceptance, refined abilities of
concentration, and spiritual awakeness-just to name a few.
Process & Practice
In Gaia dance we blend the traditional
movements of the original "Sacred Woman's dance" of earths history (commonly
known today as belly dance) with yoga inspired flowing asana, breath work &
meditation with free style "spirit" dancing and whirling as a means of quieting
the mind & connecting with our authentic selves. In Gaia dance we acknowledge
and consciously practice techniques for resonating with with the cycles of the
natural realm. We learn to dance our own personal dances of the Earth, Air,
Fire, Water, Moon, Sun and Sky to bring our essence into alignment with mother
nature in her many aspects. We learn to work with these specific energies as a
tool for spiritual development knowing that when we are in sync with mother
nature we are living in our empowerment and our lives are experienced joyfully.
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Benefits of Gaia Dance
Gaia Dance is a holistic practice. This
means that when we practice Gaia Dance we are constructively effecting the
mental, emotional, physical and spiritual aspects of our being. Some benefits
include: increased level of physical fitness, improved posture, tone flabby
muscles, loosen tight muscles, improved balance, coordination and grace in
movement, decreased stress, increased abilities of focus and concentration,
improved circulation, boosted self confidence, increased mental clarity,
enhanced mind/body connection, enhanced body awareness, enhanced spiritual
connection, increased immune system support, increased sensitivity to energy
flow, enhanced meditative skills, skills in new ways to explore & express the
self, reduced anxiety, increase overall vitality...and more. See the
gaia dance training page
