November
2001
A
Time to Heal…a Time to Dance?
By
Diane Horbacewicz |
|
|
The beat of the music slowly filled the room. I sat
on the floor, along with many others stretching, watching, waiting.
Some people started dancing, whirling, and moving past me, but most
of us sat around waiting for the workshop to begin. It was then that
this tall sleek figure, dressed in black, entered and moved around
the
room. Again I waited patiently; waiting for something to happen. This
went on for awhile, when suddenly the dark graceful figure looked at
us and said, “What are you waiting for? This is it.” There
was no time to think, plan, organize, or figure out what I was going
to do. I needed to move—and I was scared to death.
That was two years ago. Since then I’ve come to a deeper understanding
of what this work is all about. The graceful figure was none other than
Gabrielle Roth and the workshop was based on her lifetime of work. Gabrielle
Roth is an internationally renowned theater director, dance teacher/explorer,
recording artist, and author of Maps to Ecstasy and Sweat Your Prayers:
Movement as Spiritual Practice. She has developed the 5Rhythms™
practice, which is taught in dance/movement workshops all around the
world. Needless to say, I made it through the workshop and have taken
many more classes and workshops since then. This work has taken me down
a road of healing that has truly helped me to “be in my body.” I
still have much to learn but I am truly thankful to have found this
work, especially in light of the terrorist attacks that happened on
September 11th.
Gabrielle Roth’s work is based on five Universal Rhythms—Flowing,
Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, and Stillness, or what is more commonly referred
to as going through the “Wave.” Each rhythm holds specific
teachings for us. In flowing we learn to be sensitive to the flow of
our unique energy, to follow it and be true to it. There are no sharp
edges to our movements, only curves and endless circles of motion. In
staccato we learn how to organize our energy, to focus and direct it,
to listen to our hearts and honor our need to express our feelings.
We begin to move in sharply defined ways, each movement having a beginning
and an end. Next we dance over the edge into chaos, in which we learn
how to dive below the surface, to go from logical mind to intuitive
mind. We let go and move into an intuitive stream of movements. In lyrical,
we realize that we have the freedom to keep shifting energies so as
never to get stuck in any one possibility. In this trance-like state,
there is a lightness of being in our feet, a sense of being airborne
in our dance. Finally we enter stillness where our attention is drawn
to our inner dance where everything is alive, awake and aware. Our body
shifts through many shapes, sometimes holding them, sometimes letting
them go—just being. What makes this work different is that there
is no choreography. Working with the 5Rhythms™ as a guide, you
find your own unique dance. To find your dance is to find yourself.
The 5Rhythms™ comprise a simple movement practice designed to release
the dancer that lives in every body, no matter what shape, size, age,
limitation, or experience. “If you put your psyche in motion, it
will heal itself,” says Gabrielle and that is the primary teaching
of this work.
Now, more than ever, we need to move; to ground ourselves—just
another way of saying “to be in our bodies.” To feel whatever
it is we’re feeling—our grief, our fear, our pain, and our
anger and then somehow by feeling it, moving through it. It’s a
funny thing; once you really accept whatever it is you’re feeling,
it changes. It shifts. You know that saying, “whatever you resist,
persists.” Well, in the 5Rhythms™ work, you resist nothing.
You bring whatever it is that you’re feeling to the dance—knowing
that whatever you’re feeling is okay—and then somehow it’s
transformed. And that’s why it’s so healing…especially
now.
The tragedy that occurred on September 11th along with the events that
have followed—the rising death toll, heightened security nationwide,
the bombing of Afghanistan, and the anthrax scares—have brought
up entirely new fears in our lives, but it may also touch upon old stuff
as well. On my own path, I had suffered for years with depression. For
me, an important part of my healing has been being “okay”
with “not being okay.” For so many years I resisted really
feeling what was going on inside, and then I would get to that place
of “non-feeling.” That’s why the 5Rhythms™ work
is so important to me. It’s about really being in my body and
being okay with whatever is. And then by accepting it, I somehow move
through
it.
But the work is not only about healing ourselves. It’s about healing
our relationships with each other. Many times you take a partner, someone
to dance with, move with. It’s amazing how much stuff can come
up with another person without even saying a word. It’s a powerful
way of learning to move with different people’s energies—different
races, genders, and backgrounds. To be able to be at peace with the
one that’s dancing right next to me is where peace begins. That,
for me, is the way to world peace.
“It is time to step up to the plate and do what needs to be done
in my life so that I have more healing to offer myself and others,”
Roger Sams, a man who sponsored a workshop right after the tragedy,
told me. I agree. It’s to dance for my own healing and be able
to be there for those around me who have suffered so much more than
I have in this tragedy. It’s a powerful time for all of us and
provides us with a unique opportunity.
And this work is not only cathartic, it is “meditation in motion.”
Gabrielle says, “The fastest way to still the mind is to move the
body.” With all that’s going on in the world, it’s also
important for us at this time to be able to still our minds. While doing
the practice, if your mind starts to wander, you bring your attention
back to your feet—to ground yourself and keep from getting stuck
in your head. Similar to a “sitting practice,” it’s a
practice that takes constant awareness and attention. When thoughts
start to come up, you bring your attention back into the body and use
the feet as your anchor, much as you use the breath as an anchor in
Vipassana meditation. Marion Woodman, a Jungian analyst and author,
said in her recent book tour, “The more we spiral upward, the more
we need to spiral down into this body.” The 5Rhythms™ work
helps me to do just that.
Now, two years since that first workshop, I feel that this practice
has brought me to a new level of awareness. Along with work that I’m
doing with Core Energetics and my daily sitting practice, the 5Rhythms™
work has truly brought me home to myself. Not only am I feeling more
comfortable in “my own dance,” I am able to dance with others
and not lose myself. In Buddhism, they say when your heart starts to
open, you feel more sorrow but you also feel more happiness. These days
I am feeling more joy as well. I am able to “show up” for
whatever is happening in my life with less judgment and with a little
more acceptance. But I’m not quite there yet…and so I dance.
Diane Horbacewicz danced with the New Jersey Ballet Company
and has directed a spa in Bermuda and fitness programs on cruise ships.
She has worked at the New York Open Center and the Omega Institute
and
currently produces workshops for Gabrielle Roth in New York City and
around the world. For information on 5Rhythms™ classes and workshops,
contact the Moving Center at P.O. Box 271, Cooper Station, New York,
NY 10276, (212) 760-1381, www.gabrielleroth.com,
or ravenrec@panix.com.
