Article by Mara Clear Spring
With excerpts from the journals of Jennifer Masters
♥
“I didn’t think it was possible, but in my very first Trance Dance I was able to tune out the mundane world and connect with my spirit guides in a new way, an incredibly powerful experience. Since I had never experienced anything like that before, why believe I was going to trance or get into any altered state of consciousness in my first go at it? Not only was I proved wrong, but I realized I’d achieved an already familiar state-of-mind which until then I didn’t recognize as such. Getting past doubts and fear of the unknown to trying Trance Dance completely changed me. I felt like I was where I was supposed to be.”
Attending your first Trance Dance? Come dressed appropriately for dancing. In some locations bare feet may be permitted and even preferred. Your facilitators will have already selected the evening’s music designed to take you through a shamanic journey in alternative reality, all you have to do is trust and let go. Oh, and wear a blindfold!
A blindfold?!? Yes, Trance Dance participants are blindfolded to reduce performance anxiety—no one will see you while your body expresses inner energies. The facilitators keep people safe while the dance ensues. They also keep energetic connection with the dancers and will use rattles, drums or other means to help dancers move into altered states and lose themselves in the dance.
“I felt a strong connection with my teacher Mellissa Seaman, whom I met through San Diego Circle. She and Alora founded the Shamanic Healing Arts Center in North Park, and I attended classes there on occasion. One day I read through the calendar of events on their website and I came across Trance Dance. It sounded fun, maybe a little scary, but my desire to expand my spiritual practice outweighed my fear of the unknown.”
When you arrive at the scene of the dance, you’ll most likely sign in and pay a nominal fee or donation, a fair exchange of energy for the “trip” you are about to take. Some facilitators open a talking circle to begin the connection process. You have an opportunity to state your personal intention for the dance, what you’d like to get out of it. You can have more than one, and you may hear someone else come up with a pretty good one you hadn’t even imagined. The perfect people for your personal journey will just happen to be there for the dance.
Next you’ll be shown the breathing technique that helps you shut down your mind and open your heart. Whenever you find yourself performing instead of expressing, whenever your “monkey mind” kicks in, you use this technique to flip the switch back into an altered state.
“At some point in that first Trance Dance I began running into others on all sides of me, I wasn’t connecting with the music and I started to shut down. Then a facilitator circled around me with a rattle—and everything changed. Suddenly it was all about inviting the other dancers into my journey, to dance with them and not treat them as intrusions. Once I had achieved that state of mind, I made it to a place where I was having a dance party with my guides. I felt like I had just punched through the surface of “altered state of consciousness” and that there were many deeper levels to be achieved, at a later time.”
Now you put on your blindfold, and the music begins. Pounding, compelling, dramatic—the facilitators have intuitively selected pieces that will draw you out of your Earthly consciousness and lead you into shamanic realms where you will meet guides, encounter power animals, experience healing, energetic changes, even fly. As your body sweats and your feet stamp, you become more than a human being, your reality expands to encompass so much more.
“On another occasion I remember dancing with my power animal for a bit. Then I felt like I was somewhere in Persia… the whole thing had sort of a bacchanalian feel, a very ancient feel to it. I remember dancing with one of my guides in particular, around a fire—felt a little like being in a Kiva. Then I remember it turning into more of a tribal dance with lots of people dancing around the fire in an open space.”
Sweating, exhilarated, you feel a little off center when you realize the music has quieted down and it is time to lay on the floor and ground your energies. Slowly you sink down, stretch out, and let the processing begin, the integration of the experience, the information you have received, the energy you have released and regained. For some dancers this is when the journey truly begins.
“When we laid down at the end, my heart was racing and I could feel the energy surging through my body, and I felt my guides working to heal me. I could sense the energy building in and around my body, burning like a fever. Something hit my third eye and, whee! I was flying all over the world, out into the universe. I saw myself placing my hands with intent on the ground and boom! All of the energy surged out of me and into the Earth, spreading all across the land. The fever dissipated and I began to cool down. Then I felt like I was integrating… then I was done.”
Another circle to allow optional sharing may be held by the facilitator. This also allows participants time to ground their energies and begin to reflect on their experience. And then it’s time to leave, to return to “reality,” until the next Trance Dance!
Try it yourself, in a group setting »
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