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Unlock the transformative power of movement as a life-changing spiritual practice.
"If you're thinking 'But I’m not a dancer’ or ‘I feel awkward,’ I hope to reassure you. You don’t need a special talent to move. You don’t need to be ‘graceful’ or especially coordinated. You don’t need a body that’s ‘in shape.’ Dancing helps us embrace all this humanity. Dance connects us to the holy of life."
—from the Introduction
Seize the joy and healing power of dance! Drawing from her years of experience as a dance and movement teacher, and as cofounder of the international dance organization InterPlay, Cynthia Winton-Henry helps you overcome your embarrassment or anxiety and discover in dance a place of solace and restoration, as well as an energizing spiritual force. She taps into the spirit of dancing throughout history and in many world cultures to provide detailed exercises that will help you learn to trust your body and interpret its physical and spiritual intentions. For both newcomers and seasoned movers alike, she encourages you to embrace dance as a spiritual tool to:
- Celebrate your unique spirituality and get in touch with your emotions
- Unify your body and mind, and push your personal boundaries
- Work through trauma or crisis and restore spiritual well-being
- Deepen your relationships and strengthen your community
- Find spiritual direction
- … and much more!
Do you sometimes feel as if you are experiencing information overload? Then pick up this book and learn the technique of "exformation" through dance. That is only one of the many ideas Winton-Henry shares in this creative contribution to spiritual practice.
The author presents the Divine as asking each person "May I have this dance?" Yet so many religious traditions downplay or deny the value of the body in spite of numerous traditions of God's movement toward creatures and the lively response of followers. This repression was not always so nor need it be so in the future, according to the author. In fact, words such as “carol” and “chorus” mean to dance and to dance together.
Winton-Henry develops ways in which to approach the Holy through unlocking the dance of joy, approaching wholeness through movement and dancing for healing. Interestingly, she also promotes dancing as a part of spiritual direction, as action of the beloved community and as a form of peacemaking.
Included in the book are a variety of movement practices for each theme, additional reading suggestions and resources for particular forms of dancing. No matter what age, what physical ability or limitation or what spiritual tradition you are, there is much in this volume to invite you to the sacred dance.
Introduction ix
A Dancing Parable xv
Chapter One: May I Have This Dance? 1
Chapter Two: Approaching Holy Ground 16
Chapter Three: Unlocking the Dance of Joy 37
Chapter Four: Dancing into Wholeness 51
Chapter Five: Dancing for Healing 77
Chapter Six: Dancing for Spiritual Direction 103
Chapter Seven: Dancing with Beloved Community 131
Chapter Eight: Dancing as Peacemaking 158
Resources 181
Suggestions for Further Reading 185
Index of Movement Practices 191
Gratitude 193