“The goal of the Rhythms is to awaken to the essence of oneself, thereby expanding intuition and imagination as well as the body. The Rhythms are formless form; they expand the vocabulary of our physical and emotional expression and lead us to lost realms of our psyche. They foster intuitive intelligence and artistic sensibility.”
The focus is on authentic movement that arises from the moment and expresses the current state of being of the “dancer”. Where am I right now? What do I sense? What do I feel? What moves me? Where do I want to go? What am I discovering? What am I expanding? How am I doing?
To enter a flow of authentic movement requires great attention to the body and its impulses. Often, however, we are caught up in our thoughts, preoccupied with the past, in evaluations, judgments, and everything else that has nothing to do with our current situation and our present state. The body then operates in an unconscious autopilot mode. Training attention is one aspect of the 5Rhythms®. If we train our attention, we are authentic and create greater awareness for our body.
“The fastest way to still your mind is to move your body.”
Gabrielle Roth
The simplest way to grasp the 5Rhythms® is to dance them, to make them a daily practice, whether physical or spiritual.
For those who want to know more about the 5Rhythms®, I recommend reading “Leben ist Bewegung” (“Sweat your prayers”), “Totem – gelebter Schamanismus” (“Maps to ecstasy”), or “Das Chaos der Stille” (“Connections – five threads of intuitive wisdom”) by Gabrielle Roth.
The 5Rhythms® movement practice can have a very therapeutic and healing effect, but it is not used for the healing of physical or mental illnesses and is not a substitute for psychotherapeutic treatments.
Photo: © Sanjin Kastelan
