Why Dance Is My New Meditation

What is meditation? Many people think it means sitting silently trying to get rid of thoughts. Meditation is about being in the present moment which brings the mind to stillness, but it can require far less effort than most people think.

A moment of connection, bliss, presence, stillness – this is all achieved through a state of awareness.
I used to go to ecstatic dance sessions which involved movement of the body in a free way – no particular steps. This was meditation for me.

I realized recently that even structured dance (such as salsa, bachata, kizomba, bellydance, etc), once the body relaxes and feels the music, it is meditation. The music itself comes from a higher source through the person who wrote it, and the dancing is an expression of the song’s energy and our own true being.

It’s one thing dancing alone, like I used to do in ecstatic dance, which often took me into a trance like state. Dancing with a partner also becomes a meditation. Once you feel your partner’s energy and connect, it becomes a dance of two souls. The woman follows the man’s moves and if they are both present in the moment, the connection as the leader and follower will remain throughout the dance. This, in and of itself, is a form of meditation.

I’ve gone as far as go into a trance like state, and many times dance with my eyes closed, to enhance my sense of feeling through touch, sound, and instinctual connection to the partner I’m with.
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If dance is not your thing, I encourage you to find a form of meditation that resonates with you. It could be martial arts, exercise in any form, an instrument, any creative project, being in nature, with animals, chanting meditations (much like we do in Kundalini Yoga) or silent meditation. It is through being in the present moment, in bliss, that we connect to divine source. Then we realize our true essence – the essence of pure consciousness.