Dance as Prayer

The nature of Shakti or the dynamic energy of creation is Movement. Growth, change and evolution all involve movement. A kundalini rising is movement. Bliss is the dance of transcendence. The waves, the river flowing, the sapling twirling towards the sun, the seed breaking, a happy puppy, a dancing peacock, a child moving his or her body at the sound of parents clapping, tribal warriors move at the rhythm of the drums. Lovers sway in a dance of love. There is deep power that lies in dance. The dancer enters the body and the mind stand stills and does not wander. The body with its own wisdom and intelligence takes over and leads one in unchartered territory of eternal nowness. In dance, we access the still and latent primordial energy within us and cause it to create new movements. Something new is born out of dance. Yet, everything can also be destroyed in the dance of Shiva. An immovable ascetic yogi, suspended in bliss on a stationary asana, and a tantric or a bhakti yogi lost in bliss of flowing ecstatic movement - both activate and awaken the ever new joy within. When I meditate, I dance. When I dance, I meditate. Because when I dance, I disappear. Surrender is the dissolution of the Self. I allow myself to be lost in the body and as I dance, the body too, disappears into the movement. And somewhere between the music and the silence in between, both the movement and the sound too, disappear.