Developed by Alexander Georgeakopoulos with some input from Inika Sati Spence.
What is Healing Dance? Healing Dance has many aspects, all based on the healing power of movement.
The practitioner establishes an empathetic connection with the receiver and is trained to mirror
any incipient kinetic impulses. Like an orchestra conductor, he establishes a rhythmic field at the beginning
of the session through his breath, movement and state of mind.
He looks for the rhythm of awareness in each moment that allows the receiver to feel the psychological reverberations of the movement in her being. Movement is understood as medicine and carefully dosed, intermixed with restful pauses in quiet positional sanctuaries to allow for integration of its effects. The practitioner 'dances' the receiver, who has an experience of grace and beauty,
sometimes leading to deeper emotional releases.
Healing Dance could be understood as silent music,
consisting of rhythmic impulses of pressure, touch and movement played upon the body's proprioceptors.
The dance is between the subliminal message within each movement and the receiver's subconscious mind.
That which has slowed down or ceased to move within the psyche is inspired to awaken into playful participation.
Thus, the healing comes from within.
Healing Dance's wide variety of original techniques reflects how water and the body naturally move together.
Blocked energies are opened up by more than thirty hydrodynamic waves and spirals,
as well as various spatial mandalas in the form of circles, figure 8's and releases,
freeing and re-animating the body. Healing Dance takes advantage of the full three-dimensionality of the water
with broad dynamic movements. A variety of advanced body mechanics techniques such as moving by example,
creative imbalance and traveling through the pool help to create not only bigger movements,
but also subtler and more sensitive ones. The essence of Healing Dance is flow, freedom and lightness.
As the vocabulary of movements expands, students become more confident to improvise and better respond to
the needs of the receiver.
Who it is for? The first appeal of Healing Dance is to those who love water and stretching, who wish to experience beauty, grace and surrender to the power of movement. More than any other aquatic technique, it is the Dance. It brings the experience of physical freedom, especially poignant for the handicapped who are unable to stand or walk. For the athlete, martial artist, swimmer, diver, dancer and would-be dancer, the movements of Healing Dance are a delight and an invitation to playfully participate by allowing their own movement impulses expression. Healing Dance's waves with the receiver lying on her side are beneficially disorienting and excellent for releasing holding patterns of a psychological origin. These waves, with the multiple joint mobilization they offer, are good for spinal problems; receivers often report that their backs feel much better following a session. As receivers soon discover, there is much of stillness and nurture in the Healing Dance, too, moments to expand into oneself while being safely held. Healing Dance is for everyone.
written by Alexander Georgeakopoulos. For further information look at www.healingdance.org or aquaticwritings.tripod.com |
