Blissdance with Shakti Malan, 14 August 2012

Bliss
is the balance that happens
When we fully embrace
Both our shadow and our light
And come to rest
In love


BlissDance is an expression of Tantra, the art of integrating the sacred and sexual, and using this as a force for awakening. In a BlissDance session, you explore your inner and outer worlds through movement and stillness, music and silence. The dance is free and not stylized, though guided by Shakti through the progression of a theme. Shakti introduces the dance, shows you how she interprets it, and then you find our own response.

BlissDance draws on the wisdom of Biodanza and various other dance, movement and meditation traditions.

One of the first principles of Tantra is presence – being present in the here and now, in your body, in your senses. Another is the connection between our passion, our sexuality and our hearts. BlissDance is a space where you can come rest into the simple beauty of moving in a body, with other bodies, in the dance of life.

As this happens, you get to experience and confront some of the patterns that keep us from being intimate with life:

Body armoring: We hold our bodies rigid in an attempt to protect ourselves from feeling too much – or feeling what we have been suppressing. Sometimes that is laughter or ecstasy, sometimes that is sadness. fear or anger. All these states are welcome in the dance.

Associations: Over a lifetime of suppressions, we have started to build up meaning through associations. When someone touches you, what does it mean to you? When you enjoy the touch, what fears come up? Do they relate to past experiences or future projections? In BlissDance, these subconscious processes will become conscious for you. In awareness lies the liberation.

One of the keys of BlissDance is that the dance moves you out of your habits and stuck ways. We act out some of the drama’s of everyday life – like having a couple’s fight – but do that in a conscious way, as a celebration of the body, and as an act of freedom. In doing that, something gives way, more space gets created, and we can celebrate our freedom more.

Sometimes Shakti uses ancient shamanic techniques to help shake up the nervous system so that you can slip into this moment with no mind. Sometimes we dance wild and crazy with little structure and limitation, to let that energy be expressed and accessed in the body. Eventually, as Rumi says:

something opens up
I taste only sacredness

The moment softens. We get to feel everything intimately. We welcome what is, no longer resist, and in that we can meet the beloved, in the dance, in this moment. In the first place, that beloved is my very own being. Then I can meet him/her in the other, the group, my life, existence.

BlissDance is for those who are yearning for presence, freedom and truth. It is for the brave spiritual warriors who are not scared to dance their ridiculousness and to let their vulnerability be felt in the dance as well.

All it takes is a little willingness. The music, the facilitation and the group will carry you along into what you really want: A deep opening into this present precious moment.

The facilitator, Shakti Malan

Shakti is the creator of BlissDance. She has a well established practice as Tantrika in Cape Town in South Africa. For details on her background, the nature and extent of her work, see shakti.co.za and totalitytherapy.com.

When: Tuesday, 14th August 2012 from 19:00 – 21:00
Where:The Theosophical Society, 17 Queens Crescent (off West Princes St, behind St Georges X underground), Glasgow, G4 9BL
Price: cost £15/10 concession, £18 on the night
To Register: Email Gillian on gillian@sacred-touch.co.uk or call on 07913 906 343

You are strongly advised to book in advance to secure your place. Early booking is advisable as the workshop has a limited number of places.

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