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Reiki News Magazine | Summer 2004 Reiki and Dance, by Gianna Settin, PhD Dance is the essence of the human soul. Since time began on this earth, in water, in caves, in temples, on mountain-tops, in the fields, around the stones, and in private spaces within our dwellings, we dance to express ourselves. All beings dance. From the protozoan to the human, we weave a unique dance that is remembered and replicated by our kind, genetically intricately bound to our cells for self-expression, creation, and regeneration. Human dance is our unique form of movement that takes place to rhythm and music, sometimes heard exclusively from within, or choreographed by ritual or design, or ecstatic, or just fun, but always invested with symbolic meaning. Prayers are carried through dances. Each culture has developed dance as a means of expressing uniqueness as a group fitting with the needs of the environment. For example, the Hopi Flute Dance begins with a procession leading down from the mesa into a spring which is considered to be an opening into the Underworld and ends with a community dance that continues later in the kiva. The ritual takes place in August to stimulate the clouds to shed rain. The Navajo Medicine Way involves dance for treating illness, and shamans in all cultures use dance for healing. Such dances have universal themes that are faithfully reproduced generation after generation in a specific style. They fill the need to gathering in small groups to share resources and ideas, be it for successful crops, skillful hunting strategies, solidifying personal and political relationships, or healing. Often people congregate during times marked for their astronomical significance (like equinox) to create intentions and prayers for the Earth. During feudal, medieval and Renaissance times, stylized dance movements were performed in the court. These movements formed the basis for ballet, square and ballroom dancing, and many of our contemporary forms of dance expression such as jazz, disco, rock, rap, techno, salsa, and Argentine tango. These dance forms are grown from a complex blend of African, South American, island, and Latin culture. But even what seems now to be purely recreational dance is still rooted in the phenomenon of group affiliation, expression and release of emotion, and renewal. Ancient dance traditions are being preserved and adapted in their own way into contemporary life. Tantric dance is one such example. In the Hindu pantheon of spiritual beings, Dakinis take dancing form to praise the divine and protect the people. According to Vajra Ma in On Teaching the Tantric Dance of Feminine Power, "In the Dance we embody deity. This is not a generalized feeling or state, but the direct experience of specific qualities and powers that shape the body in precise movements and postures creating a biocircuitry in the body that transfuses the dancer with spiritual knowledge... The Dance is not a concept, it is a living practice taught primarily by vibratory transmission. "Pharonic (ancient Egyptian) dance is another example of sacred dance. A dance honoring Hathor, Goddess of beauty, dance, music, women, birth (sometimes interchangeable with Isis) is described by belly dancer Delilah Flynn: "We go from standing in airspace and working the entire body in forms and dimensions, to recognizing the heavens, connecting with the heart to the sanctity of the earth and soul's ground. People have been coming down to earth to pray since the beginning. This is no accident. There is powerful soul work to be done here." The bioenergetic connection with the spirit realms is an integral part of sacred dance. Or dance can be ecstatic secular healing experience, whether moving easily and gently or powerfully and forcefully to sound. Ecstatic dance pioneer Gabrielle Roth, choreographer of The Wave speaks about the process of merging dance and Spirit: "Sweat burns karma, purifying body and soul. Sweat is an ancient and universal form of self-healing whether done in the gym, sauna, or the sweat lodge. I do it on the dance floor. More you dance, the more you sweat. The more you sweat, the more you pray. The more you pray, the closer you come to ecstasy. "Whether performed in an ancient religious context or by individuals called by their own Spirit to move, the dance powerfully evokes our deepest roots. Think for a moment what we say when we describe Reiki and how it is a dance of energy. It flows through our body in rhythmic pulsing waves, bringing energizing vibration and removing unhealthy energy as it clears a channel for the natural flow of life force. It allows us to harmonize imbalance and move freely. What is energy if not countless millions of particulates of matter colliding with each other, creating new patterns? The dance of the atoms in the nuclear accelerator forming new molecules, the dance of particles of light seen in a sun-filled room, the dance of blood cells rushing through our veins. This is the shimmering dance of ki (chi, prana), the life force that drives all energy in, around and through our system. All is a miraculous dance of energy. When we dance, the ki flowing through our entire multilayered being, not just the physical body, brings forth the full energy of our life source, activating our physical/emotional/spiritual state on all levels. The auric and etheric layers (emotional, mental, spiritual) are enlivened and complex changes in functioning occur as we move through stages of feeling paired with physiological arousal. At the same time, a relaxation response is initiated that sends a message to our system to let go of stress. Moreover, it triggers our immune system into an organic healing response. We feel less pain (someone steps on our foot, and we do not feel it). We have more energy. (We can dance all night). We are unaware of the passage of time, and we feel better emotionally and refreshed and alert physically. When dancing occurs over an extended period of time, vibrational frequencies actually give our body a type of inner massage. For example, the heavy regular rhythmic beat of rock dance taps into a primal first chakra energy, the blues evokes a sensual second chakra experience, the jerk massages and releases third chakra solar plexus energy, and classical music speaks especially well to the heart chakra. Melodic tones correspond to the chakras in a similar fashion: C for heart, A for liver, D for spleen, E for lungs, G for kidneys-each determining specific physical responses that promote cellular release. What happens during a Reiki treatment? Well, Reiki is light, vibration, and spirit. When I give a treatment, I feel the energy dancing through my hands to my client, and I feel my client moving in rhythm with the Reiki energy that flows. When the Reiki energy is called in, it activates a current of energy on a frequency of light that beams through us. Stepping aside and letting the energy in to do its work allows Spirit to move through us in a way that brings not only healing, but fulfillment, joy, and rejuvenation. It is an interactive process: The Spirit moves us to dance, and dance opens us to activation of our energy system, enlivens and balances our chakras, stimulates breathing, relaxes our tissues, massages our organs, releases tension from our joints, and opens us to our life force. Dancing by itself is an active form of meditation that affects psychological functioning, with the difference that it is movement itself rather than cognitive activity that shifts us into altered states of consciousness. The operative principle is that dance moves us from leftbrain activity, directed toward verbal processing and problem solving, to right-brain activity. When the brain is imaged of individuals responding to music and rhythm, it is the right hemisphere of the cortex that is most active. Also, in meditation it has been shown that a balancing activity is initiated as we move into the alpha state, a level associated with well-being and endorphin production. Pairing dance with Reiki allows fuller access to our feeling, creative selves; information in the form of images or sensations is freed up through movement to rise from the unconscious to the surface, facilitating psychological insight. What if we are dancing and activate Reiki? This can be done by asking Reiki light to flow down into your body from above as you move, feeling it course through your body, infusing your charkas and other energy centers with light, expanding outward, filling your aura with light. Additionally, the symbols can be imagined and sent to yourself, with directions to loosen and facilitate movement of feet or to hear the beat or, in the case of restricted energy (for example, from stiffness or anxiety), to let the dance energy flow freely. Reiki Dance allows the body to move where and how it needs to, interpretively, without preconceptions or inhibitions of the mind. The result is a synergistic event that invites in spirit so that the life force energy that is Reiki can embody and heal the dancer. After dancing this way, some say they feel they have received a Reiki attunement. What if we are doing Reiki and we begin to dance? We become completely held and creatively inspired by the Reiki energy to dance our true purpose, whatever we are, with fullness. During Reiki Dance something happens that has been described as healing coming from within and bursting out. It manifests itself quite without any great effort. The movements may be infinitesimally small, may be felt but not seen, but afterwards there is an experience of transformation. Or a person might not feel anything much, but their lives change directly afterward in ways that they had hoped or prayed for and sometimes in surprising, unexpected ways that can be painful but are later seen to be for the greatest good. "During Reiki Dance
something For example, a 43-year-old professional woman, who was very committed to her home, four children, friends, and career, was conflicted over the desire her husband had to move back to his country of origin. Immediately after a Reiki Dance chakra-clearing session as described under the first dance below, she was approached by someone interested in buying her house, and she was surprised that she acted on it immediately, even though she had no intention to move. She relocated soon thereafter with ease. Another person, a Reiki practitioner and sports enthusiast, hoped to overcome his chronic shoulder pain. He was grieving several losses in love relationships. Meditating, carefully working out at the gym with a trainer, doing Reiki self-treatments, and receiving treatments created a healthier and happier life, but he still had the pain, although not as severely. He did just a short Reiki dance meditation on the heart charka-a feeling of burden lifted from around the back of his heart area, and with it his shoulder pain. The process he used is described in the second dance below. Dancing clears emotional blockages. From the age of six through twenty-four, my life was dancing, ultimately leading to a career as a professional dancer. When I was ill or unhappy, dance always smoothed over the rough edges and kept me healthy. After I stopped dancing and went to another career, it was for the greatest good. The kind of dancing I had done was very hard on my body, and I had too many injuries to be able to continue, plus there was a hurtful emotional event involving a performance at the end of my career. I did not dance much after that, was unable to enjoy doing it for its own sake rather as a performance, but was missing it all the while. Then, a few years ago, I was feeling a lot of emotional pain over ending a long, committed relationship. I knew I had to act, but it was difficult to move forward because of my fear that the loss would result in abandonment of and by my family. I was also having hip pain for a year that I could not heal. One night while giving myself a Reiki self-treatment, I asked for assistance during Reiji-ho from my highest Reiki Guide, and I received it. I was given a vision of an angel holding a book. I was able to read only the first word: "dancing." I understood that the connection had to do with my blocked energy, emotional and spiritual, resulting in the literal lack of movement, and that the hurtful dance experience from the past held on a cellular level was now manifesting itself on the physical plane. Without the spiritual causal connection, I had not been able to heal it. Once I understood the connection, I right away found a dance opportunity to pursue, was able to make the decision to leave the relationship, and the hip pain disappeared. Thus it was that Reiki instructed me how to move forward on my path. Reiki Dance was more effective than regular and/or therapeutic dance because it was initiated and guided by spirit, and the vibrational frequencies of the Reiki symbols allowed deeply entrenched blockages to be cleared. Here are two Reiki Dance techniques for self-healing that can also be used in Reiki treatment with others. Reiki Guided Symbol Dance Step 1: Stand comfortably with your feet shoulder-width apart and hands in Gassho position until you feel centered. Gassho is the first of the so-called Three Pillars of Reiki, meaning literally "two hands coming together" in Japanese, a meditative technique for calming and grounding in which the mind is stilled as you become a clear channel for Reiki. It is meant to be held for several minutes or longer, hands in prayer position comfortably near the heart, against the sternum with middle (fire) fingers pressed together. News Magazine, Summer 2004 17 Step 2: We know we can focus or direct Reiki to treat a specific area by placing our hands on or near that area. In a similar way, we can direct Reiki to an area with our minds simply by thinking of Reiki and focusing attention on a specific area of our body or energy field. By directing Reiki with your mind, proceed with this step: Breathe in divine Reiki light, directing it with your attention to flow from above your head slowly down to each chakra along the front of your body. Let it flow down to the ground under your feet and then up your back, making a circle of Reiki light over and over as each breath comes in and out, gently letting it massage your whole body, until you feel you are beginning to merge with the Reiki light. Step 3: Initiate Reiji-ho. This is the second of the Three Pillars of Reiki, meaning "indication of the Spirit." The hands are held to the forehead in a prayer position at the brow chakra, to ask the Creator, angels and archangels, ascended masters, Reiki and spirit guides, and light beings to activate free-flowing Reiki, to give thanks for these blessings, and to pray for healing. Step 4: Reiki Dance is spiritually guided, and this guidance is there to keep you grounded and safely in your form during the dance, so it is important that you strengthen your light before you begin. You can do this by tracing the power symbol down the front of your body, by feeling Reiki light envelop your entire form and expand outward like a shining cocoon, and by asking Spirit for protective light to hold and keep you safe. If you become easily transported in an ecstatic way that could cause you to lose your balance, I recommend that you ask someone to be there in the room with you as an observer, spotter, or formholder. Now you are ready to begin. Shake out your arms and legs and ask Reiki to flow. Step 5: If you have Reiki level II or higher, activate the symbols one by one. Each symbol has a special kind of movement that will come to you. Activate the CR and wait until it occurs to your body (not your mind) what to do. Remember, as with giving a Reiki treatment, there is no one way to experience energy, and so it is that there is no one way to dance. Some people feel it kinesthetically through tingling, thermally through heat, auditorily through sound or word, or visually through color or shape. Once you have activated Reiki, let yourself "Feel the Pulse dance to the Beat save your breath you don't need to speak to whole yourself and remember who you are, find the Pulse in your belly let it move your feet." (Holy Note). The CR will move your body to its special vibrational frequency. You don't have to do anything. The Reiki energy will come through you. You are letting go of your ego and personality and stepping aside so that Spirit can freely flow. Begin slowly, giving yourself time to get going. You might stand there swaying slightly for five minutes. One way you might begin is to follow the shape of the symbol with your body or trace it as you move.This is your unique dance. Do whatever you do without expectation, judgment, or anxiety. No one is watching. No one cares what you look like, what you are wearing, who you are, how you sound, how little or much you move, how long or short it lasts. It is for you. Some people cry, others make sounds. This is normal. It is your body, mind, and soul expressing itself. Remember, you are entirely safe within the Reiki light. Do it until you come to a stop naturally. Step 6: Go through the same process with the SH (mental/ emotional symbol), the HS (distant symbol), the DK (Master symbol), and so on until you have danced the three or four or more Usui-Tibetan symbols that you know. You will find that each symbol brings a different dance to each of us. However, there may be common energetic signatures that come in for the symbol that, when you compare notes with others, are similar. This is very interesting. Imagine the power when you grab a rattle or a tambourine or drum with which to make sound. Or put on different kinds of music and experiment. If you do other forms of Reiki (such as Karuna Reiki®, Rainbow Reiki) with many different symbols, be prepared for a long throw down! In this case, I recommend that you do this in a group setting, not alone, unless you are very experienced with using the symbols for some time. These symbols bring in energies that can initiate powerful physical, emotional, and spiritual experiences. Step 7: When you end the dance, give thanks and close by drawing the power symbol on yourself, saying "I bless this dance with Reiki light and love." Your body will have brought you information, and stories, visions, or strong feelings might have occurred, so you may want to journal. Afterwards, be sure to drink plenty of pure water. Reiki Heart Chakra Dance Step 1: Begin by asking that the Etheric Heart Chakra communicate its message through this dance to strengthen and bind together our soul, heart, and mind, and to harmonize the three heart chakras through Reiki. This dance opens in the same way as the first dance (steps 1-4), with preparations of Gassho and Reiji-ho. Step 2: Main Heart Chakra (Surrender). The purpose of these movements is to bring Reiki into this chakra by loosening up and, figuratively speaking, by massaging the heart. The principle is that attitudes such as grasping, controlling, competition, attachment, and other material magnetizations block the ability to do the primary function of surrender, which is letting go. "You have to give up the life you have in order to get the life that's waiting for you." (James Hillman) The lower body moves slowly by sweeping the legs and feet in front, behind, and to the sides. Legs always stay on the ground in this segment, and movement is primarily with the upper body. The simple rhythmic movements relax the diaphragm, slow the heart rate, and regulate the breath as Reiki energy is brought down from the crown to the heart and up from the feet to the heart. As it is above, so it is below: Heaven and Earth meet within the heart as we surrender ourselvesto Reiki love and light. The object is to bring the heart into harmony with the true self. This is done not by being graceful, but by bringing in a state of grace; not by straining, but by stretching and extending so that energy can flow freely to, from, and through the chakra. The back of this chakra is frequently tight or painful when there has been deep hurt mixed with anger from rejection, unrequited love, relationship burdens, or anticipated loss. The front of this chakra is affected more often by emptiness, loneliness, or heartache and grief from separation or loss of love. In both cases, the chakra energy is disrupted as we try to protect ourselves from further pain by constricting or closing off this center. Movement helps to vibrate open the constriction, and then Reiki heals the wound and keeps the chakra open and balanced. One of
my teachers once gave me Step 3: Ascending Heart Chakra (Compassion). These movements are intended to bring Reiki into this chakra primarily by the feeling of "holding the heart." The principle is that we must truly care for the self and let go of self-judgment and criticism before being able to care for others in a compassionate way. Each time there is a wound or hurt to our emotional self without the opportunity for a corrective emotional experience, this energy is stored in our cells as a memory. A corrective experience is actually a spiritual healing that would allow for empathy, caring, warmth, assistance, and support energy to flow into us from another being (a parent, friend, teacher, healer) or source such as Reiki. If we have no prior experience with receiving compassion from others, we may not be able to compassionately (empathetically) care for ourselves. We may carry for years blame, guilt, and shame from wounds lying dormant, ignored, or unknown. Things we have not forgiven ourselves or others for may cause trouble in the form of emotional/psychological and sometimes overtly physical blockages. Hurts from other times or realms also lodge themselves in our physical being and may be even more hidden from the conscious self. As was mentioned before, dance is largely a creative, right brain activity, so it has the potential to bypass inhibitions and even past associative memory, and help to unblock or literally shake free stored experiences from the body memory that are ready to be released so that compassion can come in to heal. The theme of this second dance segment (universal compassion) flows directly from the first dance segment (surrender), because once there is acceptance of surrender, there is a selflessness that opens the way for feeling compassion for self, other, and the universe. One of my teachers once gave me a lesson I will always value. I was telling him of my compassion for the Earth and my concern about what I could do to help, and he said succinctly but gently, "First heal yourself, then heal the earth." Indeed! In another way, so say the five Reiki ideals according to Dr. Usui:Just for today, do not anger, do not worry, be grateful, work hard, respect others. In other words, accept the now (surrender), heal ourselves (compassion and love), and give thanks for our blessings. This is all the heart can do. So in the beginning of this dance segment, both hands are always on the chakra, transmitting free-flowing Reiki to the Ascending Heart Chakra and focusing on the feeling of warmth and caring that is generated. This allows a sense of what the heart is feeling to clearly emerge, and presents an opportunity to cultivate compassion for self and to welcome in the beauty of the self. Once this feeling is in place, the hands move to Gassho and then to Reihi-ho . The lower body is now the focus, as the legs swing forward and back freely, and the body movements are side to side in wider, bigger motions. Step 4: Sacred Heart Chakra (Love). The last segment in this dance focuses on bringing Reiki love into the Sacred Heart Chakra. The principle is that we are all love, and it is good! These movements are lighter and involve some turns and use the arms to expand the Reiki energy out into the auric layer. The feeling of universal love takes us out of ourselves and transports us to another plane. We cease to think about the self and feel at one with all that is. This segment accelerates in its freedom, but not its pace, which is still leisurely and allows for self-expression. It is a happy dance, full of hope and joy. During all three segments, Reiki dancers Level II or higher are encouraged to activate the symbols before dancing and to use them in conjunction with the movements simply by imagining or saying the name to themselves. The symbols can also be breathed in (variation on Koki-ho) and sent with the eyes to a part of your body (Gyoshi-ho) while dancing. For example, in the case of healing an emotional wound to the heart as described in the Main Heart Chakra dance, use the mental/emotional and power symbols; if you wanted to heal a past hurt, use of the distant symbol combined with the Karuna Reiki® symbol Halu; or for comfort, peace, and love, the symbol Om. Step 5: The Reiki Heart Chakra Dance ends with a short personal ceremony of your choosing, perhaps bowing in thanks to Spirit to the directions, the Sun Salutation, asanas, prayers, or prostrations. The group then joins hands and celebrates the peaceful and blissful feelings of surrender, universal compassion, and love that have been inspired by Reiki Dance.© Copyright 2004 Gianna Settin, Ph.D.-Contact Gianna by email at reiki@avantihealingarts.org or at her web site www.avantihealingarts.org
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