Welcome to the dance module. This is an opportunity for you to really begin to use movement as a way of healing. Movement and dance and any kind of creative flow of energy that you do in your body is very important for you to explore this medium over the next week or two. What I'd like to invite you to do is I'd like you to think about how you could use music, use your body, use a natural flow. A natural rhythm for you to begin to open yourself up to allow the energetic creativity of the well-spring of energy to begin to open up and emerge. Dance is very powerful. Dance has been used as a way of healing for centuries through many, many different cultures where people use dance as a way of healing. A dance as a way of creating community. Dance as a way of creating almost a feverish pitch of energy where people get into a community and dance together. So I want you to think about ways in which you can explore your ability to move, your ability to open yourself up in this way. When I'm talking about using dance, dance is an opportunity for you to really embody yourself. Feel yourself move and flow. You may be able to be inspired by music, music might get you into a certain rhythm. What we're going to do in this module, explore different kinds of mediums. You're going to hear stories of healing. I'm going to ask people to come in and share how they use movement as a way of healing themselves. There have been many people over the last many, many years. Anna Halprin is a famous dancer in California, has used dance as a way of creating community, a way of healing community, about bringing people together to be able to move together and create circles together. As well as through ancient times where people came together in more of a tribal ceremonies and they used dance as a way of creating ritual, and ceremony, and passages in their lives. So dance is a very exciting medium. And I want you to begin to explore it every single day. This week, when you do this module, I want you to spend some time everyday, maybe 15 or 20 minutes, in the mornings, afternoons, whenever it comes to you, where you're going to begin to explore your own body. And letting your body naturally move, letting your body do what it does. One of the powerful ways dance is healing is allows us to move inside our body and follow our body as the master of our movement. It's allowing you to go to that center that is within you, finding that center and begin to explore. Begin to explore where you naturally flow spontaneously. What I'd like to do, and then I'll be able to show you, with costuming, with scarves, you might be able to put scarves in the room. When we started the Arts and Medicine program at Shands, one of the most powerful mediums that we introduced was dance. And you don't have to do full body dancing. Sometimes you can just do dancing with your hands, dancing with your scarves, using your body as a way to explore the possibilities. Play with your limitations. Play with just the ecstasy of moving. What does it feel like to move in your body in a way that feels really beautiful, really good. And also let your body lead you inside yourself to where things inside yourself may emerge. And I'll spend some time talking about this a little bit more. I'd like to invite you to begin every single day seeing your life as a dance, seeing the way you move around in the world as a dance. The way you get up in the morning and move through your day, let that be in a form of a dance. Feel the beauty and the lusciousness and the deliciousness of just being in your body. Allow your body to be celebrated in the movement. Allow your body to flow naturally. Everyone is a dancer. And it's an opportunity for you just to play. If you feel awkward in your body, play with that awkwardness. Dance with your awkwardness. Dance with maybe your stiffness or tension, moving through. Maybe you want to exercise and use dance as a way of moving and exercising and getting your heart rate going, and everything moving, and creating vitality. There's a lot of ways to explore this. Dance is really an opportunity for you to create a physical shift in yourself. Dance is a powerful healing modality. So I invite you, this next module, to move, to move, to move in every way, shape, and form possible. So welcome to the module of letting it go and dancing.
