DANCING THROUGH OUR DNA: UNLOCKING ANCESTRAL MEMORIES
Hey Human!
As I delved deep into a psychedelic journey a couple of years ago, the medicine revealed a profound vision of the human body as an expansive library, where each cell serves as a book narrating aspects of our personal stories. This realization illuminated the sacred act of dance, not merely as movement but as a primal language transcending spoken words—a form of ancestral memory encoded within our very DNA.
Dance, in its essence, is storytelling through motion. Each gesture and movement we make on the dance floor connects us to the narratives etched deep within our genetic fabric, telling the stories of generations past. Our bodies are not just vessels; they are repositories of vast historical knowledge, with each cell a volume rich with tales of our lineage.
Imagine, as we dance, that we are leafing through an ancient, dusty tome, each page a revelation of who we are, where we come from, and the paths tread by our ancestors. This act of movement becomes an invitation—an opening of these sacred books, allowing us to read and interpret the deep-seated narratives of our existence, archived not in written words but in the living, breathing movements of our bodies.
Dance offers us a unique opportunity to connect with these narratives. It allows us to explore the contours of our personal and collective memories. In the rhythm and flow of movement, we find echoes of our ancestors' joys, sorrows, and hopes. Each step, spin, and leap carries the weight of countless stories that have shaped us, engaging us in a profound dialogue with our past, revealing our ancestral strengths and the challenges they overcame.
To be clear, when I talk about dancing, I'm not referring to "the pretty dance—the pretty pretty, pick me, pick me dance; the jiffy booby, shake your booty for him dance," as Jewel Mathieson poetically describes in her poem We Have Come to Be Danced. Rather, my reference to dance embodies a deeper communion: a wholehearted expression where the body resonates with the rhythms and beats of the music, where every bone and muscle yields to the unfolding moment, embracing the emergent truths that rise with each breath and beat. A practice that leads us towards a profound sense of liberation, freeing ourselves from the inherited constraints into the space of unbounded possibilities.
In embracing dance, we discover a potent tool for personal and communal healing, unlocking the wisdom stored within us, and finding a path to express our deepest truths.
Our dance floors are sacred spaces where we honor the old tales while weaving new ones. In these sanctuaries, we celebrate both the work that has been done and the work yet to be done, using our bodies to script the next chapters of our stories.
I will meet you there…
Deep Love,
