It’s half ten on a ‘school night’, (30 minutes past my usual bedtime – necessary when you wake up at dawn) I have just got in and I know I need to sleep but I don’t want to go to bed before writing about tonight. I don’t want time to dilute my experience and to let my thoughts on how I expected to experience tonight to cloud the raw experience I had.

First, I want to clarify that the reason for this post is not that I want people to know what I’ve been up to but rather I think that Everyone should have access to this type of practice so I want to spread the word, raise people’s interest and maybe even encourage a few to try it for themselves.

So what is 5Rhythms?

According to Wikipedia, 5Rhythms ‘is a movement meditation practice devised by Gabrielle Roth in the late 1970s.’ This three word definition is without a doubt the most succinct way of describing this movement / meditation / practice, but after my own experience I would probably add – people – connection – music – space – breath and sweat in no particular order.

I’m a bit stuck now, not sure of how to describe movements with words, so instead I will set the scene and share a little explanation of the guidelines. This particular practice takes place in a beautiful Church in Vauxhall (London). Despite being in an urban part of the city, opposite the church is a completely unexpected green space and horse riding centre. (London will never cease to amaze me).

Once you enter the Church, you are welcomed and asked to pay between £8 and £14 depending on your ‘budget’; I love this place already and can’t help but feel like more things in life should be this way. There is already some music playing and unsurprisingly the acoustics are incredible. There is a real mix of people which is refreshing. Although London is very eclectic, many places end up regrouping people who dress the same, act the same and often share the same views. In this space people obviously share some views, at least on what they like to do on a Thursday evening, but there are people of all ages, shapes and forms (best words I could think of…).

The only rules are, no talking on the ‘dance floor’, a beautiful carpet that covers most of the church floor, no phones and no spectating. One of the facilitators does a great job at explaining to us the ‘method’, expressing yourself with your body (with music) and I hang at his every word, desperate to start moving.

Rather than describing how I moved I will just ask you to bring yourself back to your childhood for a moment.  Do you remember being of an age when you could run, jump and dance without being really noticed, people would glance but that would be about it. Well imagine being able to behave like that, as if noone was watching but surrounded by people, knowing that no one around you would judge you, AT ALL! This may be a scary thought, as it means Letting Go but once you do… well, you just have to try it to feel it.

http://www.dancingtao.net/journeys/index.php?p=class1