Sacred Movement
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Sacred Movement
It all started in August 2013 when my girl friend and I were having a strong feeling that we should collect a group of women and rediscover the original Persian dances, just as they were practised way back in history. I was amazed by my friend’s initial idea yet I immediately felt a strong connection in my body to this subject. We decided to run the project past Natalie Benhayon.
At first, as I was moving my body the way I envisioned Persian dances to be, Natalie remarked that it is very important NOT to make the lower body movements via the hip muscles as it is done in belly dancing.
Traditional Persian dances were not performed for the onlooker and neither were they performances of sexuality, but rather they were expressions of deep, deep femaleness. They had no aspect of aiming to ‘hook’ the audience and get them sexually interested.
We soon realised that there was a distinct difference between the two types of dance and that initially we actually did not really know what Natalie had been talking about however, we were very intrigued and eager to understand.
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We formed a group of 24 women, who had already moved into the elder phases of their lives and had a foundation for the discovery of this deep femaleness that is inherent in all our bodies.
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We came together and started weekly group sessions using the song Persian Dawn from Michael Benhayon’s “The Dance Album, Volume 1” (by Glorious Music).
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In the beginning we would simply be standing in a circle in an attempt to reconnect to our pelvic area, feeling into our bellies and in most cases discovering a sense of numbness and hardness we did not even know had been there.
Whilst Natalie gently guided us through accurate small movements, we became more aware of the tensions we were holding in the area of our female organs. By allowing ourselves to feel this in a loving, non-judgemental way, the emotions we had buried in this part of our body were slowly starting to be released over a period of weeks. A lot came up for all of us to feel, look at and let go of in the way we were living our daily lives in between these group sessions.
As our awareness of our pelvic area increased and a sense of previously unknown aliveness started to become palpable, slowly and in stages, bit by bit, Natalie began to show us more movements that started to include the upper body parts, focussing on arms and shoulders.
We discovered how much hardness and tension we were holding in the upper body and how much we were avoiding expressing our female delicateness and our tenderness. The hardness held across the chest felt like an armour of protection. It was very difficult for most of us to be seen in ‘public’ as the gorgeous, lovely, fragile and glowing women we truly are on the inside, even if this public forum consisted of only a few women in a safe and protected environment.
As the weeks went on, Natalie shifted the focus from moving just as individuals to more interactive movements.
- The deeper connection to ourselves as women suddenly enabled us to open up more to other women and to let each other in. We started talking about how the comparison that we and most women live with creates a great obstacle to our expansion as it keeps us contracted and small. We committed to observing this very ingrained behaviour in our daily lives and realised how detrimental it is to sustaining a deeper connection.
Learning to accept ourselves for who we truly are, in our uniqueness as women especially when in contact with other women ‘lifted the lid’ on what felt like thousands of years of old patterns of holding back our expression. For the first time in our lives something extraordinary started to happen to us as individuals and as a group, especially whilst performing the Sacred Movements together.
We never expected to feel within our own bodies as to what we had observed and felt in Natalie or to then express those very qualities without holding back. It was at this point that without doubt we all knew that the Sacred Movements had literally, from then onwards, changed our lives as women. For ever.
We felt ready and prepared to share a whole sequence of Sacred Movements with a large audience. A group performance in front of about 300 people live and webcasted to hundreds more was suggested. Very unexpectedly we had no stage fright, we were not even nervous, instead we were very calm and centered individually as well as experiencing a strong sense of union within the group. This was not viewed as a performance of our achievements in any way but as a sharing of a discovery which we sensed would ultimately be of great value to everyone.
As we opened up to each other and let the others see us in our unique radiance, the energy in the room became amazing and vibrant. The eyes of the women within the group were shiny, the faces smiling, the bodies moving in a fluidity not known before, the delicateness of each one was tangible and we were courageous enough to be in our exquisite sexiness and beauty.
Sacred Movement is a true healing modality that supports women to heal the insidious hurt of lack of self-worth, whilst the deep understanding of who we truly are sinks in. It can be a great motivation to make changes which are more nourishing and loving towards self, and one’s own body and in allowing a greater sense of empowerment.
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Depending on the individual this might feel like a pulse or perhaps a wave and as we start honouring this sensation, it becomes stronger.
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The joy a woman can feel in her body can be exquisite as she is going through her daily activities. It can definitely change one’s outlook on life and how we relate to others.
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Where there was a sense of separation, isolation and a belief ‘that everyone is only in it for themselves’ there is a new experience of living in connection with all.
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We discovered that most of us have continually been looking outside of ourselves for relief and comfort, which in the end turned out to be temporary and fleeting while the answer to our quest has forever been within ourselves.
The Sacred Movements via our own body can facilitate a direct experience that we are divine in our essence. That as a child of God we are privileged to live our life in direct connection to God and that we are indeed worthy of embodying His love to be shared with all of humanity.
And so ... in her deep wisdom and in being ever so gentle and loving, Natalie had guided us to discover that we are all holding the seed of sacredness deep within our own bodies. And that our sacredness is divine and has always stayed pure, irrespective of what has happened in our individual lives over time. This sacredness, which is in the core of our being, cannot be tampered with or polluted by any outside force. Ever. It represents our direct connection to the Divine and as we clear the layers of energies, emotions and memories which have interfered with us having access to it, the sacredness comes alive again.
Hear Karin speak about the origins of Sacred Movement and the new discoveries women have made through connecting via Sacred Movement
