Ecstatic Dance Hawaii

It all began a long, long, long time ago… the guru of this ecstatic dance release lived next door… she was much younger, I was much older… time travels… she is younger, I am not so older… time travels… she is younger, I am a bit older… bright light… wow…what took so long… finally we are together in loving bliss… now she is a guru of a certain dance explosion… a dance that will take you to a place you have never been… a wonderful place… outside your previous experiences… you will let go and free yourself… truly you will… Heeraa mixes music for each session to blow your mind… you can go absolutely nuts, simply sit on your butt or variations in between… chill or rock it to the sky… you will find your way with ease…

Who can’t remember being a child and being completely FREE? Free of expectations, assumptions, judgments, «standards», and, of course, responsibility! :)
And, can you think of a time, when you were too shy to say or do something just because you thought of what other people would think?
Or do you ever feel confined by other people’s expectations?
If you relate to any of these things, then you REALLY REALLY REALLY need to do this.
This was the first and only place I have ever done «ecstatic dance» and I prefer to call it moving meditation. And it’s moving meditation because you have to let your mind go. You don’t think about your day, you don’t judge what is going on in your mind (or what’s going on with your body in this case), you just let your soul FREE.
And sometimes, that’s easier to do when you’re doing something rather than nothing (like in traditional meditation).
So what if you look like a crazy person on the dance floor, sway back and forth, leap high in the air or crawl on the ground. You do what you feel like. So leave your side-​to-​side stepping dance moves at the door and jiggle, wiggle, or roll like a little kid.
No one will snicker at you here. Everyone is here to dance their heart and soul away in all of the directions that their body will move — withOUT judgments, expectations or standards.
This is truly an experience of LETTING GO.

In an era where we acknowledge the need to cultivate the mind, body and spirit as one I was more than glad to stumble across Ecstatic Dance with Heera Sazevich on Craigslist.
Not being a trained dancer (or overly coordinated) I was taken with the description of esctatic dance being «free dance.» The focus of this class is more on personal development than learning complicated dance routines/​choreopgrahy. In fact, you learn absolutely NO dance choreography or moves. What you DO learn, more importantly is to go with the flow, be in the moment and to just have fun!
The class starts off with some reflective thoughts or themes which we discuss or occasionally act out to set the framework for some self-​discovery, self-​processing. The actual dance portion is a total rock out! Heera beats an eclectic collection of beats from around the world, be it tribal, percussive, techno, acoustic, meditative, hip hop or what not. I’ve definitely expanded my appreciation for different types of music (and movement) here.
Being grounded in free dance I’ve «learned» some techniques from fellow classmates be they ballet or modern based, hip hop based or house/​techno. Great stuff :)
Finally, the people I’ve met in class are just fabulous. Ecstatic Dance draws a lot of mind-​body-​spirit focused folks and lots of folks from either dance or yoga backgrounds. It’s an artsy and deeply spiritual crew and just great folks to be around.
If this sounds like your cup of tea, join the fun! Classes are Sundays at St. Andrew’s Priory, Wednesdays at the Academy of the Pacific and Fridays at Kapiolani Community College.