Connection
The feet the feet
The hands the hands
The powerful alchemy
Of the dance
I went to Adam Barley’s Connection dance workshop in Stroud last weekend, with 3 London friends. Weirdly in another building that was once a military hospital!
There is an elegant relationship between Gabrielle Roth’s 5Rhythms and Family Constellations. I rarely enjoy dancing, it brings up all sorts of feelings of shame, inadequacy, shyness for me, and the body memories of an insecure 5’10” teenage female on a London nightclub dance floor – everyone can see you.
Adam is one of my favourite facilitators – his strength is that he gets me out of my head and into my body on the dance floor. And he can really hold a space, in harmony with his partner MC, with honesty and compassion, that beautiful edge between longing and belonging… We danced, the music was great – I think – it seemed less important than what else was happening in the room. Deep embodied connections, attuning to others on the dance floor, permission to be yourself, in the moment. It felt like I went through the full range of human emotion with my feet! And I danced – more than I have for years, I felt like I couldn’t stop.
I love learning how other embodiment practices marry with Constellations work, and I’m looking forward to bringing some of Adam’s exercises into my Alchemy of Shiva retreat in May at the stunning Trealy Farm retreat centre, and also to learning more from Sherron (another one of my favourite teachers, who can really get me moving!) and the 5Rhythms. For more information, or to take advantage of the Early bird ticket and save £50 before next Saturday, visit Eventbrite. There is also the option to pay a deposit to save your place if you prefer, and pay the balance later. Love, Poppy
P.S. I wrote an article on Embodiment and Attunement in Family Constellations a few years ago for The Knowing Field journal (email me if you’d like a copy, it’s quite long and relatively academic) which references Gabrielle Roth’s work and explains more about how the 5Rhythms and Constellations Work are so synergistic.
P.P.S That article was actually my end of training essay for Barbara Morgan, her sixth UK training starts in the beautiful Embercombe Re-wilding centre in Devon on 29th April – there are still a few places left, and I am looking forward to reprising my role as Barbara’s assistant trainer.
Connection