Ecstatic Dance: Healing and Self-Discovery through Dance

In ecstatic dance there are no choreographies, structured steps or verbal communication. You move with complete freedom, expressing yourself fully and experiencing inner liberation through your movements. The experience unfolds along a consciously curated musical journey that may include electronic music, world rhythms, shamanic drumming or acoustic sounds.

Through ecstatic dance you can effortlessly release stress, dissolve physical and mental blockages and experience a profound sense of freedom. The movement naturally heals your body, reconnecting you with yourself, stimulating your self-healing powers and enhancing the flow of your inner energy. With the Egely Wheel, you’ll even get clear, objective feedback on how your bio-energy is changing after dancing.

The continuous and rhythmic nature of ecstatic dance gently guides you into a meditative state, opening doors to your inner world. It enables you to become deeply aware of your emotions, recognise hidden feelings and understand subconscious patterns. Ecstatic Dance thus becomes a powerful tool for cultivating self-awareness, allowing you to establish a deeper and more conscious connection with yourself. With the Egely Wheel you’ll gain an even more precise insight into your inner states.

Even without words, ecstatic dance creates a powerful sense of connection – both within yourself and with other dancers. This shared experience allows you to feel unity, the synergy of collective energies and the comforting support of the group. By using the Egely Wheel after these sessions, you will be able to experience how the presence and energy of others affects your own level of vitality.

You arrive quietly in the room with soft music to help you settle in. At this stage you warm up, stretch, relax and begin to gently feel your body in preparation for the deeper experience.

At the end of the ecstatic dance, there’s usually a slower, meditative phase where you can calm down, relax, maybe maybe lie down like you would at the end of a yoga session. Often, this is accompanied by sound healing with Tibetan singing bowls. Then there’s a chance to briefly share what you’ve experienced during the event.

Movement meditation is a form of meditation in which the movement of the body becomes the focus of meditation. Unlike traditional meditation techniques, which often involve sitting or lying down, movement helps to bring you into the present moment. Ecstatic dance is just one of many forms of movement meditation, all of which promote harmony of body and mind.

It is also important to mention dance therapy, which is known to be a complementary method of emotional healing. What distinguishes dance therapy from therapeutic dance, such as ecstatic dance, is that it uses movement as a way for clients and therapists to deal with psychological issues such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, eating disorders, and non-clinical issues such as low self-esteem or grief.

The 5Rhythms method was developed by Gabrielle Roth in the 1970s. It is a free movement meditation, similar to ecstatic dance, that leads through five energetic rhythms in sequence, known as a ‘Wave’.

Ecstatic dance and the various forms of movement meditation offer one of many ways to live more consciously, more fully and in deeper connection with yourself. Whichever method you choose, the first step is the most important: to enter with courage and determination and discover how movement can deeply transform the harmony of your body, mind and spirit.