I have just taken a wonderful course on Sacred Dance with Banafsheh Sayyad through the Shift Network.  Sama is a beautiful, holy act of meditative dance/whirling that takes one beyond the identification of the body and its world.  The twirling and swirling I did while belly dancing to the melodious Middle Eastern music is brought to a whole new level.  When I used to perform, I would go into another realm, completely surrendering to the music and the dance and letting it just flow through me.  I didn’t consciously choose my movements and did not really remember how I had danced after I had finished dancing.  I just felt complete and joyful like I had been replenished within and was honoured to share it with whomever wanted to watch or engage with it.  I am still inspired to dance with/in Nature.  It is an expression of my joy and gratitude and communion with my Nature family. 

Yet, this is a whole new level of communion and though it is also through the body, when I whirl (Sama), I am focused on the beyond, only really conscious of the feelings of my right foot that is being spun on the floor.  This keeps me grounded, so I don’t get dizzy.  My eyes sometimes close but often are open with heavy lids but not really watching the spinning surroundings.  My thoughts and feelings are devoted to the Divine in the Cosmos.  Sometimes, I feel like I am a spinning planet in the galaxy, amongst other spinning planets, dancing the cosmic dance.  I am far from my room, house, even home planet of Earth, though I sometimes feel that my axis around which I’m spinning, is grounded in the Earth.  Sama is a devotional practice of unconditional Love, for it takes me beyond the limits & conditions of current human perception. My consciousness expands beyond the confined perspective of Homo Sapien to being a universal being out in the cosmos.  With right hand raised above my head with palm facing upwards to receive the blessings from the Divine, my left hand is outstretched at heart level with palm facing down to transmit the blessing onwards.

Granted, this is a process and I am still in the early stages of learning.  I do not whirl very fast and still may have a floundering where I feel a bit light-headed, and have to slow down while bringing my raised arms down to cross over my heart and focus again on what I want to release and compost from my life that will nourish my next phase and from which I can expand and thrive in freer ways.

Banafsheh also grounds the dance in the understanding of the body’s chakra system based upon both the yogic teachings of the chakras and also as they are represented within the Tree of Life as Mary Magdalene experiences and writes about them in “The Gospel of the Beloved Companion”, which is believed to be her gospel, recording her experiences with Jesus.  So, Banafsheh’s course awakens us to capacities of our chakras and how they can serve to expand our perception.  She is an adept of Rumi and frequently breaks into his poetry, often spoken first in Farsi which she then translates into English.   I learned that Rumi did not record his poetry, himself.  He would say it aloud as he whirled in ecstasy and others, his disciples and entourage, would record it.  I have been a long-term admirer of his poetry, which touches me profoundly.  This inspires me even more to dance it.  

I feel that this is such a pivotal time on our planet.  There is so much possibility and the more of us who can choose to be unifying forces rather than divisive ones (or feeling like victims of polarization), the more likely we will join together to co-create a more cohesive and compassionate world.  Practising anything that feeds our compassionate, more expansive nature that inspires us to want to include rather than exclude others, is helpful to this end.  Diversity is not a problem it is the most important survival and thriving trait that a species can have.  However, we need to hone the skills of listening to, empathizing and collaborating with each other in curiosity rather than condemnation.  How do we choose to see others with opposing opinions and perspectives?  Can we still see a common spark of humanity, of Life, that we all share, and focus on that rather than only our differences?

Whirling in Sama, is just one of a myriad ways of expanding the perception of self beyond our personality’s limited boundaries.  Whatever practice appeals to you, I highly suggest that now is the time to pursue a practice that takes you beyond your individualization into an expanded perception of what it can be to be alive right now as a human being.

If you are interested in seeing some of the exciting activities people are doing now to co-create a better, more compassionate world, I highly recommend looking into

joining communities such as One World: www.oneworld.earth

And The Connection Field: www.connectionfield.net

The Founding Mothers’ Movement: (https://www.foundingmothers.world/)

and Global Grandmothers’ Council:(https://globalgrandmotherscouncil.org/)

are all very welcoming and put you in touch with many others world-wide who are gathering to help create a beautiful, compassionate world.  These are all free to join.

Also both The Shift Network www.theshiftnetwork.com and Humanity’s team (www.humanitysteam.org) offer very wide ranges of courses to expand skills and perceptions.