The Dance of the Deities workshop combines mythology, storytelling, Yoga and dance into a powerful process that allows a deep embodiment of spiritual teachings and ways to live them in the big “Dance of Life”.
The Ten Mahavidyas or 10 Wisdom Goddesses are the most revered Tantric Goddesses giving expression to our Highest Truth.
To embrace All that life offers us, both the highs and lows, as well as honouring the major challenges in life, out of the 1000’s of Goddesses in Hinduism, ten were assigned to Tantra to teach us wisdom in every situation.
For this Dance of the Deities series, we will be exploring 5 of the Wisdom Goddesses:
1) Kali (The Fierce Compassion Dance)
A Radical Dance of accepting and embracing ALL parts of ourselves and others with Deep Compassion, Consciousness and Love.
2) Tārā (The Star Dance)
A Dance that ignites the flame within us to shine as brightly as we can in the world.
3) Chinnamastā (The Liberation Dance of Sacrifice)
A Dance of giving something up to allow something else into our lives that is life affirming and leads to freedom.
4) Matangi (The Dance of Creative Expression)
A version of Saraswati, this dance allows us to be a unique channel of creative expression embracing our divine gifts and talents
5) Bhuvaneshwari (The Dance of The Universe)
A Stunningly Beautiful Dance of seeing the Divine Orchestration in our lives and the blessings we receive when we connect with the Universe daily.
The structure of the workshop:
Section 1: Mythology and Symbology of the Deity: (45 min)
Introduction: Philosophy talk, storytelling and sharing the mythology of the Deity
Section 2: Warm-up/ Yoga Asana Practice: (45 min)
Asana practice that reflects the philosophy of the Deity with Mudra, Mantra and Pranayama
Section 3: Dance of the Deity: 2 parts: (75 min)
- Dance is broken down into blocks / counts of 8 / learning small portions of the structured dance sequence, created and choreographed specifically to learn the core teachings of the Deity
- The Entire Dance of the Deity is practised several times to embody
Section 4: Integration: (15min)
Cool down, relaxation and final integration in a relaxed state revisiting teachings, key points and take home lessons from the dance and myth/stories shared.
The whole class will be infused with divinely inspired music, potent ancient mantras and set to contemporary tunes, integrating them into the “Dance of Life”. An experience not to be missed!
All genders welcome!!
Please wear black on the first workshop day and bring journal and pen.