5Rhythms - A Shamanic Dance Practice where Movement Is Medicine

New York Live Arts

219 West 19th Street, 10011, New York, NY, United States

Tim Doody

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I’ve traveled a very crooked path to the practice of 5Rhythms. Long before I heard about Gabrielle Roth and her shamanic dance, I'd organized many direct actions in defense of forests and the rights of all beings. Nightline once included me in a shortlist of "particularly troublesome, even dangerous, anarchists." I'd published a bunch of stories, including, "The Heretic", which went viral in 2012 and first popularized the now-common trend of microdosing. Way before any of this, I came of age as a queer Mormon kid with ADHD. Good luck, right?Dancing 5Rhythms teaches me to move with what's really happening - to move to it and through it. To spin circles and strut and shake until second guessing gives way to flowing, until my ego gets breathless and the truth comes out. I move from the ground I know into the epic possibilities beyond it. I cycle back again. I find my fierceness. I face -- or at least peek at -- my fears. I might walk in to a session feeling shut down by doubts and past hurts. But the music comes on, the dancing maniacs around me start to stir, and sure enough, I always get there too.Beat-driven, movement-oriented rituals have been the backbone for many of the tribes I've rolled with - from Earth First!ers to Radical Faeries. The 5Rhythms practice is another one of these community rituals that orients me to what's cosmic. Put your body in motion, Gabrielle Roth said, and the psyche will heal itself. I hope to keep healing. And I hope to co-create awesome rituals where others do the same.