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What's it all about?
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2 intense emotion of any kind an ecstasy of rage 3 (Psychol) overpowering emotion characterized by loss of self-control and sometimes a temporary loss of consciousness: often associated with orgasm, religious mysticism, and the use of certain drugs 4 Archaic a state of prophetic inspiration, esp. of poetic rapture 5 Slang 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine: a powerful drug that acts as a stimulant and can produce hallucinations (C14: from Old French extasie, via Medieval Latin from Greek ekstasis displacement, trance, from existanai to displace, from ex- out + histanai to cause to stand) Collins English Dictionary - English Definition & Thesaurus
ecstasy (Gk., ek-stasis, ‘standing out of’). The experience, common in all religions, of being carried beyond ordinary, everyday experience into moments of extreme and intense transcendence. The word is used of such a wide range of such experiences that no common core can be identified. Thus it is used of the out-of-the-body experiences of shamans, the third (and next to highest stage) of the analysis of mystical union of Teresa of Avila, trance states, fana–’ among Su–fi–s, the rapture of spirit possession. The neurophysiology of these (usually) brief states is not yet understood... though it is well-known that the inhibition or exclusion of external stimuli (even by the insistent repetition of one stimulus, e.g. by drumming) can lead to dramatic brain consequences, some of which approximate to some of the conditions defined as ecstatic. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions | Date: 1997
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A
couple of web-dictionary definitions of 'ecstasy':
this is what it's all about. Accessing a place which can indeed be a
place of exalted delight, rapture even; it can include, but isn't limited
to, intense emotion. Overpowering? Yes! The invitation is to surrender,
to let go, to allow ourselves to be overpowered by the part of us than
can carry us through the chaos, into those exalted altered states. And
in there, we may most certainly find inspiration, poetic rapture, prophetic
or not. And yes, we're accessing some of the same places we might go
if we drop an 'e'. Connection, body heart and mind in unity, in movement.
Many link the practice to shamanism; though these are not out-of-the-body experiences, but wholly-in-the-body experiences. Many do find the practice leads them into experiences of mystical union too, and into trance states. But it's not a religion: it's a dance. A dance where you don't need to subscribe to a particular set of beliefs or drop a pill or even be young and fit. And as Gabrielle Roth (the founder of the practice) herself says, 'there's no dogma in the dance'. Many see, and seek to use, 5Rhythms as a means of 'self-improvement' in our self-obsessed age of celebrity individualism. Come and improve yourself and be more successful in your work, your relationships. Take this course, do this workshop, you'll feel better, be more popular, and even attract money and wealth to you. Welcome to the 'new age'. For me, what 5Rhythms offers is the antidote to all of that. Rather than improving yourself, come and be yourself, your most free, wildest self, moving as freely as you are able, 'tearing your heart to pieces and giving up your soul'. I make no promises about our narrow cultural notions of 'success' or anything else. It's not going to make you somehow more 'holy' or more 'spiritual'. If you're willing, it's going to call on you to accept the whole of who you are, warts and all, and to open, open not just to the beauty of the world, not just the things we crave and desire, but also the terror of the world, death and destruction and all we dread. To hold both, in each hand, and still dare to breathe, move and even dance. There's an interesting distinction between Movement and Dance that Gabrielle Roth makes - dance is an art-form; movement is a life-form. It's the difference between a practice requiring years of training and acquiring skills to practice an art at a high level and one necessary to life. We all move, we have to, in whatever ways. We're not all born to be great artists (no, 5Rhythms probably won't lead you to your 'inner Nureyev'). However, there's something that happens in the practice of 5Rhythms as a movement-form, which is very interesting. When we occasionally (and yes, perhaps increasingly regularly with greater willingness and practice) drop into the magic place, the ecstatic place where we are unified in body, heart and mind, where we move effortlessly, with total authenticity - for me that is when the movement becomes the dance - I crave that place, that place of such beauty and inner joy. I will gladly shed a thousand skins and burn a thousand hearts to touch that place once more. |