Rediscover Authentic Aliveness and Connection
This article was originally published in The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. If referencing or sharing this article, please include the following citation:
Paul, N. A. (2024). Dancing into wholeness: An interpretative phenomenological analysis into experiences of healing relational trauma through 5Rhythms. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 56(2), 118-146.
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Heart beating. Body shaking. A slight nausea in my belly and vision of the room around me turning a little bit blurry. This is what I experienced at the thought of sharing my personal experience via blog and social media, for anyone to see.
The discomfort of vulnerability is not new to me. When I first started dancing 5Rthyms and expressing what was going on in my inside through my body, it was terrifying. I was caught up in my head, worrying what others thought, and taking bathroom breaks as an escape. Similarly in one tantra workshop, a river of tears came forth and every cell in my being wanted to run and hide.
Experience has taught me that staying with vulnerability brings incredible gifts. I kept going to dance 5Rthyms, and over time the dissociation and fear in my experience started to melt. It began to give way to immense flow, pleasure and aliveness in my body. An incredible experience of being connected with my authenticity, life, and the sacred. In the tantra workshop, being witnessed in my deep sadness allowed me to receive the care and support of the group. This taught me that it wasn’t shameful to show sadness, rather it makes me human.
Being witnessed in vulnerability allows me to realize and bring forth more of my authenticity. Through the compassionate and present eyes and ears of another, I can access hidden parts of myself and bring them to life in the world.
We each have our unique, evolving relationship to vulnerability. What does vulnerability mean to you?
In addition to simple mindfulness and meditative approaches, sessions may include a number of additional practices selected in collaboration with you for your unique situation to support your healing process.
*Please note that the final section of this blog post contains a discussion of death in the context of a practice for clarifying values and purpose. This topic can sometimes be triggering so feel free to skip if this is the case for you*
Parts work
Sessions will draw on ideas and practices from parts work. Internal Family Systems (IFS), a type of therapy created by Dr Richard Schwartz, is one approach to parts work. IFS assumes our personalities consist of many different parts. This is not pathological, but rather an aspect of what it means to be human that we all exhibit. For example, we could have a part that wants to get fit while another part wants to eat chocolate. Often after experiencing life challenges, parts take on roles that were helpful at the time of the difficulty but are no longer appropriate for our current reality. For example, if Katy was bitten by a dog in childhood she might now have a part that assumes all dogs will bite her and is scared of all dogs – even though most dogs do not bite. Katy really wants to have a pet dog, but this fear gets in the way. Like for Katy, all our parts are trying to help and protect us even if the way they go about it is actually causing us negative consequences in our present reality.
In sessions, we may use a particular framework for parts work from Jules De Vitto in which we gently explore parts of your being to get to know what the part feels, believes and needs. This will allow you to provide this need to the part in a healthy way, so that this part no longer needs to prevent you from moving towards what you wish for. For example, Katy’s avoidance of dogs might be so that she can feel safe. She could obtain this sense of safety in other ways, such as reassuring self-talk that most dogs don’t bite, rather than avoiding dogs. This may lead her to fear dogs less, allowing her to have a pet dog.
I recommend this book if you'd like to learn more about IFS: “Internal Family Systems Skills Training Manual : Trauma-Informed Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, PTSD & Substance Abuse” by Frank Anderson, Martha Sweezy, and Richard Schwartz.
Future self visualizations
Developed by Jevon Dängeli and described in the Authentic Self Empowerment Facilitator Training manual, this practice involves visualizing and connecting with a version of ourselves at a point in the future when we have resolved our present difficulty or reached our desired outcome. Connecting with this future version of ourselves allows us to access wisdom and guidance for our present situation. It can also help us to understand who we need to be to become this future version of ourselves, including the thoughts, feelings, and energy we need to embody. Through connecting with this future self, we can align our energy and being with the future we wish to create.
Self-Compassion
Sometimes we find it easy to be kind and caring towards our loved ones, yet we treat ourselves so harshly. When we make a mistake or are imperfect, a sharp inner critic might pop up reminding us things like “people will reject and abandon you” and “you have to be perfect to be loved”. Having such a harsh attitude towards ourselves can feel incredibly heavy, occupying the majority of our waking thoughts and draining our life-force energy. But it doesn’t need to be this way. Self-compassion practices support us to remember what it is like to hold ourselves in warmth and compassion, which overtime can become our new baseline. In sessions, we will specifically utilize self-compassion practices from Dr Kristin Neff. These may include visualizing an unconditionally loving internal friend and using soothing and supportive self-touch.
Chakras
Chakras are a series of energy centers said to be located within or outside our physical body. A common framework is the seven chakra system. Each chakra is associated with different qualities or life areas. For example, muladhara chakra at the base of the spine is associated with a sense of being grounded and safe in our bodies and in life. When our chakras are blocked or out of balance, we can experience corresponding challenges in that area of life. Through awareness of and healing of the associated chakra, we can bring this life area back into balance and vitality. Each chakra is associated with particular colours, elements, qualities, and location in the body. Working with these dimensions within sessions may support you to become aware of blockages and imbalances within your chakras and in life, and to bring them back into harmony.
(Information on chakras learned through Innercamp Tantra Facilitator Training)
Exploring life energy & sensuality
Sensuality, sexuality and life-force energy are much more than just things to be experienced and expressed within the context of a romantic relationship. They are the sparks of life that run through our being, bringing us more fully alive in this moment and connected to the world around us. We can experience these qualities in many ways. For example, as the pleasure of feeling your heart beating and your body swing and swirl in time to the music as you dance. Perhaps you experience it as the pure joy of being fully present with a friend. Maybe it is the bliss of feeling the warm sand squish though your toes as you walk along the beach in the summertime. Through tuning into our body and senses in the present moment, in connection with the world around us, we can experience becoming more and more fully alive.
In sessions, if appropriate to your current situation, we may explore practices to support you to rediscover sensuality and life-force energy. These could include basic awareness practices of sensations and energy, gentle movement/ shaking practices, and exploration of the root and sacral chakras.
*The next section contains a discussion of death in the context of a practice for clarifying values and purpose. This topic can sometimes be triggering so feel free to skip if this is the case for you*
Meditations from the perspective of death
We are all going to die one day, yet so often we forget this – living our life on autopilot. Forgetting to feel grateful for all the love and goodness that already exists around us. Staying in jobs that are just about ok or that we hate. Enduring mistreatment in relationships. Yet in reality we don’t have forever, and we never know when our time is coming. How might you live your life differently, if you knew you were going to die tomorrow? Sometimes remembering our mortality can allow us to really zone in on what is valuable in life and to identify any changes we need to make to align with this. If appropriate for your situation, we may utilize a practice in which you would visualize your own death and reflect upon your life from this perspective. This practice may support you to identify what is important to you, what you are grateful for, and any changes you with to make.
To explore more on the topic of death I recommend the book: “Living our dying: Reflections on mortality” by Joseph Sharpe.
