Somewhere along the way, I noticed that as I danced, I could feel a portal open up within my body. The music, the movement and the rhythm of my breath swept me into an altered state of consciousness. It was not alcohol or drug induced. It did not matter whether I was alone or with a partner on the dance floor. I was present in my body but transported to a trance-like state. I literally had no idea what miraculous event was happening to me. As a science student in university, it was a bit baffling.

When I eventually walked into my first 5Rhythms® dance class in a small gymnasium in Cambridge England in the mid 1990’s, it was not love at first sight! I was used to aerobic fitness classes, traditional ballroom dance and the nightclub scene. The concept of conscious dance as a mindfulness practice with no choreography was completely foreign to me. But something about it fascinated me. I awkwardly fumbled through the Rhythms. My teacher’s minimal instructions but consistent presence and witnessing invited me to a personal exploration of the 5Rhythms® practice. I kept coming back to learn more. It did not take long before I started to sense the connection of my ecstatic nightclub dances to the portal of ecstasy through the 5Rhythms®.

Years later, I learned that trance states induced from movement were normal in many cultures and tribes around the world. As a white settler woman, this intrigued me. Gabrielle Roth, the founder of the 5Rhythms® practice, would describe this phenomena as “becoming danced” by something greater than ourselves. She said that when we surrender our body-mind-spirit to the bigger dance that we could heal ourselves.

The 5Rhythms® practice became my lifeline and my movement healing practice. I was smitten with these simple but profound Rhythms. I danced my way to becoming a certified teacher in 2014.

I’ve danced through birth, death, love, broken hearts, success, illness, injury and life’s multitude of mundane events.

Around 2012, I had long been practicing the 5Rhythms® when I noticed that my trance states were happening more frequently. It was like I was entering into a movie where I was flooded with images & sensations in my body. Then I noticed my dreams becoming more vivid and even my waking consciousness was tinged with these visions and sensations. I asked a 5Rhythms® teacher for guidance. She recommended I talk to a woman well versed in the spirit world.

Meeting Nikiah Seeds and sharing about my altered consciousness experiences was like being welcomed home to a place I did not even know I belonged to! She gently guided me across the threshold into explorations of Priestess and spirit work / shamanic studies as I continued to dance. It was a perfect marriage of dance, somatic re-patterning and spirit-led healing.

Over the past 7 years of personal mentorship with Nikiah, I have worked hard to heal myself and my personal ancestral lineages.

My apprenticeship and initiation as a spirit worker was a four-year deep dive into traditional spirit healing and ancestral animist traditions through the lineage of Spirit Healers and Mystics, taught and held in community by Nikiah Seeds. This time included hundreds of in-person hours, hands on experience, ritual and ceremony. I would describe the spirit training as “core-shamanism” and it is deeply rooted in personal ancestral healing practices. I also explored all of the teachings through my lens and portal of the 5Rhythms® and other conscious movement practices.

The intensive spirit work revealed much shadow and light within my soul. It mirrored much of the body-based psychotherapy I had done previously.

My own spirit-led healing process is continuing to unfold and be witnessed and held by a community of initiated healers. The pathway of spirit-led healing work weaves seamlessly with my somatic re-patterning and my 5Rhythms® certifications.

I would not say that I chose this path in life – rather that it chose me. I am deeply committed to my personal healing and transformation in this life time  as I walk between the seen and unseen worlds, traveling the road to happy destiny. I hope you join me somewhere along the way.

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