This was an enthralling read. Interestingly, the way you described dance as a way of enjoying physicality and helping the mind be freer and clearer-sighted resonated with my experiences practicing a martial art (aikido)! It's different from dance--different focus, skillset, and objective--but I think, maybe, it's doing something similar for me? It lets me revel in physicality (and its power and movement), and it helps me feel more alive, aware, and present in the moment.
Anyway. This was my first time learning of the dakini. Thank you very much for sharing.
Yes! Totally! Actually the original version of this post included a hat tip to martial arts, but I had to cut the essay down (it was becoming a dissertation). Christina Moon, a Zen monk, writes about this so beautifully on her Substack, which I think she has now moved on from, but still worth a read: https://cmoon.substack.com/p/stand-tall-cut-straight?utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true
Kitchens are underrated dance floors :) I need to watch that Pina tribute again and also her performance in Pedro Almodovar's Talk to Her...I wish I could move like that. Thank you for reading, Julia! I love hearing your thoughts.
💃🏻 ❤️ So good to hear from you! I was worried that the word "dakini" might throw people off, so I'm happy to know you find it enticing! I hope you enjoy this essay.
This touched on so many things I've been thinking about lately and brought them together in a new way! I'm not a big dancer, but music is very important to me and just this week, thanks to Maia Duerr's latest post, I figured out that the kind of music I've been playing a lot lately (singing and accompanying myself on the mandolin) is maybe me coming home to my true 'practice' - something much more closely related to meditation than the old, goal-driven way I used to practise music, and my best hope of reaching 'ecstasy' in the Greek sense. I find it really interesting that despite the ban on dance, Christianity kept music in a big way - I guess because you can do it standing still so it seems less carnal and more Godly?! And clearly there isn't much duende in Christian choral music. But even 'cleaner', more dignified forms of music are deeply embodied and very exposing - even if not as much 'tearing' the voice or throwing your body around in space - so it's interesting that even the Puritans didn't eliminate music entirely.
I also really love the idea that Europeans colonised themselves before they colonised others. This makes me think of the tradition English dance form, Morris dancing, which these days is very niche and mostly regarded as kind of lame and cringe. The people who do it are usually white, middle class and over 50 😂 There's a sense that it's less valid than traditional forms of dance in other countries, and sure, it's a bit silly, but I'm not sure that it's objectively sillier than Scottish or Irish dancing. I think this has a lot to do with colonialism - partly because we were always the coloniser, so traditional music and dance never took on a sense of defiance or resistance, but also because there's now a post-colonial legacy of shame, such that many progressive people in England have an aversion to anything that could be spun as nationalistic or patriotic. I think maybe this is a perfect example of how successfully we colonised ourselves first - and continue to colonise ourselves, perhaps. And maybe this is also intertwined with our aversion to 'earnestness', which I wrote about the other week - our national inability to be sincere and our terror of being cringe, which makes it harder for us to embrace anything raw and exposing like duende.
Anywho, I could go on but I've practically written you a whole essay so I'll stop! Suffice it to say that this has given me much food for thought!
I love hearing your thoughts on this! It's funny how some music gets labeled as "dignified" and some doesn't, right? It's as though percussive rhythm was considered irreverent. God forbid someone tap their feet and feel a feeling while in church.
Cedric Robinson's book on the subject of colonialism and racial capitalism is stunning. He considered himself a surrealist, not a Marxist. (Makes total sense when you become more familiar with his work.) It's a hefty and academic book but fascinating to read.
Your comments on Morris dancing make me think about Appalachian flat-flooting which is something I grew up. It's a bit like Scottish clogging I think, but with Native American and West African rhythms and syncopation. I totally found it cringe as a teenager--largely in part because anything that sounds like "Americana" or "country" music gets appropriated to some degree by the right wing and white supremacists (in spite of the fact that there is really no such thing as racially pure "white" music in American music, and a lot of country musicians are liberal). At the same time, flat-footing and what's called "Old Time" music or hillbilly music is considered a kind of class marker in the U.S. of poor, rural white people, so there's a kind of a reclamatory power in listening to it. It's strange how these aesthetics quickly get pushed and pulled in this ongoing political struggle of colonization, racism, classism, and shame.
I think of New Wave music as both extremely British and extremely earnest 😂 So I'm glad someone found a way to be both.
So much music is involved in meditation and prayer that it makes perfect sense to me that it could be a form of meditation itself. And I'm honestly bewildered that we now all suddenly think we should sit and meditate every day like monks or yogins. I love meditation but consider it an odd-ball, kind of eccentric desire that I have, the way other people desire to 100 mile marathons. I definitely wouldn't encourage everyone to do it! There are so many ways to practice, especially if the goal is just to feel more present and relax 💙
I love the raw, ecstatic dance that you write about. Moving my body in this way makes me feel closer to Truth--it turns off my brain and I can experience living in a human body directly.
I also have a practice that is a kind of dance. This isn't ecstatic dance but more ritualized movements -- almost like Qigong. Even these calm, quiet, smaller movements accomplish the same thing. I do my practice through my body. Everything from Vajrayana visualizations to Nature of Mind practice is available through these movements.
Thank you for writing about this. I miss having a community that understands movement as practice. ❤️
Doing “practice through the body” makes so much sense to me, even when the body isn’t moving…Have you heard of Nejang Yoga? It’s a kind of physical, hatha like yoga from the Tibetan tradition. I don’t practice it personally but it might be up your alley 💜 It’s amazing to me how we can use movement from all kinds of traditions and dance forms as a way to support practice.
Sarah, I found a book on Nejang and it looks so interesting. I'm going to order it. Thank you for telling me about this. Do you know anyone who does practice this? How did they learn it?
I don't know anyone personally but there is a class on Nejang that is starting up at this sangha where I also meditate: https://www.yangtiyoga.com/calendar
It's also something taught at Pure Lands Farms, which has online classes. Good luck!
Ooo. Thank you, Sarah. I'll check it out. I haven't heard about it.
I've been wanting to teach yogic/mindful/spiritual practice movement to my clients but I don't want to do yoga. So many people have a conceptual idea about yoga and I want people to truly be in the experience. I thought about learning Trul Khor but it's very vigorous (and my clients are older and have temperamental bodies). I'll check out Nejang.
Oh! I think that is included in the Nejang Yoga postures? You should definitely check out Pure Lands Farms if that is something that interests you. I've heard it's great!
Excellent! I loved the connections in the piece. Connecting the joy, the sadness, the fearlessness. All born from immediate embodied presence with whatever is arising.
Since starting my dakini practice I have danced a lot more and a lot more fearless. I only made that connection later on.
I shared this post with my community. It feels relevant.
Aw thanks, Nicolai! The dakini practices give way to such bravery 💜 One thing I’ve found that I’m much less afraid of making mistakes or getting something “wrong,” since this all in perpetual motion and self-liberating.
I facilitate an ecstatic dance class every month. I wish I could read my guests this whole gift of words. Absolutely beautiful and I will be coming back to read it a few more times.
Sometimes I joke with myself that I must've been a dakini in another lifetime because I know I was born to dance. When I dance I feel the most alive and connected to whatever is beyond me. ❤️ Dance is inherently liberating and what a gift it is to me that I get to share it
That's wonderful! I've always wanted to try ecstatic dance. I'm happy you enjoyed this piece and that I'm not alone in wanting to dance like a dakini 🩷 Dancing is such a powerful way to feel connected to "whatever is beyond" us. It's so delightful, it's so addictive. Thank you for reading, Rosalie!
This was an enthralling read. Interestingly, the way you described dance as a way of enjoying physicality and helping the mind be freer and clearer-sighted resonated with my experiences practicing a martial art (aikido)! It's different from dance--different focus, skillset, and objective--but I think, maybe, it's doing something similar for me? It lets me revel in physicality (and its power and movement), and it helps me feel more alive, aware, and present in the moment.
Anyway. This was my first time learning of the dakini. Thank you very much for sharing.
Yes! Totally! Actually the original version of this post included a hat tip to martial arts, but I had to cut the essay down (it was becoming a dissertation). Christina Moon, a Zen monk, writes about this so beautifully on her Substack, which I think she has now moved on from, but still worth a read: https://cmoon.substack.com/p/stand-tall-cut-straight?utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true
Such a beautiful weave of dakinis, dance, duende and lament! Thank you for bringing them together Sarah.
The mear mention of Pina and I feel something stirring in my blood, an urge to dance has awoken - to the kitchen!
Kitchens are underrated dance floors :) I need to watch that Pina tribute again and also her performance in Pedro Almodovar's Talk to Her...I wish I could move like that. Thank you for reading, Julia! I love hearing your thoughts.
Oh how I love seeing the word dakini grace my inbox 🥹 my favorite people. bookmarking this for tea later today!!
I love them and I’m so delighted their wild magic and mischief is being sprinkled upon substack!!⚡️🧚❤️🔥
🩷💃🏻 Here to sprinkle as much dakini magic as I possibly can. Grateful to share this with you, Kate! Thank you for reading.
💃🏻 ❤️ So good to hear from you! I was worried that the word "dakini" might throw people off, so I'm happy to know you find it enticing! I hope you enjoy this essay.
This touched on so many things I've been thinking about lately and brought them together in a new way! I'm not a big dancer, but music is very important to me and just this week, thanks to Maia Duerr's latest post, I figured out that the kind of music I've been playing a lot lately (singing and accompanying myself on the mandolin) is maybe me coming home to my true 'practice' - something much more closely related to meditation than the old, goal-driven way I used to practise music, and my best hope of reaching 'ecstasy' in the Greek sense. I find it really interesting that despite the ban on dance, Christianity kept music in a big way - I guess because you can do it standing still so it seems less carnal and more Godly?! And clearly there isn't much duende in Christian choral music. But even 'cleaner', more dignified forms of music are deeply embodied and very exposing - even if not as much 'tearing' the voice or throwing your body around in space - so it's interesting that even the Puritans didn't eliminate music entirely.
I also really love the idea that Europeans colonised themselves before they colonised others. This makes me think of the tradition English dance form, Morris dancing, which these days is very niche and mostly regarded as kind of lame and cringe. The people who do it are usually white, middle class and over 50 😂 There's a sense that it's less valid than traditional forms of dance in other countries, and sure, it's a bit silly, but I'm not sure that it's objectively sillier than Scottish or Irish dancing. I think this has a lot to do with colonialism - partly because we were always the coloniser, so traditional music and dance never took on a sense of defiance or resistance, but also because there's now a post-colonial legacy of shame, such that many progressive people in England have an aversion to anything that could be spun as nationalistic or patriotic. I think maybe this is a perfect example of how successfully we colonised ourselves first - and continue to colonise ourselves, perhaps. And maybe this is also intertwined with our aversion to 'earnestness', which I wrote about the other week - our national inability to be sincere and our terror of being cringe, which makes it harder for us to embrace anything raw and exposing like duende.
Anywho, I could go on but I've practically written you a whole essay so I'll stop! Suffice it to say that this has given me much food for thought!
I love hearing your thoughts on this! It's funny how some music gets labeled as "dignified" and some doesn't, right? It's as though percussive rhythm was considered irreverent. God forbid someone tap their feet and feel a feeling while in church.
Cedric Robinson's book on the subject of colonialism and racial capitalism is stunning. He considered himself a surrealist, not a Marxist. (Makes total sense when you become more familiar with his work.) It's a hefty and academic book but fascinating to read.
Your comments on Morris dancing make me think about Appalachian flat-flooting which is something I grew up. It's a bit like Scottish clogging I think, but with Native American and West African rhythms and syncopation. I totally found it cringe as a teenager--largely in part because anything that sounds like "Americana" or "country" music gets appropriated to some degree by the right wing and white supremacists (in spite of the fact that there is really no such thing as racially pure "white" music in American music, and a lot of country musicians are liberal). At the same time, flat-footing and what's called "Old Time" music or hillbilly music is considered a kind of class marker in the U.S. of poor, rural white people, so there's a kind of a reclamatory power in listening to it. It's strange how these aesthetics quickly get pushed and pulled in this ongoing political struggle of colonization, racism, classism, and shame.
I think of New Wave music as both extremely British and extremely earnest 😂 So I'm glad someone found a way to be both.
So much music is involved in meditation and prayer that it makes perfect sense to me that it could be a form of meditation itself. And I'm honestly bewildered that we now all suddenly think we should sit and meditate every day like monks or yogins. I love meditation but consider it an odd-ball, kind of eccentric desire that I have, the way other people desire to 100 mile marathons. I definitely wouldn't encourage everyone to do it! There are so many ways to practice, especially if the goal is just to feel more present and relax 💙
I love the raw, ecstatic dance that you write about. Moving my body in this way makes me feel closer to Truth--it turns off my brain and I can experience living in a human body directly.
I also have a practice that is a kind of dance. This isn't ecstatic dance but more ritualized movements -- almost like Qigong. Even these calm, quiet, smaller movements accomplish the same thing. I do my practice through my body. Everything from Vajrayana visualizations to Nature of Mind practice is available through these movements.
Thank you for writing about this. I miss having a community that understands movement as practice. ❤️
Doing “practice through the body” makes so much sense to me, even when the body isn’t moving…Have you heard of Nejang Yoga? It’s a kind of physical, hatha like yoga from the Tibetan tradition. I don’t practice it personally but it might be up your alley 💜 It’s amazing to me how we can use movement from all kinds of traditions and dance forms as a way to support practice.
Sarah, I found a book on Nejang and it looks so interesting. I'm going to order it. Thank you for telling me about this. Do you know anyone who does practice this? How did they learn it?
I don't know anyone personally but there is a class on Nejang that is starting up at this sangha where I also meditate: https://www.yangtiyoga.com/calendar
It's also something taught at Pure Lands Farms, which has online classes. Good luck!
Thank you very, very much!
Ooo. Thank you, Sarah. I'll check it out. I haven't heard about it.
I've been wanting to teach yogic/mindful/spiritual practice movement to my clients but I don't want to do yoga. So many people have a conceptual idea about yoga and I want people to truly be in the experience. I thought about learning Trul Khor but it's very vigorous (and my clients are older and have temperamental bodies). I'll check out Nejang.
Thank you for the lead.
Oh! I think that is included in the Nejang Yoga postures? You should definitely check out Pure Lands Farms if that is something that interests you. I've heard it's great!
Thank you. I'm clicking around now and it looks really interesting.
Absolutely beautiful and just what I needed to read today. Thank you, Sarah.
🌸🌸🌸🙏🏼
My dancing is done on guitar strings and piano keys now. Dancing days are mostly in the past.
Thanks still counts! 🙏🏼
Excellent! I loved the connections in the piece. Connecting the joy, the sadness, the fearlessness. All born from immediate embodied presence with whatever is arising.
Since starting my dakini practice I have danced a lot more and a lot more fearless. I only made that connection later on.
I shared this post with my community. It feels relevant.
Aw thanks, Nicolai! The dakini practices give way to such bravery 💜 One thing I’ve found that I’m much less afraid of making mistakes or getting something “wrong,” since this all in perpetual motion and self-liberating.
I facilitate an ecstatic dance class every month. I wish I could read my guests this whole gift of words. Absolutely beautiful and I will be coming back to read it a few more times.
Sometimes I joke with myself that I must've been a dakini in another lifetime because I know I was born to dance. When I dance I feel the most alive and connected to whatever is beyond me. ❤️ Dance is inherently liberating and what a gift it is to me that I get to share it
That's wonderful! I've always wanted to try ecstatic dance. I'm happy you enjoyed this piece and that I'm not alone in wanting to dance like a dakini 🩷 Dancing is such a powerful way to feel connected to "whatever is beyond" us. It's so delightful, it's so addictive. Thank you for reading, Rosalie!
Oh I love the dakinis too! And dance - 5 rhythms for me. Thank you.
I think a love of dakinis and a love dance goes hand in hand 🩷 Thank you for sharing your love of the dakini with me!