Dancing into Liberation

By Parashakti and Ran Baron

What does Liberation mean to you? is Liberation right around the corner? is it really within your reach? do you need to travel to India or Tibet to find it? What is it we try to liberate ourselves from?!

Liberation is having the ability to choose, the freedom and the courage to allow our lives to turn from being a monologue with life into a dialog, or a dance if you will. An expression of a flowing movement, rather than a monotonous repetitive choice-less action. We walk, act and behave ourselves into situations we have no awareness over, nor do we understand how we got to where we are, we just "flow", we let life pull us here and there. These choices are almost predetermined, and we just realize our role in this symphony we call life. When we are confronted with a difficult situation, we tend to call it -- a problem, it is our approach, and our attitude which will determine if this is a mindless-response or a heart born choice. When we are confronted with a positive situation, we tend to call it -- pleasant, beautiful, beneficial... it is our habits and our patterns which determine if we'll be able to see through and judge truly, do I grow from this or not. We are born open, trusting, we absorb what we see, what we encounter from our surroundings. We are born into a mode of "survival", into learning we need to protect ourselves, and slowly but surely, by and by, we build walls around our hearts, making sure that we would not get hurt. We tend to evaluate situations more by judging if they are painful or pleasant, and less if we grow and expand, or grow further away from ourselves.

Liberation means choice, it means the ability to respond, the ability to offer our own voice. A gesture of unity, that only lovers know. When we dissolve into life, our voice, our movement, and our actions would become a harmonious note in this opulent orchestra we relate to on a daily basis. Instead of being a single instrument, shouting, fighting its way through, trying with all its might to be noticed, to be heard, we turn our being into a gentle blow of the wind, complementing, melodious - in harmony.

We live our life in constant conflict. In our endless effort to become something we believe will make us feel whole, happy, content. It's like a dancer who cares for nothing more than the applause at the end of their performance. Or dancing with the intention to perfect each and every move, to dance in such rhythm, in such gusto that the dance will achieve its own life, it's ultimate perfection. We live our life in an endless attempt to ignore our flaws and humanity, and aspire to reach a heavenly, improbable divine. Reach a stature of saintly recognition, professional acknowledgement, or in other words, feel successful or at the very least, loved.

In the Dance of Liberation™, on the dance floor, we welcome the darkness. We want to see nothing but that which is truly ours. Our eyes are blind folded so we can let go of our judgments, so we can leave all of our limiting beliefs out there, at the door, where they belong. We need nothing, look for nothing, aspire to all that is already there. We dance with an open intent to discover our present moment, to hold our own space. It is there, in those moments we let go, that our own path is revealed. Our inner voice finds its self expression. It is there, in the unknown, that the dialog with life can really happen. When we dance with no purpose, with no goal, without caring if we are being seen, if we dance in the "right" way... if we dance gracefully or not, if we are in accordance with the music, not even if we look "good" to our fellow dancers. Once we embrace this journey, and acknowledge the glimpses of freedom we touch within our own dance, we allow a deeper, more profound healing to take place. We recognize the only Liberation would be the Liberation from the confines we've agreed to put ourselves into. We take the responsibility, owning our own actions, choosing as we did while dancing what is our own authentic voice, how do we truly decide to move within our lives.

"When we dance for Liberation, what are we aiming to be liberated from? That is the important question that each individual dancer must pose and answer for themselves. ..When the dancer can glean even the merest glimmer of what it may mean to them to be liberated, then the obstacles that present themselves to that Liberation will begin to be seen in a clearer light, not as problems but as opportunities to let go. It is in the letting go of that which we do not need that healing begins."
- Sharon Gannon, Founder of Jivamukti Yoga School

Liberation means, that our actions are an endless acceptance of who we are, a complete whole being, which is on its process and is forever walking the path of its becoming. An endless story which unfolds with our every move, with every breath we choose to take. We dance blindfolded. Our senses slowly withdraw inwards, deepening the experience. We start to "see" with our feet, with our hearts, with our soul. Our sense of self expands. We can't see... those dancers around us slowly drop their colors... their gender... our judgment... all that remains is a shared beat, a mutual harmony of fellow explorers, diving into their own discovery. A deep sense of togetherness arises, a fellowship that forms between those who walk side by side on the same path. We feel connected, maybe for the first time without the need to see and define each other. Without knowing or coming to conclusions about those around us, just letting them be, as they are, with the acceptance of our own process.

The dancers are guided by a constant and binding thread. The constant beat of the drummers' drum. The incessant flow of the all-enveloping music that surrounds and nurtures their each and every movement. As they begin to move, the music, the beat, their breath and body all merge into one harmonious resonance. The music carries the dancer into deeper realms of letting go, allowing them to relax and open themselves to a spontaneous flow of movement, unknown to them, unplanned, and definitely not choreographed. As they sway and explore these new sensations, a new type of movement is allowed to be born. Since the music has no language, it becomes an extension of the dancers inner most soul. Wording its expression and surfacing with and through their body, their feet and their breath. We complete this cycle with returning to stillness, allowing the music to withdraw, making way for silence to take its place. It is at those moments, where glimpses of profound knowing can happen.

When we reach the place of silence and it takes over, the movement ceases with it. We allow the body to relax. To stop. To breath. We lay down, and allow our hearts to lead us back into ourselves. All that is left is a deep sensation of wholeness, of acceptance, of peace.

As the dancers remove their blindfolds, they reconnect, sitting around in a sharing circle. Those physical limitations, are now turned into a magnifying glass, amplifying the emotional experience, shedding more light into our own freedom to express ourselves through our movement.

This cycle, danced and experienced in the Dance of Liberation™, is the cycle of growth, the timeless story of those who walk the hills and valleys of the spiritual path. It is our own story, of choosing a human form, allowing the divine experience to enter into darkness, choosing to cover its own eyes, and search and discover its own dance, its endless movement just to merge back into stillness at the end of this cycle, being whole, complete, and filled with our inner light.