Dancemeditation Room

I’m so sensitive, so picky. To get my practice going, the room has to be right. It has to lure me in. If I had to thrash through clutter, furniture, dust, distractions, I’d squander the first 10 minutes with set-up or be too discouraged  to Dancemeditate. I know this about myself so I’ve made my Dancemeditation room seduce me into practicing with its irresistible embrace of colors, textures, light, sound, calm. This goes for the outfit as as well. The right clothes help.

Below are a few suggestions for  crafting your welcoming, protective sanctuary. These play a crucial role in shaping movement experience.

The Physical Space

1. A sanctuary space need not be bigger that the full kinesphere of the body (that is, the space you take up when you stretch your arms and legs fully in any direction). The room can be any shape. The dimension up to a medium sized room. A large room is not recommended—your efforts vapor away. A space should embrace you.
2. Make sure it is clean.
3. The space should be warm in winter and cool in summer—a temperature that allows the body to fully relax. Have a rug available if not permanently on the floor, and yoga mat.

Music

4. Music is important, and a simple sound system is plenty. Have it ready all the time. Some people leave mantras playing when they are gone to energize the room. Quiet is fine as well.

5. Practice clothes: find the absolutely most comfortable, conducive, flattering set of ‘vestments’ to use just for practice. These should be something you look forward to putting on. Don’t wear them for anything else, and leave a clean set in the practice sanctuary to avoid the what-to-wear-what-to-wear procrastination.

Journal

6. Keep a practice journal handy. After practice, take a few minutes to write from your experience. (This part of the process is a harmonious transition back from interior quiet.)

A sanctuary’s meditative atmosphere develops over time, the energy becoming more settled and richer. This happens in part from the internal associations developed with the space, in part through an atomic shift in structure of the space on subtle planes, and in part from a growing development in our ability to perceive subtle planes.

Temporal Space

Developing an intimate, safe relationship with yourself means being available to yourself and not to others for the duration of your practice.
1. Set aside to 45—90 minutes a day, 5 to 7 days a week.
2. Turn off the phone.
3. Request that family household members not interrupt you.
4. Put the pets where they are happy and not in your way.
5. If you have other persistent interruptions, figure out how to preempt them before you begin.

Intentional Space

For the period of practice put attention on yourself.
~ Be open to yourself.
~ Be curious.
~ Be accepting.
~ Be with yourself.
We are engaging in the most precious, evolutionary relationship on this earth—a relationship with self, with Self, with body, all that body is, and with the Divine Eternal. This is a one-to-one relationship that encompasses All—a personal and Divine Monogamy in which we are each the Lover and the Beloved.

Dancemeditators Describe Their Room