Can You Go Back Once You Know? How I Found and Lost My Dance
Unmasking as a neurodivergent on the dancefloor
Last weekend, I found myself on the dancefloor of a 5Rhythms workshop for the first time in several years. Along with about twenty others, I was about to go on a two-day journey of finding Equanimity, the workshop’s theme, through my own movement.
5Rhythms is a form of guided movement meditation pioneered by Gabrielle Roth, where participants dance through a “wave” of music, including a variety of different tempos and moods. The intention is to help people connect with themselves and their bodies and, through this, to become more flexible and resourced within the different rhythms of life. For example, learning to find our feet and let go in the rhythm of Chaos (think Prodigy, Rage Against the Machine or some pumping progressive house) can support us to stay grounded and sane in the more unstable or fast-paced, chaotic times of our lives.
It’s been seven years since I’ve had the capacity to treat myself to a deep dive dance workshop, something that was once a big part of my life. As a single mother of a young child, my regular escapes to these dancefloors on my precious child-free alternate weekends were a lifeline and a way to reclaim my body and mind as my own territory.
