To dance is to declare: I am here, I am alive, and I am in loving guardianship of the sacred.

Early in my eco-somatics career, I had the incredible privilege of learning from Aunty Edna O’Malley, a Miriwoong Cultural Leader. Edna spoke to me about the importance of dancing up Country as an act of spiritual guardianship. And more specifically, the importance of practicing ceremony to ensure the vitality of Country (which includes humans) by warding off low vibrational energies that may cause intentional harm to people & place.

This is because ceremony - of which dance is a key feature - raises our vibrational frequency to a degree that malevolent forces cannot sustain themselves due to the energetic dissonance. In other words, it’s an alchemical practice.

With curiousity, Edna and I discussed the influence of this on social issues facing the wider community today. Whilst I deeply respected what she shared with me, it wasn’t until years later that I truly understood the potency of what she was teaching me (and with respect, this is only my interpretation).

I have since come to know through my own embodied experience that dance is not simply a fun hobby or art form but a vital aspect of naturecultural wellbeing. Its practical functions are extensive - from actively shaping our neurology to informing our worldview.

And importantly, as an act of spiritual guardianship.

I was recently listening to the Emerald Podcast where my teacher Josh Schrei also talked extensively about this principle of guardianship. He affirmed that without consistent practices that actively fill our heart, body & mind with spacious, loving energy, we often leave the door open for cheeky energies to have their way with us.

This is why the creatress of 5 Rhythms, Gabrielle Roth, said “if you went to the shaman & told them you were sick, he/she would first ask you - when did you stop dancing?”

Because it is ritualised activities such as dancing, singing & prayer that lift our spirit & protect us from forces that would rather see us roll around in our suffering. These practices also help us move & alchemise emotions that these forces love to feed on.

Hence the reason why so many people find it hard to escape the loop of depression because there is something inside of them (often a force that found its way in through a soul fracture) that is benefitting from them staying down.

This may sound far-out or you may not want to believe me but in the physical world, it’s very easy for us to accept that there are people who actively cause harm & others who don’t. The unseen realm is no different. This doesn’t necessarily make them ‘evil’, it’s just their nature as part of this dualistic reality. It just IS.

But ultimately, you don’t need to take my word for it. Go & have a boogie and tell me you don’t feel ALIVE afterwards. That’s all the evidence you need.

This is because dance addresses the most sacred wound of all - our separation from nature & the divine (and it’s our unresolved wounds where these beings often enter).

Yet when we dance - we remember. Whether conscious of it or not, we re-enter a state of conjunctive union & we literally shake the sillies away. With every step, swirl & sway, we call back the parts of ourselves scattered by the world’s weight.

This is why dance isn’t just movement; it’s a reclamation of our role as keepers of the sacred, an akido-style rebellion against all that seeks to pull us from our center. To dance is to declare: I am here, I am alive, and I am in loving guardianship of the sacred.