Stretch a Breath
and it becomes Meditation
Stretch a Sound
and it becomes Music
Stretch a Movement
and it becomes Dance
Present moment
awareness is a deep form of relaxation to our body and mind. When the mind is
not fogged by thoughts of the past or the future, our whole being is 100%
involved in the current state and that keeps our inner self fresh. The practice
of music and dance is a state of complete awareness yet complete relaxation
making it a meditative experience. When we let go of our
inhibitions and dance for pure joy, we take our art to a level beyond that
imparted by our training. The pure uninhibited joy transcends the boundaries of
technical finesse and refined beauty making our art and our dance a divine
experience for both ourselves and anyone who is watching us.
Sound or vibration began
with the cosmic dance of Nataraja, making spirituality the seed encompassed
within the flesh of music and dance. It
is the essence of the poetry and music of Meerabai, Surdas, Amir Khusro,
Dyaneshwar, Bindadeen Maharaj and every other great poet of India who ensured
that the space between their poetic lines in infused with the soul of bhakti,
liberation and moksha. The Gods in the Indian pantheon are associated with
various musical instruments- Shiv with the Damru and Rudraveena , Ganesh with the
Mridang, Saraswati with the Veena, Sage Narada with the Thambura, Vishnu with
the Shankh and Krishna with the Bansuri, symbolizing that the pursuit of music takes
us closer to the divine.
Using a purely Newtonian description, when the
frame of reference or axis for movement becomes our body and not the Earth, the
movement becomes still with respect to the Earth. This is meditation-in-motion, which has been practiced by the swirling
dervishes of Turkey, the ghoomars of Rajasthan, dindi folk of Maharashtra and
recently part of the popular sufi repertoire of Kathak. There is also great
similarity between a number of yogic postures and the poses struck in Indian
classical dances, which is the reason why the practice of dance can be
transformative. Using the control of
breath while dancing makes riyaaz one
of great healing; for example, 20 minutes of kathak tatkaar with breath control
is an excellent cardio exercise while also being a meditative experience. Thus, music and dance is considered a sadhana, one with the capability to
transcend barriers of race and religion. The thread of spirituality connects all Indian arts into one unified
whole, bringing out the sadhak within...
