We’re getting started with the 5-Rhythms!
As some of you may know, 5Rhythms is a movement meditation practice devised by Gabrielle Roth in the late 1970s.
It is said to put the body in motion, in order to still the mind. The five rhythms (in order) are Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical and Stillness.
When danced in sequence, it is known as a "Wave." (Source Wikipedia en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/5Rh... )
Here is a short introduction Intro by the Rhythm Village of ca 4 minutes.
It’s a great really short introduction, although the audio is not great. But I’d suggest just watch this ca 3 minute video to immediately “get it”.
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Very Quick Demonstration Video:
Introduction to the 5Rhythms (3:13 min)
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According to Wikipedia, the 5Rhythms “ draws from indigenous and world traditions using tenets of shamanistic, ecstatic, mystical and eastern philosophy. It also draws from Gestalt therapy, the human potential movement and transpersonal psychology. Fundamental to the practice is the idea that everything is energy, and moves in waves, patterns and rhythms.”
What we’ll be doing over the duration of the three weeks is this:
★ Week 1 - Introduction and first follow alongs, using 3 short practice videos to get us moving.
★ Week 2 - More info on the practice and connections to our natural landscapes. 3 follow-along videos of medium length.
★ Week 3 - The original music and the original long practice to follow along to. The founder’s voice will guide us through this practice.
As part of the challenge, we will be doing a short practice at least 3 times per week. I will be posting one post per week, with different follow along videos or sound tracks to keep up our motivation and which will be exploring different accompanying music tracks.
What you will be needing:
★ a space large enough to be able to swing your hands and dance on the spot
★ ideally a screen of TV size and access to YouTube. Audio speakers, if available. One can use a smartphone or tablet, but the experience might not be as good.
★ curiosity and courage to learn a new embodied practice
What I’ll hope everyone will be experiencing is what I have experienced on this journey:
★ a lot of fun moving your body
★ exploring your bodies inherent ability to express ourselves through movement
★ another way to have a cardio workout
So here’s our first set of follow-along videos for our first week. Repeat doing the wave (the 5 rhythm dance) 2 more times this week, choosing from the videos below, and this should help to ‘embody’ the wave sequence.
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Follow Along Video #1:
Introduction to the 5 Rhythms wave with Rachel Kurtz (12:22 min)
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Follow Along Video #2 Short Practice:
5Rhythms Lucia Horan & Douglas Drummond (2:10 min)
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And below is the third video that we’ll be using, and you may recognise it from our week 0 teaser video. It’s a very short 5Rhythms dance movement practice of 2 minutes. The music is perfectly geared towards accompanying the dance, and the shortness provides a go-to music whenever one is in need just to get one’s body moving for 2 minutes. One should be able to squeeze this into the day whenever needed.
The music or video does not signal each rhythm start , so I’ve given the timings below and I would advise to watch it the first time whilst noting the timings when each rhythm starts. But it should then be easily followed just listening to the music cues.
0:00 - Flow
0:30 Staccato
1:03 - Chaos
1:26 - Lyrical
1:50 - Stillness
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Follow Along Video #3 Short Practice:
5Rhythms with Ann Kite (2:07 min)
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And definitely adjust and scale it to your ability and desire.
So let us know how you found this? Does it feel good? Awkward? Funny, silly? Too fast? Too slow? Exhausting or energising?
Let us know!
Next week, more about the founder and moving into medium long practices.
