The dGurdjieff’s sacred d ances uncommon practice. They consist of coded sequences, accompanied by music: for each dance a precise sequence and a precise music.

The discipline and practice of the dances constitute a deep and concentrated meditative commitment . The movements appear simple, but train the mind and body for focused and continuous mastery.

Soili Rainieri lives in Lumen, an eco -village where the fundamental principles of naturopathy are taught and lived are taught and experienced . A teacher of holistic disciplines, Soili has been dealing with Gurdjieff Dances for about 18 years, first as a student, then as an assistant, and still herself as a trainer in movements and dances.

Among the various courses organized by his teacher Shurta , who has been practicing and disseminating dances for over 30 years throughout northern and central Italy, Soili collaborates in the organization of the  seminars in Milan and Piacenza. .

When I ask Soili what dances are for her she replies, very naturally : “My first experience through dances was very strong. I had no idea what I was doing, but they left me with a taste and a state that I was unable to reproduce except through the dances themselves. My goal has become to practice dances to be able to reach that state even in my daily life “.

So let’s try to better understand Gurdjieff’s Sacred Dances .

What are dances?

The dances are a practice popularized by GI Gurdjieff , a Caucasian master of philosophical disciplines. Through his travels in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Gurdjieff gathered information, mainly drawing on an ancient oriental culture. Thus he also encountered the Sacred Dances.

He then spread what are exercises related to the possibility of using the brain in an unusual way . The dances consist of free body movement techniques, performed in groups .

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Why define these dances as “sacred”?

The dances are defined as sacred because Gurdjieff, who taught a precise number of them, derived them, in part, from the ancient Sufi culture .

Gurdjieff also created 39 movements , inspired by the Dances. The movements have a different purpose than the dances: the dances connect the human being with a greater energy , which can be tapped, while the movements, as far as my experience is concerned, produce an inner energy, more linked to the unblocking of some conditions of the human being.

What are the benefits for the body and mind?

The purposes of the dances are many. The first of these is, through the asynchronous movements between the right and left sides of the body, to make the two hemispheres of the brain work in equilibrium. .

The dances oblige the hemispheres to a collaboration that is not ordinary. This collaboration produces an inner state that allows the person to experience uncommon emotions and states .

Not only that: the dances allow you to create a meditation in movement , then produce a condition of inner emptiness, which allows us to feel more present in that moment, allowing us to stop what is the incessant cycle of thoughts, and experience unusual and unfamiliar emotions. mechanical.

The benefits are therefore manifold: I have seen people who, following the groups of dances and movements, have managed to recover balance on a physical level, regaining motor skills compromised by accidents and traumas.

What is the underlying philosophy?

We know well that the human being is made up of several parts, according to the philosophy of the “Fourth Way” popularized by GI Gurdjieff. Three of these parts can be identified as the “rational plane”, “emotional plane”, and “physical plane” .

The interesting aspect of the dances is that they push the body to create particular movements, and in order for these movements to be performed it is necessary to have the experience of freeing the mind, and therefore the rational plan.

When I can get the body to move with its own energy , without the limits imposed by the mind, then I can experience emotions that do not normally arise.

In this way all three centers of the human being are able to feed on their own energy , without using the energy of another center, and move in synchrony.

This state is not normal to produce in our daily life, it takes an effort , and the dances allow me to experience it both during the performance and outside the group of dancers.