Cape Talk Presenter Sara-Jayne King interviews Cape Town Innerdance Facilitators, Nov 2022

AN AWAKENING & SELF-HEALING PROCESS:

IMAGINE THIS:

You are lying down, eyes are closed, your breath is getting deeper and you start to relax. There is gentle music playing and the music is supporting you to relax more. You have nothing to do but just “be”. Your mind starts to settle. You are surrendering, letting go and dropping into a space of openness.

This is how we start…

As the journey proceeds, participants might move into other positions. Some might even dance!

WHAT IS IT:

The Innerdance process works on bringing people into intuitive, heightened and expansive states of consciousness – sometimes felt as a trance-like experience. Time becomes a large room where the mind begins to explore without inhibitions, constraints or fears. Through this, we navigate the Space of Time freely and we are therefore able to access the Universe.

Innerdance is based on the analogy that our body is a book with stored memories that have been accumulated over lifetimes. With the analogy of the body being a book, the sound waves from the music allow us to access parts of ourselves we are ordinarily unconscious to.

BACKGROUND:

In 2007, this healing modality birthed in the Philippines. It awoke in a man by the name of Pi Villaraza while fasting in isolation for two years, eating mostly just coconuts, in a remote island of the Philippines. It then spread to over tens and thousands of people all over the world and today is known as the Innerdance.

Leigh-Rose travelled to the Philippines in 2017 where she experienced the Innerdance first hand from Pi and various other teachers on a 5 day intensive retreat. She continues to study with him. Leigh-Rose and Sharyn Timkoe (who was in the Philippines one year before Leigh) brought Innerdance to South Africa.

SOUND PRIMING

The process utilises a powerfully crafted playlist with additional live instruments in a variety of ways. The playlist and instruments are used to guide the arousal of particular brainwave patterns that allow for a breaking down of old patterns, old beliefs and the old self.

If there are deep emotions that are held, this supports these emotions to come up and be addressed. Often people can’t control it. The emotions come up and they can ultimately face them – resulting in some type of healing or shift.

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE MIND AND THE HEART

Human consciousness is a conversation between the heart and the brain. The Innerdance balances these two forces by freeing the heart and brain from old tensions, long-conditioned through vibratory and rhythmic patterns in the music. Your intuitive body starts to speak it’s stored available wisdom and a dialogue begins to be expressed and felt through movement, symbols, emotions, memories and heightened senses.

In each session, the playlist is always different but there is a method that we utilize as facilitators. It works with sound frequencies and voice prompts to shift brain wave states and the nervous system. It often participants from their left analytical brain, to their right more intuitive brain; creating a shift. Some people describe it as an immediate way to get out of their head and into the Heart. It sometimes can feel like your dreaming awake.

AN EXPERIENCE OF DREAMING AWAKE

“The Innerdance playlist puts people’s fears to bed, as the dreamer wakes up consciously.”

There is a strong correlation between Innerdance and the psychedelic phenomenon. What is miraculous about Innerdance, is one doesn’t have to take psychedelics to receive some of the healing benefits and effects that some experience from taking magic mushrooms or plant medicine. Not all people experience dreaming awake; but it is a common experience!

Through the Innerdance process, time perception changes. If you have experienced an NDE (Near Death Experience) or Life Review, it always happens in a space beyond time. Spiritual Awakening and Remembrance usually comes about when we break time.

The rhythms in the Innerdance playlist stimulates the circadian rhythm, bringing reversals and inversions to our internal clockworks. Simply put, we are able to experience dreaming during wake states of consciousness which normally only happens during REM sleep. As this happens time perception expands – From that space, something gets reset and woken up.

Many people who have severe sleep problems, speak of how through regular Innerdance practice; it has allowed them to sleep deeply.

Information Brochure about Innerdance

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BREAKING DOWN OF SYSTEMS

We utilize sound and music in a variety of ways that not only allows participants to enter into these altered states, but it also elicits the breaking down and deconstruction of old patterns, old beliefs and the old self that is wanting to “Die”.

We have millions of years of conditioning we are trying to break down!

Innerdance has been known for death and rebirth experiences, as the very nature of the practice is this wave of movement. In the Innerdance, something must go to sleep before something can wake up. Our rhythms are rewritten, finding equilibrium that breaks apart attachments and judgments. It is a process of deconstruction, so that the New Human can be Born.

SACRED MOVEMENTS AND CODES

For some people, when they drop their inhibitions enough, when they surrender and trust fully – the body starts to wake up. Spontaneous movements may happen; that derives from various openings that get created.

Sacred movements or sacred sounds arise. In the moment it can feel like we are creating the world based on these sacred movements or sounds that are emanating from us.

A lot of the codes are held in our spine. As we bring consciousness to our spine and allow the movements to move through us fluidly, we are allowing kundalini energy to rise and to fall which brings the unitive state we are all seeking. The kundalini is not just about the rising of this energy. It is also about the “falling” of the ego self. We need to let go of control and our mind in order for our true selves to emerge. This also supports us to be fully grounded and connected. This is then the healthy expression of our kundalini energy.

INNERDANCE AND THE BRAIN

This process helps to reroute neurotransmitters in the brain which then brings about new spaces of awareness.

A reset happens. It disrupts and divert the brain from how it usually operates; creating a shift within one’s brainwave frequencies.

The nervous system rebalances which often allows for trauma release, emotional release and expression to be felt and seen that would otherwise be suppressed or unseen. It is also known for improving sleep and depression.

WHY IS INNERDANCE IMPORTANT NOW?

  • The Earth is changing.
  • We are shifting dimensions.
  • We are moving away from duality into oneness
  • In a few years’ time, our bodies won’t be the same.
  • There are humans that are in search to Know Themselves and Evolve through this time.
  • Sound holds the key to this new awakened Earth.
  • There are a few modalities that can support this transition for humans, and Innerdance is one of them.

PRACTICAL ASPECTS

An Innerdance session lasts about 1.5 hours. You always start by lying down. The body, heart and mind then responds as the process unfolds. This will be different for each person and very different for each session, as you are different every time.

The facilitators support with:

  1. The creation of a very safe and nurturing space
  2. Music (Live or pre-mixed playlist)
  3. Sound priming with live instruments
  4. Voice prompts
  5. Energetic bodywork or sound healing when called to do so.

The energy healing and body touch often facilitate deeper releases to take place.

Common experiences from participants are spontaneous movements, spinal movements, tremors, sudden memories or emotions surfacing, deep knowing, enlightening realizations, life review, laughing or crying.

You do not need to have done Innerdance before (or anything similar) to experience the benefits of this. Just come with an open mind and heart to learn more about yourself!

The Inner Dance experience was surprising and revealing. Sharyn and Leigh created a safe and welcoming space. The Inner Dance process invites one to let go and be present with all that is at play for you. I left feeling alive, moved and curious – I found myself being reignited to journal after a long hiatus. I highly recommend this for anyone looking for an opportunity to be reminded of the powerful medicine that is music.

Written by Andrea

During this period of ID, I experienced increased intuition and psychic abilities. Even though its intense i really love this work because it connects me with my spirit and gives me a taste of my true potential.

Written by Mithra

The first layer of my journey was feeling the energies of the feminine. Feeling Earth as the Mother. Earth being the womb holding the children of Earth.

I experienced myself merge with Mother Earth as the feminine taking in the love of father sun. I was open to the penetration of the life giving sun rays, and the love that is the Sun towards the Earth. In my love as the Mother, I felt supported by the Sun. And also wide open for all that Sun had to offer.

In this space, I was moving in waves. Like waves of light. Fluid in the understanding that all within me as Earth is waves of light. Experiencing Nicky in this body moving as waves of light would. At this point I asked how Snake came to be such a strong symbol in ancient spiritual spaces. And I saw how Snake moves like the wave patterns of light, which is the wave pattern of all things. If you watch a snake on the desert sand, he leaves a wave pattern behind.

Moving in waves and open to the Sun, I asked the question, ‘what if I didn’t rely on the Sun to perpetuate life in me, the Mother?’

Whale was born. Whale went deep into the oceans where the Sun couldn’t touch. Wale is big and round like Mama Earth. For all her weight, Wale glides like a whole universe through the water. She experienced creation without Sun. It was beautiful. But it was dark. Wale, moving through the song lines of the waters, missed Sun.

Elephant was born. Elephant, rumbling through the song lines of the Earth. (Elephant has profound communication through the rumblings in their stomach) See Lawrence Anthony, The Elephant Whisperer.

Elephant was Wales Son, not born of the Sun. Sun was jealous. At this point my thoughts intermingled with the story of Ganesh, the Elephant king. (remover of all obstacles). Son of Parvati, whom her husband Lord Shiva (who according to my teacher was never embodied), cut off her sons head in anger. When Parvati explained who the boy was and was full of grief,  Shiva resurrected him with an Elephant head. Which was the first head they found facing East. (Where the Sun rises).

Written by Nicky

Thank you again for the inner dance sessions. It moved a lot within me and every session was profound and needed. What the sessions brought up in me is connecting to my sensuality/sexuality/femininity/willpower and standing in my full power.

Written by Eveline

Thank you very much for this beautiful deep and transformative space yesterday. For me, I started to find myself as a kind of humanlike alien in a spaceship. You were there too as a humanlike alien of the same race :). I felt huge life force energy inside myself I have never felt before and a deep loving connection to you. I felt it was a reunion after a long time. Afterwards, there was a lot of tingling all over my body and it felt like a lot of old staff was cleared out and I did not need to know what it was in particular. This happened especially when you were playing the instruments. I have recognized that this also happened in other inner dance sessions I already did. During the parts where there was a mix with all these different songs, there was just a watcher present that listened attentively to theses sounds and remained undisturbed. That was for me very interesting to experience.

Written by Andrea

The beginning of the journey was painful. Not in my physical body painful, but somewhere in my “bodies” painful. There were gory imagery, imagery that if it was seen in a movie your physical body would cringe. One example of this is I saw an image of my skin being pulled, imagery of needles or nails something sharp going through my arms. The way it was revealed to me, it was a thing of “we gonna strip/ unravel you layer by layer”. I guess the beginning part was the setup for the chain of events that followed.

I cried. I laughed. I cry laughed, if there is such a thing. Mentally screamed or had an image of me screaming.

Birds (different, mostly black birds) came through, different versions of Water came through, different animals or animal parts (e.g paws, whiskers, face). Felt like I was a character from the movie “journey to the centre of the earth”.

I also twitched a lot, hands, fingers, toes arms. Felt a wave of energy pulling from my chest area, wave of energy opening my throat area. When my hands twitched, the word “create” came through. In my stubbornness, I asked create what. So I’m yet to see what’s that about.

Thanks again for facilitating and holding space for the journey. My initial intention was to relieve stress, but before the journey started it changed to “See what comes, take what you can, and release what you can”.

Written by Bongi

Thank you for an extremely powerful session. I’ve done ayahuasca before and there was so much similarity in the experiences. I felt extremely ill about halfway through and I just kept focusing on being with the experience and allowing it to do whatever work it needed to.

Written by Heidi

Thank you for that it was amazing. I had such clear visions again. I am having a lot of intense dreams and synchronicities again. I can’t wait for the next session.

Written by Natalie

Thank you so much again for an amazing Inner Dance session last week. I thoroughly enjoyed it and felt that I was able to move through some stuff which had been keeping me stuck until that point. Deep deep gratitude to you for providing and holding such a beautiful space.

Written by Megan