Sweat Your Prayers: Movement as Spiritual Practice [Paperback]

We can sort spiritual paths and psychological techniques by how the approach the human body. Gabrielle Roth's book serves as a useful adjunct to those paths that honor the body, rather than ignoring or minimizing it. For the atheists and agnostics out there, this book can also be used at a psychological level, and does not necessitate belief in "prayer" as a sacrament. In the book Roth presents five archetypal rhythms that help break some of the self-destructive patterns of Western culture and re-unite the practitioner with his or her spirit.

Roth begins the book with a brief autobiography, which also serves to establish her bona fides for writing a work on the spiritual/psychological use of dance and movement. She challenges the Western dismemberment of flesh from soul, body from spirit, she reclaims the chthonic and carnal. "The soul can only be present when body and spirit are one; it cannot breathe, exist, or move disconnected from the body." (p. 4) This book is her testimony to how we can retrieve our souls through our bodies.

Roth introduces the idea of the dance as a spiritual practice. She gives examples from her own life, challenges a list of excuses (I hate my body ... I'm too old ... I'm too shy). Then she offers "the only dance lesson you'll ever need:" Everybody has to find their own way, in their own time/space constraints to practice. She reminds us that "life is rhythm" and we need only participate in that rhythm consciously to be dancing, to be re-weaving body and soul. She then offers five concepts to help prepare for doing the rhythms: 1) That the goal is to move, to experience, not to complete something; 2) Dance happens in space, between things, between people, between worlds; 3) Awareness is the key element of dance, by paying attention to the body in rhythm, we alter consciousness and manifest our souls; 4) Follow your breath, let your breath move you; 5) Choose music that speaks to you and makes you aware of the five rhythms that make up Roth's "Wave".

She presents the five basic rhythms (flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical, and stillness) and links them to primal archetypes. She has created glyphs/symbols for these links, and invites the reader to create their own. Each of the five rhythms gets its own chapter, detailing ideas linking the rhythm to archetypes, body, soul, and heart. Roth explains well, providing compelling examples to illustrate her points. Each chapter has exercises ("To Do/Not Do") as well as a list of words that elicit the archetypes for Roth. Poetry and quotations sprinkle through each chapter.

Roth concludes with a chapter called "Waves" where she presents examples of the five rhythms that go beyond dance, examining among others experiences of the subway, relationships, and architecture. Some examples are hers, others come from friends and students. The book provides contact information for the author, as well as video and CD resources.

Roth does an entertaining job of describing a spiritual/psychological physical practice as well as a state of being that has tremendous potential to enhance life. I have worked with her rhythms at times in my life, and found this approach to be empowering. Other times I avoid the movement, the dance-and I'm not certain why. I have found this work quite helpful and recommend it to anybody who feels the need to better connect body and soul.

(If you'd like to dialogue further about this book, click on the "about me" link above & drop me an email. Thanks!)

Her book is a handbook to transform dance into a Spiritual expression. I loved her mix of personal experiences, stories, and humor to teach her five rhythms, what they mean and how to apply them. The path always leads to our own personal spiritual growth. She explores the five rhythms of flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical and stillness. She blends the feminine with the masculine and melds this with trance and dance, lifting it to Spirituality.

The five rhythms dancing can be done with your group, or you can do it alone. You do not have to have lessons, or be expert, or graceful, just willing to let yourself go and explore your sense of rhythm and spirituality.

This is a wonderful instructional book, lots of feeling and sincerity on the part of Ms. Roth. I enjoyed her style of writing and her treatment of the subject shows a true commitment on her part. An excerpt from her opening chapter stuck in my head for a long while: "Energy moves in waves. Waves move in patterns. Patterns move in rhythms. A human being is just that, energy, waves, patterns, rhythms. Nothing more. Nothing less. A dance."