Stepping Outside: Dance or Movement Therapy

 Stepping Outside: Dance or Movement Therapy 

by Fazeel Chauhan posted Feb 3, 2021  

Many years ago, in one of my Yoga classes at CSULA, I heard about and went to a movement therapy group session, which I found to be mysterious, and difficult to get into. For years before that, and years after that, I did not explore it, though by chance I had a few good experiences when certain trance music spontaneously made me dance. I had seen my brother dance at a Sufi shrine, where he went almost every Thursday night for the drumming and dancing spiritual gatherings, in Pakistan. There I saw a very raw and primitive form of the Whirling (darwesh) dance, which some people in the West may have seen, done in the tradition of Rumi, the poet from Turkey. I saw a famous singer try to join that dance at the Sufi shrine in Pakistan, but after a couple of minutes he came out with injured, bleeding feet. We could say that was the layperson's dance therapy, but I thought it was too difficult for me to do.

I have been close to music since childhood, and love playing music, and have enjoyed music from most parts of the world. But dance was something I found difficult. I have always been intrigued by primal dance of African and Native American peoples, but I never got a chance to participate in it. Yet, I have taken part in some other Native American rituals like sweat lodge. Since I have seen that people doing dance therapy or movement therapy benefited from it a lot. So I want to explore it. 

Also, last week in the Embodied Social Justice summit, one of the sessions was about dance therapy. In part of the session, the teacher took a long time to prepare the students for the movement therapy. In another session, a teacher said, "The issues are in the tissues". In my brain, I understand that we carry trauma in the body, or specially in the Western approach, there is a separation between body, heart, mind and soul. That is similar to compartmentalizing the personal life from the professional life, which doesn't seem natural to me. In Psychology I learned that integrity also means to integrate all our roles and identities. Something different would be a split personality or multiple personality. So I am reminded that being more in touch with the body, through dance or movement therapy, a person can better connect their body, mind, and soul. But I haven't looked into it so far.

I was raised practicing Islam in two predominantly Muslim countries; Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Music and specially dance, are greatly discouraged among the conservative sects of Islam, for example in Saudi Arabia. In the culture, modesty is also emphasized, so dancing is considered showing off or flaunting it, or in some cases even the dances in Bollywood movies are considered vulgar. 

So those have been some of the reasons why I didn't explore dance or movement therapy in the past. But now I'm ready to look more into it and learn more about it.

Embodied Social Justice Summit: January 27, 2021

Embodied Social Justice - 5 day, free summit starts Wednesday January 27

On the link below, find the list of speakers, who are doing amazing work in the field of healing

For there is always light,

if only we're brave enough to see it

If only we're brave enough to be it 

– Amanda Gorman

Special Events

Nkem Ndefo kicks off the Summit  with her experiential presentation, Embodied Resilience for Sustainable Activism. This FREE online event has an amazing lineup of experts exploring questions such as:

How can we reimagine and embrace new forms of activism?

How do we take effective action in the world to respond to social justice issues?

How do we become the change we wish to see, and what does it look like from an embodied perspective?

How can we stay grounded and centered and increase our capacity for sustainable change?

Grab your spot for free here:
  https://learn.embodiedyoga.com/a/41539/joWbHcFQ

~~~

The following are other future programs at Lumos Transforms, Los Angeles

https://lumostransforms.com/about/

Calendar

Anchoring Resilience for Turbulent Times: Mondays at 12:00 PM, Thursdays at 7:00 PM, or Saturdays at 8:00 AM PST.

All About Certification with Nkem and Arrowyn| Tuesday, February 16th at 12:00 PM PST

The Resilience Toolkit Facilitator Certification Program – Cohort 10

Reiki Energy Healing Training (Low Cost)

Reiki - Training

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Huntington Beach Reiki

for anyone interested in Reiki or chakras, 

a few years ago, I got training from this small school in Santa Ana. Other places charge thousands of dollars to get to Reiki level I, II, and III. But this place trains people on a donation basis. They have many other weekly classes, sessions, and events including sound bath, crystal healing, etc. 

http://www.freereiki4cancer.com/free-reiki-classes.php

They offer free sessions to cancer patients. 
There are also free reiki-share sessions twice a month. 

Dua for Shifa: Prayer for Healing, Cure and Recovery from illness and disease and suffering

 

Child Abuse

by Fazeel Chauhan

(Published in Pakistan Link  ~  10-10-95)

 It has been said "If you must beat a child, use a thread". In America, even though it is illegal, each year around one million children suffer from child abuse. Sadly, in Pakistan, child abuse is not viewed in general as wrong or destructive to children. Therefore, the vast majority of children end up being abused. Growing up and as adults, millions of these children suffer from mental, social and behavioral problems. Parents and adults need to be aware of the tremendous damage abuse can do to a child's life.
Growing up, my friends and I were frequently abused by people in our families and by our teachers. "Abuse" is usually defined as non-accidental physical attack on (or injury to) children, by individuals caring for them. But abuse can also be verbal, sexual and emotional. It is very painful to see how the lives of some of my friends were destroyed by their parents or "loved ones". My friend Nadeem's parents were working in Dubai and had left him with his aunt in Pakistan. She often used her shoes to beat Nadeem senselessly, on his face and head, in front of the whole neighborhood. This made him feel worthless and humiliated. He's turned into a hermit who finds it very difficult to express his feelings positively and keeps failing in his business ventures. He neglects and abuses his own children, following in his parents' footsteps. Ahmed's father, a military man, was sure that physical punishment and fear tactics were the best means of disciplining his family. He tried to gain their "respect" by scaring them to death. He would line up the whole family in a row and then beat them up one by one, with a broom or hockey stick. Ahmed was so terrorized by his father that he would urinate in his pants. He has developed into a very depressed and scared adult. He is a rebel and hates any kind of authority. He cannot forgive his dead father nor forget his crimes.
These abused children were not mischievous or trouble makers by nature. It was usually the abusers who demanded far more than what the children were capable of providing. Azam's father hit him in the head with an iron rod. He is convinced that this caused brain damage, making him epileptic. He has developed into a very violent person now. Tranquilizers can't calm him down and he frequently beats up various members of his family, including his old father. Indeed, children are not born violent. They learn it from their parents.
Some children experience emotional rather than physical abuse. They may be neglected and ignored by the parents. Waseem was such a case. He had a very sensitive personality. His parents were emotionally unavailable and inattentive, which made him feel rejected and worthless. Thinking no one loved him or cared about him, he started abusing himself with drugs. Now he's a heroin junkie, who has no "self" left. Some adolescents feel very pressured by the family to excel in school. There are cases where kids commit suicide upon failing their exams. Sexual abuse is far more common than we think. Its existence is minimized and denied. My friend Farooq was sexually abused by his uncle. He's an emotionally disturbed adult now, who goes to therapy to heal the pain. He's unsure about his life, particularly about his sexuality. These were some of the cases of young boys whom I personally knew. For little girls I fear that the predicament is much worse.
Child abuse and domestic violence is found in all segments of society. Abused children are not happy, don't feel good about themselves and tend to not enjoy life. They have low self-esteem, poor self-control and negative feelings about the world. Some show high levels of rage, frustration and aggression. Emotionally neglected children who experience lack of love and care, tend to be withdrawn and depressed. They exhibit mental and behavioral problems as they become older. Children learn what they are taught, especially from their parents. Abusive parents teach their children to do the same and the vicious cycle continues from generation to generation.
On the other hand, children who are given love and attention, come to believe that they are loved and look at the world in a positive manner. They have high self-worth and a successful lifestyle. In the book "The Road Less Travelled", Dr. Scott Peck states the following: "If a parent can give a child the feeling that s/he is loved, the child develops high self esteem and self-worth. It is a feeling that no gold in the world can replace. The child grows up having this feeling deep within him/her, that cannot be taken away. Even if s/he's faced with a major crisis, s/he's able to overcome it, believing that s/he has the ability to do so. S/he feels very confident and knows that s/he deserves the best in life, including happiness, love and prosperity. Therefore, s/he does not hesitate to achieve high goals and success.
Most parents want to be good parents. Classes that teach parenting skills often help prevent parents who have abused their children from doing so again. The psychology section of the local bookstore or library is full of books that can help you become a better person and parent. An excellent book by Tara Singh is "How To Raise A Child Of God". Another highly recommended book is "You Can Heal Your Life" by Louise Hay. If you have been a victim of abuse, it is very sad and I empathize with you. But there is lots of hope. You can turn your life around and stop the never-ending poisonous pedagogy that has been going on from generation to generation