“We are the world’s memory
we just need to remember what it is in our cells
the fruits of the summer
the voluptuous love
the ability to put ourselves in the shoes of the other
the contact
the courage to innovate
the embrace, the goodbye and the encounter
the sea in our skin
the music of life
Biodanza gives us back the ancestral memory
the absolute possibility of Love”
– Rolando Toro Araneda
Biodanza works by bypassing the logical, neo-cortex, in human evolution the most recently developed part of our brain. Biodanza works instead with the more ancient parts of our brain, the amygdala and the other areas of the limbic system, which are responsible for our moods, emotions and feelings.
Music is the medium for stimulating these areas, and the VIVENCIAS ( intensely experienced present moment ) that are induced, cause all sorts of beneficial chemical processes to come into effect in the body.
Some hormones, for example endorphines are released to a greater degree, as are some neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin.
These physical changes bring about recuperation and rejuvenation and serve to rest, relax and revitalise the body in a natural, healthy and progressive way
Biodanza has found all human behaviour to fall into one of 5 key areas on human expression – these are :
VITALITY – SEXUALITY – CREATIVITY – AFFECTIVITY – TRANSCENDENCE
We call these the 5 lines of VIVENCIA.
These are the aspects of our identity in which there is room for growth:
- Vitality – our vital energy, our essential life force and power, motion and movement. Vitality is also about the body’s innate ability to find balance between activity and rest.
- Sexuality – our ability to feel alive and open for enjoyment through all the senses, to rediscover what feels good in our life, to dare to let go, to feel the sensuality and develop our ability to connect with each other.
- Creativity – our verbal and nonverbal expressions, our capacity to explore the world with confidence and free spontaneity, to create and renew our daily life if and when we choose.
- Affectivity – our natural instinct for respect, tenderness, love, brotherhood and solidarity with ourselves, other people and all life. Our capacity to improve our relationships.
- Transcendence – our ability to reach beyond our own ego, and look at life in a larger context. To awaken the potential to experience the fullness, expansion, intimacy and oneness with all life forms on earth and in the universe.
During a Biodanza session we get the opportunity to experience, awaken, embrace, develop and strengthen these aspects of ourselves.
Each class of Biodanza will stimulate all 5 lines but will usually concentrate on 1, 2 and possibly 3.
