Dance as Meditation: When Movement Becomes Medicine

The first time I practiced Nataraj Dance Meditation was over twenty years ago, during a tender and difficult period of my life. I was navigating a divorce and deep in the process of healing early childhood wounds. It had been an especially intense week, and a dear guide gently suggested Nataraj as a way to move some of the energy that had nowhere else to go.

I didn’t know what to expect. I only knew I was carrying a lot and I felt stuck, overwhelmed, and sad. I decided to give it a try.

What happened in the meditation surprised me. As I moved freely to the music, I felt something inside me start to soften. The sadness and pain I had been holding didn’t need to be explained or pushed away. They were fluid, like me! As I danced, the heaviness lifted, and in its place, I found a simple, open joy. Movement was the medicine. My body was so happy to just let go and move expressing itself without words, agenda, or story.

When the music stopped and the relaxation phase began, I experienced a sense of rest that I hadn’t known in a long time. My body finally let go. In the last few minutes of celebration, I noticed something returning that had been hiding deep inside waiting for some light to be seen within me: a sense of possibility, aliveness, and trust in life returning.

That experience stayed with me and, in many ways, changed my life.

An Invitation: Join Me for Nataraj on Wednesdays at Noon

You’re warmly invited to join me for Nataraj Meditation on Wednesdays at noon, either in person at 1025 Rosewood #107 or on Zoom—email me for link: arani@devaarani.com.

This is a simple, accessible way to bring movement, expression, and presence into the middle of the week. No experience with dance or meditation is needed. You’re welcome to move gently, slowly, or with more energy—listening to your body and honoring where you are.

One-Hour Nataraj Meditation: Dance Into Stillness

Nataraj is a meditation that includes movement, rest, and celebration.

The practice starts with free dance, letting your body move however it wants to the music. There’s no set choreography or right way to do it. You’re simply invited to let your body lead and let your energy move. After moving, the practice shifts into relaxation and stillness. This gives your nervous system time to take in the changes. Your body rests, your breath settles, and your awareness grows deeper. The meditation finishes with a short celebration dance, welcoming joy, gratitude, and a sense of aliveness back into your body. Together, these phases create a powerful journey: expression, integration, and renewal.

Over the years, I’ve come back to Nataraj and other movement meditations many times. Sometimes it was during healing, sometimes during life changes, and sometimes just because my body needed to move. Dance has helped me in ways that sitting meditation couldn’t. It let me release what was hidden inside, reconnect with pleasure and energy, and feel more comfortable in my own body. I’ve also tried other movement meditations, like 5Rhythms, and I’m always drawn to how movement brings us into the present moment so quickly and honestly. Movement doesn’t skip over healing. It helps support it.

What I love most about Nataraj is how easy it is to join in. You don’t need any experience with dance or meditation. There’s no need to push yourself or perform. You can move at your own pace, take breaks, and listen to what your body needs that day. Nataraj is especially helpful in the middle of the week or day. It offers a gentle, supportive way to reset your nervous system, release stuck energy, and return to daily life feeling lighter.

Why Movement Matters in Healing

We often say that emotions are meant to be felt. Another way to say this is that emotions are energy in motion. When energy isn’t allowed to move, it doesn’t disappear. It gets held. Muscles tighten. Breath shortens. The nervous system shifts into protection. Over time, we expend enormous energy simply keeping feelings contained. Movement gives us another way. When we move our bodies, our energy moves too. We don’t have to hold on so tightly. Creativity comes back, our breath deepens, and we feel more space inside. Dance is one of the most natural ways to help this process. Before we learned to sit still and act composed, our ancestors knew to move the body. We shook, swayed, stomped, and spun allowing our energy and emotions the fluidity they need for balence.

Dance as Integration After Plant Medicine

Integration doesn’t happen through the mind. After a plant medicine experience, many people try to understand what happened—to think their way into meaning, clarity, or change. While reflection has its place, insight often gets stuck when it stays in the mind.

Dance offers another pathway. Movement allows the body to metabolize experience without needing language. It supports fluidity where there has been contraction, and expression where energy might otherwise loop in thought. Through dance, sensation, emotion, and insight can move together, helping the experience find its way into the nervous system, the muscles, and daily life. For many people, movement becomes the missing bridge between ceremony and embodiment.

Dance and Healing the Mother Wound

For those working with the mother wound, movement can be especially powerful. Many of us learned early on to contain ourselves—to quiet our impulses, restrict our bodies, and limit our expression in order to stay connected or safe. Over time, this can lead to holding, bracing, and a sense of disconnection from our natural vitality.

Dance gently challenges that pattern. When we allow
 allow the body to move freely, without judgment or performance, something begins to unwind. Energy that has been held down can rise and circulate. Expression becomes possible again. Joy, grief, anger, and tenderness all have room to move. In this way, dance becomes a form of reparenting—offering permission, safety, and choice where there once was containment and suppression.

Movement as Medicine

This February, I’ll be offering Movement as Medicine, which focuses on movement practices that support healing, integration, and being present in your body.

Movement has been with me throughout my life. It’s helped me through grief, change, and growth, and it’s also brought me joy, play, and creativity.

When we let our bodies move, we invite life to flow through us again. Join me!