Customer Reviews

Maps to Ecstasy Teachings of an Urban

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Reading this book was something like a dance. I moved in readily to embrace her passionate stories and images of dancing, recognizing the value that dance can have for me in letting my body express how it feels. Then, I found myself withdrawing, as Roth began telling me how to experience the world, what labels and definitions to apply to my emotional experience and how I should go about knowing myself. Yet, I was drawn toward her again to discover many pearls of wisdom embedded in the passages of this book. Overall, this book was for me a rich tapestry of life experience and collected wisdom which encouraged and stimulated me to reflect on my relationship with my body and my own psychological reality.

Roth's most vital message, in my judgment, is of the body's role in coming into relationship with the unconscious. Most depth psychologists emphasize the intra-psychic realm, the work to be done within the psyche to develop a strong connection between the ego and the Self. Yet, here is a person whose way of individuation is through the body and she contributes her awareness of this path with great passion and energy. For people who exist at some distance from their bodies, Roth's stories and descriptions of dancing into relationship are food for renewal.

This book is a must read if you are a student of or facilitating ecstatic dance or other movement therapies.