Customer Reviews

Sweat Your Prayers

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"When you finally commit yourself completely to a creative act, knots inside you will loosen." (p. 128)

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!)

I was raised in a religious tradition that views the body as the source of sin and the antithesis of spirit. Over the years, most of my physical activity (e.g., yoga) has focussed on disciplining the body so that it wouldn't get in the way of the soul's higher aspirations. Although I enjoyed dancing in social settings, I considered this merely one of the crass earthly pleasures, and never took myself seriously as a dancer because I don't have a "dancer's body." Then last year, at the age of 50-plus, in a moment of "Oh, what the h*ll" I succumbed to a long-standing fascination with belly dancing and signed up for a class. It's been a revelation: not only am I stronger and fitter, but I've become friends with my body as never before.
Gabrielle Roth went through a similar process, and the results are embodied in her workshops, videos, music CDs, and, now, this book. Genuinely respecting one's body as a partner to the soul is a radical notion for most of us. Roth appeals to our intuition (our gut feelings!) as well as our rational mind, and the book is not only thought-provoking but exciting on many levels. Her passion, vitality, and enthusiasm are well expressed through her writing; she phrases her thoughts memorably, and the book is an unmitigated pleasure to read. While I don't buy all of her quasi-Jungian view of personality, one doesn't have to to appreciate the book or the author's general approach to dance as a spiritual practice. Heartily recommended, and deserves reading and rereading.

Another artist making a literary crossover is Gabrielle Roth. She is probably best known for Gabrielle Roth and the Mirrors, her percussion, rhythmic music group. However, Ms. Roth is more involved with dance as a spiritual map. Ms. Roth has developed a five part rhythmic expression to transform music into dance, dance into emotion and from this emotion to a Spiritual experience.

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."

Roth begins with a beautiful poetic autobiog-journey about her own body and how she came to be doing her work in trance-dance/movement as spiritual practice. The book then explores her framework of five rhythms, and also delves into her view of archetypes within everyone . . . dual trinities, one male and one female. I didn't quite embrace all of it, but it's provocative. If you are new to Roth's work and want to try "sweating your prayers" at home, her 1993 video "The Wave", which is excellent, is where to start, but the book gives a deeper look at her work and explores why people yearn for this kind of movement. Also, Roth's personality is rich, theatrical, warm, sassy, genuine . . . it was a pleasure to get to know her through this book.

this book came into my life at a crucial time and re-awakened something in me that had been dormant for too long. gabrielle is an urban shaman, leading the reader through the 5 rhythms (of movement AND of life), the various corresponding archetypes (son, father, holy spirit, mistress, mother and madonna, just to name a few), and her own personal experiences to elucidate and bring to light her system of seeing and being in the world. This book rocks, and for anyone who ever felt the divine spark within dance or movement, wondered about the mysticism within a trance-state, or anyone who feels stuck in their present life situation, this is required reading! Not only does gabrielle root her philosophy and practice in the physical, her work is such that the body becomes a vehicle for psychological and spiritual growth and unfoldment... if you don't believe me or can't figure out how she could do that, all i can recommend is that you buy this book and see it for yourself. it's beautiful. btw, this book turned me on to gabrielle's cd's to dance/move to, and also propelled me to work with a 5 rhythm movement teacher in my area. gabrielle is a clear, radiant, joyous, intimate, guiding light within our congested and toxic world. read this book, absorb it and enrich your life.

I love her music. I really liked Maps to Ecstasy. I think this book is a bit overwrought in its attempt to assign such specific archetypal labels to each of the rhythms. Every few pages or so, all I wanted to do was toss the book, turn on the stereo and move around some--and forget all the psychobabble. I found it cumbersome and tiresome. At some point, you just gotta shutup and dance...

This book helped to me recognize that life is a dance to me. It has given me tools to ground this flighty Gemini in a dance. The 5 rhythms are amazing to use dancing to electronic music (especially goa trance!) and recommended for all of us "new school" dancers that listen to electronic music as our way of life.

Everything I've ever felt about dance and movement she's put into words. Very clear, organized and insightful.

Great book. I`s mystic and so full of life at the same time.You will never see your body the same again.

I like Gabriel Roth's music, but in her book she's full of herself, constantly congratulating herself for being hanging out in "hip" and "funky" clubs in East Village. Seeming to recognize the empty pompousness of her story, she awkwardly and unconvenciencly envokes "God" has ghostwriting events. Writing about dance is difficult. I recommend Constance Schrader's "A Sense of Dance" for a grounded discussion, free of image.