What is Movement Medicine?

Are you curious about Movement Medicine? Is this your first time in an event? Read on.

What is Movement Medicine™?

Recent studies have shown how dance helps to reinforce new neural connections, improving your mind’s health and your body’s well being, stability, balance and flexibility.

~ By bringing awareness to your body: you reconnect to your essence and wisdom, encouraging health and self-expression. Your body releases tension with a selected blend of supportive music as your guide. You remember your connection to the four elements (earth, water, air, fire) and the Tree of Life. Developing your relationship with these elements as resources is an important aspect of the practice.

~ By bringing awareness to your heart: you connect deeply with yourself, with others and with the mystery of life. You allow support to enter your life as you start to build your own personal circle and recognize how to safely stand in your own center. You welcome yourself and others with gratitude, openess and curiosity.

~ By bringing awareness to your mind: you realise you can let go of old belief systems and patterns. You feel the clarity of your inner guidance help you make sustainable choices for yourself and the world you inhabit. Your mind is now an ally held in the safe container of a healthy body with clear boundaries and creative engagement.

What is Movement Medicine™ Mandala (or journey map)?

Movement Medicine™ was created by Susannah and Ya’Acov Darling Khan in England and is influenced by their many years of teaching and dancing 5Rhythms alongside Gabrielle Roth, as well as their own personal lineages of Neuroscience, Family Constellations, Gestalt therapy and indigenous shamanic wisdom as an understanding of our connection to the natural world and the cycles of life.

The Movement Medicine™ mandala is a map of these resources with 21 stations representing the tree of life:

The lines hold the 4 directions and elements: Earth in the south, Fire in the east, Water in the west and Air in the north.

The five circles in the bottom are the roots of the tree which are our 5 dimensions of awareness: relationship with self, others, community, ancestors and the divine.

The nine spheres along the top represent the branches and hold 9 gateways: Body, heart, mind (Journey of empowerment). Past, present, future (Journey of responsibility). Fulfilment, interconnection, realisation (Manifesting the dream).

In the center, the Phoenix, representing the Great Mystery and weaving around it the polarities of Yin and Yang.

If this sparks curiosity please read this article with especially curated music for each gateway of the Movement Medicine Mandala.

What can I expect in a class?

We usually start the class with some free movement and no guidance, just enjoying the music and taking this precious time to arrive into the space, letting the words go and dropping into our body. Leaving the day behind and stepping into the now. Bringing awareness to our physical body and breath and just feeling what is emerging. All emotions are welcome with respect.

We then have an opening sharing circle to present ourselves to the group and to explain what we’ll be working with. Immediately after we start our dance with simple invitations and guidance to notice parts of ourself and our body. We let the body move freely and intuitively to the rhythm of the specially selected music to release, replenish and relax. We close again in a circle before we leave the space nourished.

I’ve never danced before, can I come?

Absolutely! Movement Medicine events are for anyone who has a body. I hold inclusive spaces for any gender, ethnicity, age or ability. There are no steps to learn, and you are encouraged to listen to your own body limits. You can stop and rest at any time while remaining present in the space. If you need special assistance please email before. Also contact if you want to bring young children, not all events all well suited for them.

Self care tips before and after

These are always drug and alcohol free events so please be mindful of your physical state before you come to dance. Make sure you are hydrated, in good physical and health state, bring water and have appropriate and comfortable clothing. We dance barefoot.

During my events you will be asked to follow 3 “golden rules”:

Respect and take care of your body and take responsibility for your emotions // Respect the people in the space // Respect the space we dance in whether it’s indoors or outdoors.

After the event please make sure you are well grounded and present before going home, drink water and listen to your body. We always take time before we close to ground properly. Practice self-love and compassion and in the rare case that you feel something emerges that you can’t handle on your own, please speak to a therapist or someone you trust. Movement Medicine can bring emotions to the surface. In doubt you can email me at any time. Be mindful this is not a substitute for any medical or psychological treatment.

“Movement Medicine™ is dance for our times. It gives us direct, embodied experience of the dance of life that’s going on inside us and all round us. As a species, we face enormous challenges right now that require us to be as creative as we can be as individuals and as a species. We need to adapt to evolve and dance teaches us to move with life. Movement Medicine reconnects us, deepening our capacity for empathy and compassionate being and action.

Since pre-history, dance, song and dance-based ceremony have played an important role in the human community. Movement Medicine is a contemporary expression of this inheritance. It marries ancient and modern wisdom, and supports you to experience the transformative power of your own potential in co-creative community.”

~ Ya’Acov e Susannah Darling Khan / Movement Medicine: How To Awaken, Dance And Live Your Dreams