A blindfold, darkness, and music.
“Your mat is your island. Your safe zone,” Henna, our Finnish volunteer and current 200h teacher training participant, explains. “On there you dance, shake, and move in whatever way you want. It’s important that you stay on your mat so you don’t accidentally slap someone mid-dance,” she adds with a wink.
Gathered in the new shala, staff and volunteers exchange small, nervous smiles. “How do we know when the twenty minutes are up?” someone asks. “The moment you hear waves, that’s your signal to lie down on your mat and feel the echo of your movement.” For many participants, it’s their first time joining something that resembles ecstatic dance or a shake-out. Yet the energy is curious and open. An experience where we can all step out of our comfort zone together.
The Shake Out
The lights are dimmed, blindfolds go on, and music fills the room. It is the sound of drums, the forest, and singing voices that awaken something primal. Bodies move, breaths deepen, and everything begins to connect with the rhythm. The way each person moves becomes their own journey of self-exploration, self-discovery, and courage.
What the Shake out Actually Felt Like
After the session, everyone’s breathless and exhausted from all the movement, yet with a big smile on their face. When have we ever shaken it all out for twenty minutes straight?
“In the beginning, I felt very weird. I didn’t really dare to move as freely. But the longer we stayed in it, the more I could let go,” Demi, another teacher training student recounts.
Our cook Nikoleta agrees. “I’m very self-conscious if I participate in things like this. But I have to say, the blindfolds and darkness really do the trick. Knowing that nobody is watching me, gives me the freedom and confidence to move as ridiculously and awkwardly as my body wants and needs to. And that is extremely releasing.”
Why We Will Do It Again
Shake-out sessions are a very different experience from dancing in a club, where many, especially women, feel highly observed and judged. In our shake-out session, we are no longer looking or being looked at. There are no rules to be followed other than to stay on your little mat-island. And that leaves us only with ourselves: with our own bodies and our own limitations and explorations of the self.
Research on this topic is still developing, but there is already evidence that unchoreographed dancing encourages self-discovery and mindfulness. One study found that participants felt that the movement helped them cope with their depression or anxiety, while others reported that they felt more present in their bodies.
Until more research is done, we’ll continue shaking it out together.
All photography by Jenny Kostoglacis & Gloria Jimenez
IG: @pausewithjenny