Dances of Ecstasy

The San Bushmen live in a remote part of Namibia. They are the Aboriginal people of Southern Africa whose hunter-gatherer culture goes back over 20,000 years and may now face cultural extinction.
They perform their healing trance-dance according to the health needs or level of tension in the community. The women generate the power by clapping and singing trance-like chants which create an intense energy and vibration.

As the healers dance repetitively around the fire, often for hours, the energy known as “N’um“ that rests at the base of the spine heats up and rises until it bursts out of the crown of the head in a state of transcendence called “Kia.“ In this deep trance state, the healers travel out of their bodies into the spirit world to speak with the spirits. They then have enhanced vision and can see the root of people’s pain and illness. When they return to their bodies, they cure members of the community with hands-on healing.

The Yoruba in Oshogbo, Nigeria, worship deities known as Orishas who are embodiments of “Ashe“ which means vital energy or life force. They are aspects of God and through them human beings can experience the infinite power and light of God. Through ...