Last year's 5Rhythms on the River weekend was the summer's highlight for the 50+ who came. This year, they're bringing their friends! So get onboard soon to secure your space ...

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July 29 - August 1, 2010
(Arrive on Thursday 7/29 OR Friday 7/30, stay thru Sunday)
5Rhythms on the Trinity River ~

• 5Rhythms / Sweat Your Prayers ~ with Shawn Swanson of The Moving Center School
• SoulHeart Yoga ~ with Yemaya Renuka Duby
• Contact Improvisation ~ with Rana ~Satori~ Stewart
• Ecstatic Fireside Poetry ~ with Special Guest, DreamingBear Kanaan
• Whitewater Rafting (optional, 0, 1 or 2 days) with Gail ~the RiverGuidess~ and friends
• Delectable Meals ~ by Elizabeth Rojas, the Gumbo Girl
~* ~* ~* Cordon Bleu Chef, of NCDC & DNE Dance Camps. Raw vegan options also available by request.

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"Put the psyche in motion and it will heal itself." ~ Gabrielle Roth

Join us as we drop deeply into our personal and collective "flow” ... becoming embodied and fully present with ourselves, with our community AND with the river! Novice to experienced rafters (and dancers!) are welcome on this fun, beautiful Class III river in the Trinity Alps ... Landlubbers are welcome too, as there's plenty to do (or NOT do!) while others in our group are rafting ...

Head out of town on Thursday or Friday morning to enjoy an early arrival, relax and dance before dinner. Our beautiful, secluded, spacious and wooded campsite is along the north fork of the river, miles away from any neighboring camp. This site has a large flat clearing where we will set up our sound ... and dance to our hearts' content!

Enjoy one or two days of Class III river rafting, interspersed with several land-based dance Waves (in the style of "Sweat Your Prayers"), with the final dance on Sunday morning. Afterwards, head over to a lush, pristine swimming hole just down the road, then onward toward home later in the afternoon. (See options for 0, 1, or 2 rafting days, below.)

Evenings will be spent together in circle around the campfire, so don't leave home without your drums and instruments, poetry and stories ...

What are the 5Rhythms?
Developed by Gabrielle Roth, the 5Rhythms are a simple, powerful moving meditation that anyone – of any age, size, or physical ability - can practice. There are no steps to follow, no choreography to learn, no way to do it wrong. The only requirement is a body that is still breathing, a heart that is still beating, and mind that is still curious!

Just like light, sound or ocean (or river) waves, a dancing body when moving freely passes through 5 distinct rhythmic patterns: flow, staccato, chaos, lyrical, and stillness. These patterns continuously repeat themselves in a wave of motion. Click here for more from the Moving Center School .....

Click for a short video clip
from 2008, compliments of Barry C.

Click for slideshow from last summer's 5Rhythms river trip!

5Rhythms Dance, DJ'd by Shawn Swanson ...

"River rafting and 5Rhythms dance – how do they go together? Perfectly! The 5Rhythms is a practice of being in the moment.  Practice at being aware of your body, your needs, your environment and how to weaveall this together in the present moment.  This practice is based on dance, a very enjoyable way to practice life, if you ask me.  

"Now picture yourself in a boat on a river (musical reference implied).  You guide the raft through the flow of the river with the staccato movements of your paddle.  At the same timeyou strive for control of the raft, you must also accept and work with the chaos of the swirling river.  Once through a patch of choppy water you will most assuredly feel a sweet, lyrical high ;-}  And in between all these water-borne waves of experience, there will be patches of smooth sailing were we can pause for the moment and savor the experience of stillness.  Sounds like another great way to practice life!"

Shawn Swanson has spent much of his life exploring the present moment through movement and athletics. In 1993, he began his study of meditation, breath work and other forms of self-inquiry. Dance had been a love of his since his first middle school ball, and over the years Shawn could feel some greater possibility lurking just out of reach while dancing. This possibility became a rich reality when he discovered the 5Rhythms in the year 2000.

SoulHeart Yoga, with Yemaya Renuka Duby

A lover of the sea, of all bodies of water, and of barefoot living,Yemaya brings 18 years of Yoga practice and transformative ritual dance facilitation, as well as 20 years of Chakra systems study. As a teacher, she is loved for her inspiring presence, her graceful compassion, and her spunky sense of humour! In our practice at the river, she will invite us into the grace that comes when we let go and flow with life ...

Born in Nice and raised in Paris, Yemaya started to awaken to her true nature in Northern California 20 years ago. Inspired by many beautiful souls and the Spirit of the Earth, her path led her to the disciplined austerities of Zen and Hindu monasteries, and to the lushly deep purification of sacred plant medicines, and Earth ritual practices, training her to both masculine and feminine paths of healing. A visionary comfortable walking the paths less traveled, she was guided to move to the island of Kauai, Hawaii, in 2001, to continue her facilitation of eco-sustainable community model designs and networks, started here in the Bay Area around 1995. She also continued to develop transformational dance journeywork, which grew to become Freedom Dances. She developed a committed following in Hawaii and in BC, Canada, where she spent the last few years. She is now back in the Bay Area, offering Rosen Method Bodywork, private Yoga sessions, as well as retreats to Sacred Earth Temples. Contact Yemaya at www.manaom.org

Ecstatic Fireside Poetry and Nature Walks ~ with DreamingBear Kanaan

DreamingBear is a spiritual terrorist of tenderness who is dropping quark-sized Love-bombs in such quantities that the country is on red-alert! He is a master word-smith delivering his fervent message with extraordinary verbal dexterity and relevance. He's a nomadic bard, a hip mystic and modern-language Sufic style philosopher-poet all rolled into the best stand-up monologuist to hit the scene as long as I can remember!

He draws his audiences in using language laced with erotically nuanced temptations that morph into personalized challenges to de-evolve the socialized bounds of our ego and re-evolve from the place of infinite possibilities into the person you've always known you could be but never had the courage to really, really let loose. He sets "poetically timed detonations of ego-destroying devices" as he animates the room with his physicality and entrances his participants with pregnant poetic prose made of liquid Love that explodes like dynamism in the hearts of those around him.

On this trip, become entranced nightly by DreamingBear's Ecstatic Fireside Poetry. He will also lead daytime guided nature walks and quantum talks for non-rafting participants. Private sessions will be available as requested ...

"DreamingBear is the best conscious poet on the planet, his love spells magically open the heart!"
~ Mark Victor Hansen

"If you'd like to experience a living combination of Spaulding Gray, Rumi, Jack Kerouac, Robin Williams, Shel Silverstien, Michael Talbot and Thich Nhat Han- you owe it to yourself to see Dreaming Bear."
~ Frank Marino, Elevate Films

To learn more, visit www.dreamingbear.net

Contact Improvisation, with Rana "Satori" Stewart

Contact improvisation dance has been described as "moving massage," "body surfing," "gymnastics," and "post-modern folk dancing." Rana Satori likes to think of it as "wrestling meets tai chi meets swimming!"

Not only is she the captain of "The Shamanic Cheerleaders," Rana is an easeful and accessible contact improv teacher who hosts the Fairfax Jam as well as the pre-EcstaticDanceEastBay contact classes. In these settings, she shares the joys and thrills of Contact Improv with great success!  She was recently featured in the Marin IJ for teaching Contact and is a highly requested teacher in her community.   Her teaching style is deeply inspired by Martin Keogh and Anna Halpin blending body awareness with meditation tools and inspiration from nature.  Enjoy the edgy ecstacy of contact improv in a natural setting and dance outside the box!

Beginners are welcome and encouraged to participate!

Click here to complete the registration process, and for a list of what to bring.

Cancellation Policy

Cancellations received by July 9th will be fully refunded (less $100 deposit).
Cancellations received after July 9th, and through July 20th will be refunded 50%.
Cancellations received after July 20th (including no-shows) will receive no refunds. No exceptions.
(You may, however, transfer your payments if you find someone to replace you.)

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Please check this page again for updates before registering for this trip!
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