By Andres Galindo – Neurosomatic Teacher

For over a decade, I lived a monastic life immersed in stillness, introspection, and disciplined spiritual routines. The monastery gave me profound tools for inner contemplation, mantra meditation, and deep devotion. Yet, when I left the monastic order in 2021 and began studying at SOAS University of London, something unexpected began to surface.

In my personal experience, the first year outside the monastery revealed how much emotional tension and stored stress had accumulated in my body—much of it tied to institutional hierarchies, rigid schedules, and the constant pursuit of spiritual ideals. My mind had become trained, but my body was often bypassed in the name of discipline. I began therapy—specifically, one year of psychoanalysis—which helped me unpack emotional blockages, offering tremendous clarity around patterns I had previously spiritualized or dismissed.

Later, in 2024, when I moved to the Netherlands, a friend invited me to an Ecstatic Dance event aboard the Odessa boat in North-East Amsterdam. It was a live DJ set music gathering rooted in tribal rhythm, community openness, and movement freedom. This was the perfect setting for an emotional and physical freedom journey that had just begun. As I stepped into the space, my body began to move—not in choreographed form, but as if guided by an intelligence deeper than thought. This is what I call Biological Wisdom.

That night marked the beginning of what I now call my Spirit liberation. Dancing, I found, was not merely fun or socially engaging. It became a powerful tool for regulation, expression, and self-reconnection. I started noticing impressive shifts in my mood, my energy, and even my hormonal state. Plus, lots of amazing friends who are on the same page in life as I am.

I had the opportunity to keep exploring this somatic awakening further, and I realized how scientifically grounded these practices are. In his groundbreaking work The Body Keeps the Score, trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk (2015) notes that rituals involving movement, drumming, and singing help regulate the nervous system and bring the body back into connection with itself. Dancing is one of those rituals—something ancient, collective, and deeply therapeutic.

Movement pioneer Emily Conrad also spoke about this experience. In her somatic philosophy of Continuum, she writes that “movement is the message of life,” and that through fluid, intuitive dance, the body is able to reclaim its natural rhythm and restore authentic pathways for vitality and adaptation (Conrad, 2007). Her insight helped me understand that my dance practice was not performance—it was cellular communication.

From a physiological perspective, dance stimulates the release of endorphins, dopamine, and oxytocin—hormones responsible for pleasure, motivation, and social bonding. According to neuroscientist Peter Lovatt (2010), regular dancing improves brain function, supports emotional regulation, and enhances resilience by activating multiple brain systems simultaneously. These biological shifts mirrored what I was feeling after each dance session: grounded, energized, and emotionally clear.

Now, dancing has become a weekly ritual. Not because I need to “express myself,” but because I need to listen to myself—through movement. In dance, I practice what I teach: body awareness, self-regulation, and emotional freedom. Just as stillness gave me inner silence, movement now gives me embodiment. The two, I've learned, are not separate. As I say: Spiritual Consciousness and Biological Wisdom are ONE.

Ecstatic Dance is not a substitute for meditation; it is a somatic meditation in motion. It speaks to the ancient wisdom that the body heals not through silence alone, but through rhythm, sound, and connection. And sometimes, the most profound insights come not in seated stillness, but in sweaty, intuitive dance—on a boat, under lights, surrounded by strangers who feel like mirrors.

References

Conrad, E. (2007). Life on land: The story of Continuum, the world-renowned self-discovery and movement method. North Atlantic Books.
Lovatt, P. (2010). Dance and the brain. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201003/dance-and-the-brain
van der Kolk, B. (2015). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Penguin Books.