Dancing Mindfulness : A Creative Path to Healing and Transformation

Experiment. Explore. Awaken your potential for wellness through meditative movement.

"This ... is an invitation and a portal into the practice of dance and movement as meditation. All bodies are welcome and all abilities. Anyone can dance, although many of us hold back because we don't look like dancers or because we have physical limitations. But I am willing to bet that most of you holding this book have touched a moment of transcendence or freedom in an experience of dance that leads you to explore deeper. You have a worthy guide in your hands."
―from the Foreword

Using theory and step-by-step exercises, dancer and clinical counselor Dr. Jamie Marich expertly guides you through seven primary elements of mindfulness in motion: breath, sound, body, story, mind, spirit and fusion. By dancing through these seven elements, either in personal practice or in a group, you will be better able to:

• Access your body’s own healing resources through informal dance
• Realize the transformative power of your personal creativity
• Strengthen your abilities to exercise non-judgment, patience, a sense of play, trust, acceptance and letting go
• Practice mindfulness even if you have struggled with traditional sitting meditation
• Share healing dances with others to build on your own strengths, resources and experiences

Jamie Marich, PhD, LPCC-S, a life-long dancer and the founder of the Dancing Mindfulness community and facilitator-training program, is a clinical counselor who leads trainings and retreats on trauma, addiction and mindfulness worldwide. An author of several books on topics related to trauma and recovery, Marich actively trains facilitators in the Dancing Mindfulness practice, and maintains a private clinical practice in her home base of Youngstown-Warren, Ohio.

Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, a Benedictine Oblate, is author of Lectio Divina―The Sacred Art: Transforming Words & Images into Heart-Centered Prayer, Desert Fathers and Mothers: Early Christian Wisdom Sayings―Annotated & Explained (both SkyLight Paths) and The Artist's Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom, among other books. She frequently leads retreats and teaches on the wisdom of Benedictine, Celtic and desert ways of praying. A writer, artist, spiritual director, retreat facilitator and teacher, she is the online Abbess of www.abbeyofthearts.com, a global online monastery dedicated to the integration of contemplative practice and creative expression.