Uma Goswami Dance

Uma danced last night. It is her spiritual practice.

She spoke of Dance as collective spiritual practice. That it only happens in sacred space and you can never plan, it has a plan of its own.

With Uschi, Uma demonstrated the similar forms of the dance and hatha yoga. This was so beautiful. I wished that she allowed photos and that I had a camera.

She danced a dance to Shiva.
(I feel like she danced another one here)
She danced the story of Krishna's Birth.
And she danced to the Divine Mother.

She spoke a great deal about bhakti yoga. Bhakti Yoga is the longing to be with God. Wanting with all your heart to be united with God. Her words allowed me to understand that I do not know what it feels like to want something with all my heart.

Krishna's Birth as told by Uma
Krishna was born in prison. The evil king had been told that he would be killed by the 8th child of his sister?, so he locked her and her husband up. When Krishna was born, his father prayed to God and his shackles were broken and the jail opened up. He was able to sneak out and head to the neighboring village. With the help of God, the flooding river parted and a snake became his umbrella in the rain to protect the child. He exchanged Krishna for his brother's daughter? This part was confusing. Uma said something about the young gir being the Divine Mother, but why did he need a child unless she was going to be a stand in for being killed? So I looked it up and this Version of the Story matches her but tells the conclusion.

Dance to the Divine Mother
Uma was going to do a dance to Krishna and his 16,000 wives, but the music was not working. So she danced to the Divine Mother. She spoke of the energies of the mother. And of White Tara who was on the altar.

And we all danced together.

After the Performance
At the end, Uma spoke of dance being an important part of yoga teacher training. That hatha yoga has no eyes, head or hand movements and the bhakti element of dance would enrich hatha yoga. She spoke of it needing to be part of the the training.