(copied from website Sept. 26/06)
by Jennifer Scott (This article was originally presented at an American Dance Therapy Conference in Denver, Colorado, 2003)

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Mary Oliver, "Wild Geese"

In the face of planetary environmental concerns, a deep connection with nature is not only profoundly healing for the individual psyche, but also promotes community and a sense of responsibility, belonging, and hope for our planet.

The environmental crisis is felt by everyone, whether we are conscious of it or not. No one is exempt from that pain. Since our body is part of the larger body of earth, when part of that body is traumatized we sense it. Joanna Macy in her article "Working Through Environmental Despair" (1995) explains that we defend ourselves against that pain with disbelief, denial, or leading a double life.

How do we move from despair to glory? How do we capture the imagination of our disconnected and disenchanted society to bring about transformation on a planetary level for mutual healing, sustainability, and joy in creation? This article begins with facing the crisis and identifying the problem from an ecopsychology perspective, moves through the solution of building relationships, connections, and community, dances through the method of achieving this using an ecodance therapy approach, and rejoices in the resulting creation of a new sustainable relationship with the world.

Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, defines Ecopsychology as "...an ancient and now re-emerging field of inquiry devoted to enhancing and healing our relationship with the natural world." Dance/Movement Therapy is defined by the American Dance Therapy Association as the, "...psycho-therapeutic use of movement as a process which furthers the emotional, cognitive and physical integration of the individual." Ecodance therapy is an integration of nature-based ecopsychology and dance/movement therapy.

Ecopsychology asserts that our disconnection from nature is the root cause of our collective dis-ease. In order for planetary healing to occur, human and non-human alike, we, the stewards of this earth, must re-awaken to our interconnectedness and interdependence with the earth that sustains us. No relationship can endure if it is merely taken for granted.

The solution to this disconnection and our present course of planetary destruction lies in our ability to reconnect, to create relationship and community with our non-human kin. We are nature, not separate from it.

Emotional and psychological healing is a journey of reconnecting in creative ways to self, other, community, and spirit through relationship. However, therapists and our society in general tend to look only at the human context of relationship. Ecopsychology suggests that we cannot hope to heal ourselves without also healing the earth. Therapists often regard individual concerns about planetary issues as indications of pathology, which serves to perpetuate the cycle of denial. As ecotherapists we are called to recognize the value of a reciprocal relationship with the earth. It is only when we are in right relationship to the earth, a relationship based on sustainability and mutuality, that we find a desire and a will to heal and restore it.

Many people have contact with nature regularly and derive great satisfaction and even healing from it. To have a deep transformative experience where one awakens to our soul connection with the earth and our true nature as Nature requires a different kind of experience. One must be fully engaged in body, mind, and spirit.

The place where ecopsychology and dance therapy meet is the recognition by both of the importance of the body. Making a somatic (bodily felt) connection through re-awakening our senses is an important first step in renewing our relationship with the earth. The body is our core, our first language, our connection with spirit, and our vehicle for all our life experiences. Sensory awareness simultaneously awakens us to our body and grounds us to the bigger body of the outside world, which helps us tap into our essential creative nature as a microcosm of the larger Creation. As Brian Swimme, a physicist and cosmologist, says, "The universe is my body!"

Dance/movement therapy, with its unique understanding of the body and the psychology of movement, along with its wide array of tools and techniques, has the potential to take this somatic connection to a deep level effectively and efficiently. Dance therapist Norma Canner, in her video "Arts in the Environment", describes a group wilderness experience where they danced a dance of becoming animals, tumbleweed and wind. Moving with or as a wild entity brought home their essential connection with all moving beings. This kind of interaction breathes a dimension into the experience which transcends our ordinary interactions with nature.

Wilderness is nature whole and complete in itself. Untouched by human intervention it carries a quality of divine mystery which cannot be found anywhere except in wild places. As Barbara Kingsolver says in her book "Small Wonder", "Oh, how can I say this: people need wild places. Whether or not we think we do, we do...wildness puts us in our place." When one has an encounter with a wild being, whether plant or animal, it is often like meeting the core essence of one's self for the first time. It is not enough to watch nature, as though it were something 'out there'. In order to deeply connect we must 'become' the other.

While it may be ideal to venture into the wilderness, it is, of course, not always possible. The point is to find nature and our own creative wild selves within it. Ecotherapists and Ecodance therapists employ a variety of practical and simple outdoor activities to facilitate a deep connection with nature. Elements of breath, movement, creativity, sensory awareness, emotional responsiveness, spontaneous play, ceremony, ritual, and imagination are used with individuals and groups to structure and stimulate an often powerfully transformative experience. Through these experiences, many people find personal healing along with a significantly greater sense of community and belonging. This, in turn, often stimulates an interest in environmental and social issues. The essential purpose of these experiences is to create connection and enhance a sense of sacredness and belonging. "It is about learning to walk on the Earth with reverence for all things..." (Norma Canner, 2002)

Ecopsychologist Chellis Glendinning, in her book "My name is Chellis and I'm in Recovery from Western Civilization" (1994) relates a wonderful story she was told of the place and purpose of each living creature. In this story, the human was confused as to his purpose and had to be told, "Your purpose is to glory in it all. Your job is to praise Creation". Cultivating a deep relationship with the natural world and healing our relationship with it leads to a sense of wonder, joy, and gratitude for all Creation. Our relationship with the visible world often moves our hearts, as well as our bodies, and we fall in love. Love alters behavior. Thus it is this deep joy and love of God's creation which leads to deep caring and to a sense of responsibility, belonging, and healing for ourselves and our planet.

Ecopsychology needs dance therapy, its organic, somatic and creative connection with the core of our being. Dance therapy needs ecopsychology to reconnect us with our roots in the earth and a global perspective. Ecodance therapy builds a sense of belonging to the earth and to finding our place in the universe. It reminds us not to falter in our fears, but rather to rejoice in the glory of it all in order to heal not only ourselves and our communities, but our planet as well.

For further information contact Jennifer Scott