Notes from the 99th Monkey

Eliezer Sobel

 

I participated in dozens of 5Rhythms workshops with Gabrielle over the years, along with hundreds of others, men and women of all ages and shapes, cathartically letting ourselves go deeply and freely into our own true dance, into raw, primal movement, beyond personality, ego constraints and self-consciousness, shaking ourselves free. And unlike high school, everybody had a spot on the dance floor: old, young, overweight, slim, stiff, loose, awkward, fluid. 

 

On a sheer physical level, Gabrielle worked us harder than any gym teacher or coach—one’s commitment to healing was practically measured in buckets of sweat and physical exhaustion, along with astounding endorphin highs, emotional release, and explosions of creativity. For those who had spent way too long on the meditation cushion or in the therapist’s office, this was a real, down-to-earth, embodied transformation that included the heart and mind but was ultimately rooted in the beat, in the body, in our own two feet.