We have a collective longing for ecstasy

An intense, fundamental and persistent desire like the need to feed ourselves.

The interesting thing is that our body is designed - "wired" - for the experience of ecstasy and yet for many people in the contemporary world, ecstasy deprivation creates a lot of suffering.

It was Felicitas Goodman's theory that ecstasy deprivation is the underlying cause in all addictions.

Ecstasy is essentially a spiritual experience. We are static when our consciousness transcends the ego and at the same time aligns with the body allowing us to be fully aware of our corporality without the constant internal dialogue of the mind.

Sex is a form of ecstasy that many people know. The physical experience of sexual pleasure overwhelms the incessant chatter of the mind, and we are momentarily relieved of the continual becoming from past to future and back again. There are other options available for ecstasy. Drugs, alcohol, chocolate and adrenaline rushes, whether caused by fear or extreme sports. All of them can give us the same experience but without lasting effects.

Alternatives Native peoples around the world used to have a complex system of ritual positions that facilitated access to the ecstatic experience. The use of sacred postures accompanied by the sound of drums and rattles allows the body to increase brain activity and activate states of consciousness that lie dormant during ordinary daily life.

To experience this state is to experience Ecstasy.

Perhaps the relatively recent introduction to reading and writing has markedly increased the development of the left hemisphere of the human brain.

The left brain is characterized by its logical, rational and analytical thinking. The right hemisphere, on the other hand, tends to generate emotional, instinctive and innovative states that generate experiential learning, creativity and interpersonal connection.

Civilization in its history is characterized by progressive rationalization, precise measurement of time, future orientation and written language. All of them special functions of the left side of our brain.

To become adept at these skills we have sacrificed right brain talents, intuition, emotion, creativity, appreciation of color and shape, music, symbolism, and dream awareness. Although we are capable of brain activity on the right side, it is generally not valued in Western cultures and economies.

Interestingly, in order to find lasting ecstasy we have to bring power back to the right side of the brain without giving up our rational abilities.

The state of the right side of the brain is characterized by its feeling of authenticity: Once Love or Ecstasy is experienced, it “Knows”.

...and then I understood that the attraction I felt towards the ecstatic trance was my deep longing for the ancient sense of connection and belonging experienced in my early childhood. Connection in which some form of separation is usually experienced as an inevitable result of the growth and development of the personality or ego.

In the work of STATIC POSTURES I have experienced expansion beyond the worries and discomforts of my personality to become part of something much bigger than myself being fully aware and experiencing it in my body.

Our purpose in this work with Ecstatic Body Postures and Drums is not just to have extraordinary visions, but to use the practice to change ourselves and thus create a better world.

excerpted from Belinda Gore's book, The ecstatic experience. Healing postures for Spirit journeys