The Lord of the Dance

(Photos of the retreat can be viewed online at http://picasaweb.google.com/kensyj/201005AnnualRetreat )

Sing a new song to the Lord,
his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel rejoice in its Maker,
let Sion’s sons exult in their king.
Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music with timbrel and harp. (Ps. 149)

Between the 23^rd and 31^st of May this year, I joined the scholastics of the Kerala Province on their annual retreat at the Ignatian Retreat Centre, Pariyaram in north Kerala. The retreat was directed by Prashant Olalekar SJ (BOM), Director of the Jesuit retreat house in Bandra and Hazel Fernandes (Pune), a lay collaborator. Most of us were surprised to learn that this wasn’t going to be another vanilla Ignatian retreat.

InterPlay^®

Prashant and Hazel are founding members of InterPlay India, an Indian group inspired by Body Wisdom Inc.’s InterPlay^® programme (www.interplay.org). InterPlay is a set of tools and techniques that help a person be attentive to, deepen, enjoy and ultimately integrate her/his physical experience with her/his emotional and spiritual experiences.

The tools explored during the retreat varied from simple walking to free-form dancing. We were constantly reminded to pay attention to our “bodies” (including our instincts and intuitions) and to trust our bodies. We were encouraged to play freely, even as little children. Through simple exercises like ‘walk, stop, run’, we discovered that spirituality doesn’t always have to be “serious business”; sometimes it can just be fun.

We also had the opportunity for some personal direction and counselling (Ms. Fernandes is a professional therapist) to integrate the various movements raised from the subconscious through the InterPlay activity.

Justice

All was not simply fun and games, however. Throughout the retreat we were reminded of the pervasive presence of structural injustices, particularly towards women, and of the need to be committed to ecological preservation. We had at least one session each day outside the house, close to Nature, consisting of exercises that combined elements of Yoga and Thich Nhat Hahn’s meditation techniques.

Ignatian

This was the first time an InterPlay retreat was being offered to Jesuits in India, so an attempt was made to integrate some elements of the traditional 8-day spiritual exercises. Each day had a theme, most of which should not suprise anyone who's done a traditional Ignatian retreat (“Great to be Grateful”, “Come Dance with Me”, “In the Brokenness is the Wholeness”, “The Passion”, “Breath of the Spirit”) along with a few that might (“Embracing the Feminine”). Although the sessions (we had three each day, along with a very active Mass) were conducted in a light and free-flowing vein, we were still expected to maintain silence and spend some time in personal contemplation/meditation outside the sessions.

I was often reminded of St. Ignatius’s fourth Additional Directive [SpEx 76] about the importance of posture and the body in prayer. One of the highlights of the retreat was a video of an Imaginative Contemplation in Dance (called ‘StoryDance’) by Betsey Beckman (www.thedancingword.com).

Personally, I found this style of retreat quite liberating and also helpful in integrating my “left brain” (the centre of our logical and rational thought) with my “right brain” (creativity and spirituality). But above all, I found it useful to be reminded that “I am my body” and that we are not called to a disembodied union with the Transcendent (the focus of many spiritual traditions).

After all, we do profess a faith in the “resurrection of the body”!

Dance then, wherever you may be
I am the Lord of the Dance, said He!
And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be
And I'll lead you all in the Dance, said He! (Sydney Carter)