Forever Dancing

Even at four years Parashakti was placing her hands on people and feeling what they feel. "In a way intuition was always the essence of the way I lived my life," tells Parashakti. Despite coming from a family of academics she never considered an academic career as an option for dance was her true call. 

She pursued dancing in high school being part of an alternative performing arts curriculum.  "I couldn't stay in a regular school, I would sit in class and kind of fly," she says. After finishing school she was accepted into the Israeli Army's performing troupe, an honor reserved for 20 people out of the whole country each year.

Later she joined the Habima National Theater in Tel Aviv, following a residency at the National Theater in Haifa, where she pursued acting. At that time it seemed that she had all she ever wanted but inside something just didn't feel right.

"At some point something clicked and I felt I wasn't expressing my truth, I wasn't really in my truth, every time I went on stage I was fighting, I was battling, and I wanted to know why that was."

It happened around the time that she also suffered from a dislocated knee.

She went on a search seeking her connection to dance and at age of 22 she move to the United States thinking that she would still pursue dance but through dance therapy.

After joining a well-know dance institute and just before a big performance she broke her leg. "I was 22, living in LA, and there I was in the cast again and that's when I started dancing in a different way."

As she couldn't leave her room for 3 months because of the injury "I started to explore my dance through darkness, I danced with the cast on, closing my eyes and using my breath….I started to send positive energy to my injury and I really believe that this helped me to heal faster."

When her cast was taken off the doctors were surprised how fast her had leg healed and how little amount of physical therapy it required to get Parashakti back into shape. But with two leg injuries behind her, a professional dancing career was out of the question.

Taking a different direction, Parashakti moved to New York to study at the Integral Yoga ashram where she followed the life of monkhood for 2 years.

"I continued my inner journey and never stopped exploring the darkness and dance and how both can shift consciousness and awareness," says Parashakti. "Instead of fearing the energy in my body I started to embrace it and realize what I was capable of manifesting and creating."
 
Her first creation was a ritual dance group called the Shakti Spirit Dance Ensemble, a troupe that toured Portugal, Canada, and many domestic locations, and offered various rituals for events and parties. At the same time she was introduced to the Native American Shoshone Shaman Clyde Hall who invited her to the Shoshone ceremonies.

"I felt so at home when I would go to the Native American ceremonies, it felt like if I was back at my mother's womb in some way. I felt I was nurtured and taken care of and also I just knew the chants. The elders that I worked with, the chief, I saw him in my dream, so it too felt very comfortable and they too took me under their wing."

 Shamanism is not something that can be learned from books, it's something that one needs to experience. 

"Shamanism has taught me that my real teacher is the teacher within me. Shamanism can connect you deeply to the spirit world and to your essence. You tap into a non-ordinary state of consciousness, and that's where the truth of your own darkness can be completely revealed. Sometimes you have to go through some of your deepest fears and experience them in order to find your truth."

Parashakti also believes that in the universe everything is interconnected ("It's through nature that we can heal our bodies," she believes) and furthermore, anyone who is open to the spirit world can be connected to Shamanic energy.

For eight years Parashakti has now been dancing with the Shoshoni Lakota Indians. In her rituals she incorporates Shamanic traditions with yoga and music to create one truly unique experience: The Shamanic TranceDance.

Partaking in a Parashakti ritual allows one to touch the eternal without leaving the moment; her techniques offer immense healing potential. "My aim is to take my client or the dancer on a journey of healing and reconnect them to their life path and to spirit."

During the TranceDance, dancers are blindfolded in a ceremonial setting, "I use the blindfold because it's really an ancient shamanic tool to allow people to go on a vision quest through dance," she says. "It really helps the dancers to let go of everything around them."

Blind folds are traditionally used in shamanic rituals in order to teach people how to create their purest intention on a higher level of awareness without eyesight. What is developed through this experience is mainly trust.

"From a personal perspective, Due to my injuries, I had to rebuild a lot of trust in myself and my body and I do think that in the dance ceremonies, trust becomes a principal guide for everyone's journeys. And when we trust, like a child, then we have the potential to let go of our physical and emotional blockages and begin a dance of renewal."

If you would like to watch Parashakti in action, check out the video clip of one of her Shamanic TranceDance workshops. http://www.eolife.org/videos.php