The Dragon Dance

  • By Marcy Foster
  • •
  • 22 Mar, 2019
  • •

A blend of Indian and Daoist yoga traditions that will stimulate the mind, body, and soul.

The Dragon Dance was initially developed by Paul and Suzee Grilley. They used the Dragon Dance as a yang yoga practice to help the mind and body prepare for the yin portion of their practice.

Bernie Clark, who is a student of Paul and Suzee Grilley’s, took their flow and compiled it into a specific sequence with optional yin at the end.

Alan Mileham, a student of Bernie Clark and Paul and Suzee Grilley, taught the Dragon Dance sequence that I teach today.

Behind the Symbolism

The Dragon Dance is a vinyasa that works the mind, the body, and the breath. There is a lot of symbolism in the Dragon Dance: We begin with a hero who is advancing against the dragon. The hero wants to slay the dragon. The Hero is us; our wants, desires, our urge to succeed, to win, our competitive nature. The dragon is society; the rules, duties, that has been demanded of us by our families, teachers, bosses, media, etc. The dragon turns watching the hero, and thus the dance begins.

Spoiler alert: The Dragon Dance ends with the hero and the dragon being united in harmony. The hero gets on the dragon and together they fly - they transcend - before returning to the ground as one. Instead of conquering, the hero finds a new path. A path that leads to special kind of freedom. This freedom is not a freedom to do as one pleases, ignoring society. Instead, this freedom is from wants.

Join me in exploring this amazing vinyasa on Sunday April 14th from 1:30pm to 3:30pm at The Yoga Studio - Crowchild

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