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Hi all,

I just attended a seminar on Sufi whirling. A dream prompted me to go...

Oh, it was great to dance again!  I used to bellydance, but had to give it up some years ago because every time I started moving my hips, K started moving as well - with everything that entails -, and I preferred not to let it loose while in class... And holding it back meant that I couldn't move freely, only in a very clumsy and awkward fashion. So I gave up dancing. 

Anyway, I liked the Sufi seminar, learned several postures and gestures that I really enjoyed doing. There was only one problem. The teacher instructed us to spin clockwise, that is, to turn over the right shoulder. This felt wrong for me, but I didn't dare to argue, him being the master and me trying it for the very first time...

Later, I searched the Internet, but there are a lot of contradictory explanations/rationalizations for clockwise vs counter-clockwise movements in rituals and sacred dances. I guess the confusion starts with people equating going round, that is, making circles, with spinning around one's axis...

Could it be that these movements have something to do with condensing or releasing energy? Could it be different for people with awakened K?

Has anyone here used a traditional or folk dance for meditation? What is your experience with spinning clockwise vs counter-clockwise?

Insights would be greatly appreciated!

Good insights, Wanda!

   Sufi stuff is chi based, and clockwise spin is used to gather and condense chi for personal use. Wiccans and other types of free will based magic do the same. In a ritual circle, everyone is unified into one, so dancing in a circle has a similar effect to spinning yourself around.

   The spinning of the Kundalini serpents inside you is counterclockwise because that spin does the reverse, it breaks up blockages and allows them to be released to gain emptiness so Cosmic consciousness and Divine will can step in. Some types of magic would refer to counterclockwise spin as appropriate for banishing rituals, as opposed to invocations or manifestation rituals. Banish your karma!

  Other words for spin: Centrifugal force is like rainwater spinning off a bicycle tire. Centripedal force is the way stardust is condensed into planets.

  So spin as Goddess moves you! Blessings... 

I was doing kundalini meditation for one year and ever since I started I have been experiencing clockwise spinning. These have become a regularity now and I experience them even when I'm not meditating and just close my eyes and sit. Does everyone experience clockwise spins or people experience anti-clockwise spins too? Is better to experience one kind of spin over another? Is the speed of the spin relevant, I'm asking this because sometimes I feel that the spins are faster and sometimes they are a little slower. Can someone please shed some light on this.