…. from now until we meet:
Preparing yourself can hold different aspects, some practical, some internal and spiritual.
Spiritual
Some of us will already have practices and ways to open themselves up to Life and Mother Earth, as we prepare to come together, to be in Ceremony and to pray together.
Sundance is about sending our prayers collectively to Life and the Universe, prayers for peace and healing. What is your prayer? How can you let that prayer emerge and strengthen itself in our mind?
Physical preparation
If you intend to dance several rounds (each round lasts 45 min), we recommend that you begin to strengthen and stretch your body.
Some people may feel called to take part as a Lead Dancer, which involves a specific way of preparing. If this is the case for you, please read more on the page about ‘How do I take part’.
Another aspect of the physical preparation is linked to remembering that this is a Ceremony of Prayers, and we keeping our food and liquid intake simple supports this process. It is helpful to hold this mindfulness in the weeks running-up to coming to the Ceremony, and reduce the intake of alcohol, coffee, sugar for instance.
Drum Practice
The energy we create through the drumming and singing will support the dancers, giving them energy, focus and vitality – practising together beforehand is therefore very important. Drum teams are coming together this year again and we ask each of you who wants to join such a team to make themselves known so you can begin practicing now with others in their local area. StarWalker at b@raaberg.com is your main contact point for this.
Register
On a practical side, we invite you to register as soon as you make your decision. This will be greatly appreciated by those on the organisation team for this Ceremony, and in particular the team planning for the kitchen and food.
Stay in touch
Staying in touch with the information flow and with one another: Reading the e-mail newsletters and visiting this website for any new information are the main support we offer. Visit the ‘Contact’ page to learn more about this.
… during our time together on the land in the run-up to the Ceremony
As we come together in Ceremony, we create the sacred space inside ourselves as well as outside ourselves, building the physical structures for the Ceremony, as well as the energy, the beauty and the power of our prayers.
Our preparation begins with people arriving on Friday July 23rd July.
Alongside time to prepare ourselves and our prayers, we will also create the beauty of the Sundance Lodge, and of the supporting community spaces, to hold us during the dance. All of these aspects are needed to the Celebration of Life we will be engaging in – all of these are part of the Give-Away to Life.
During this time, there will be teaching to deepen our understanding of Sundance, its protocol, prayer and give-away, community time. We will also practice singing, drumming and dancing.