The 1st DANCING HEART CAMP organized by Latvian Network! 

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This was quite an amazing camp: we had participants from Australia, Belgium, England, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales. One week before the camp began, when I was riding on my bike, I thought about it - and suddenly I felt moved to tears. I realized that I had tapped into a strong energy field. The Latvian holding group had done intensive preparations on the inner level for that to happen...

It seems difficult to put feelings into words. Here are some highlights for me:

The hospitality of the local dancers in Riga, who arranged private meetings before and after the camp for the visitors from abroad. The butterfly, which decided to sit for 10 minutes on Silje’s hand while she was playing gitar to a dance invoking the Shekhina. A fox strolling past our pow- wow. Then a snake appeared in the middle of the marquee. It seemed that we had created an atmosphere of love, which attracted the animals to come, reminding us on St Francis.

Dancing on the beach - amazing, what a drum, a clarinet and some dancers can create...

Ralph Nimmann, Cambridge 

 

Dancing Hearts by the Amber Sea Shore 

From the beginning it felt like a homecoming. The aliveness of the place spoke to me strongly. 
The pine forest was humming day and night, ripe with sounds and smells, cuckoos and blueberries. Nearby on the Baltic shore where we had afternoon movement practice we had the chance to experience the elemental power of sea and stone. To dance in all these surroundings was special: the land seemed to absorb with gratitude our songs and steps. It felt like a place of great light. The combination of long daylight hours and the light generated by the dances made it hard to sleep, but the whole experience was so deeply nourishing that I forgot my tiredness. Mosquitoes at times felt unbearable, yet during Om Mani Peme Hung they seemed only to be dancing gracefully with us. There were moments during sweet hugs when the biting didn't seem to matter anymore.  

Finding words for what happened on the camp is like evoking the scent of an exquisite flower. Above all I felt the presence of love like never before, permeating every aspect of the gathering. What a privilege to be a part of this process! Eating dancing and praying together we were sending out ripples of remembrance that seemed to raise the vibration of the entire land. There was a real sense of attunement among us: dance leaders and the holding team brought both attentions to detail and humility which allowed space for Spirit to finish the work. How wonderful to witness and experience the softening, the opening of hearts, glimpses of what it might mean to create Heaven on Earth! We had been longing for this for so long. Many of us had surmounted many obstacles to be here. Perhaps it was the strength of this Ishq which really helped to bring us to such a deep space of oneness. Ishq Allah Mahboud lillah. 

I will never forget these moments. Coming back from such a peak experience, it feels like it will take some time to understand and integrate what happened. It often seems such a challenge to keep that love alive and glowing within daily life, the next key stage of the journey. But though we have now dispersed across continents, it is a comfort to me in times of forgetfulness to remember those dancing hearts in the meadow, knowing that the connection is always there, growing ever stronger as the wider web of love and light continues to illuminate the Earth ever brighter. Om Mani Peme Hung.

Matthew Heyse-Moore, Bristol, England