(copied from website Sept. 26/06)
by Jennifer Scott (This article was originally presented at an American Dance Therapy Conference in Denver, Colorado, 2003)

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Mary Oliver, "Wild Geese"

In the face of planetary environmental concerns, a deep connection with
nature is not only profoundly healing for the individual psyche, but
also promotes community and a sense of responsibility, belonging, and
hope for our planet.

The environmental crisis is felt by everyone, whether we are conscious
of it or not. No one is exempt from that pain. Since our body is part
of the larger body of earth, when part of that body is traumatized we
sense it. Joanna Macy in her article "Working Through Environmental
Despair" (1995) explains that we defend ourselves against that pain
with disbelief, denial, or leading a double life.

How do we move from despair to glory? How do we capture the imagination
of our disconnected and disenchanted society to bring about
transformation on a planetary level for mutual healing, sustainability,
and joy in creation? This article begins with facing the crisis and
identifying the problem from an ecopsychology perspective, moves
through the solution of building relationships, connections, and
community, dances through the method of achieving this using an
ecodance therapy approach, and rejoices in the resulting creation of a
new sustainable relationship with the world.

Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, defines Ecopsychology as "...an
ancient and now re-emerging field of inquiry devoted to enhancing and
healing our relationship with the natural world." Dance/Movement
Therapy is defined by the American Dance Therapy Association as the,
"...psycho-therapeutic use of movement as a process which furthers the
emotional, cognitive and physical integration of the individual."
Ecodance therapy is an integration of nature-based ecopsychology and
dance/movement therapy.

Ecopsychology asserts that our disconnection from nature is the root
cause of our collective dis-ease. In order for planetary healing to
occur, human and non-human alike, we, the stewards of this earth, must
re-awaken to our interconnectedness and interdependence with the earth
that sustains us. No relationship can endure if it is merely taken for
granted.

The solution to this disconnection and our present course of planetary
destruction lies in our ability to reconnect, to create relationship
and community with our non-human kin. We are nature, not separate from
it.

Emotional and psychological healing is a journey of reconnecting in
creative ways to self, other, community, and spirit through
relationship. However, therapists and our society in general tend to
look only at the human context of relationship. Ecopsychology suggests
that we cannot hope to heal ourselves without also healing the earth.
Therapists often regard individual concerns about planetary issues as
indications of pathology, which serves to perpetuate the cycle of
denial. As ecotherapists we are called to recognize the value of a
reciprocal relationship with the earth. It is only when we are in right
relationship to the earth, a relationship based on sustainability and
mutuality, that we find a desire and a will to heal and restore it.

Many people have contact with nature regularly and derive great
satisfaction and even healing from it. To have a deep transformative
experience where one awakens to our soul connection with the earth and
our true nature as Nature requires a different kind of experience. One
must be fully engaged in body, mind, and spirit.

The place where ecopsychology and dance therapy meet is the recognition
by both of the importance of the body. Making a somatic (bodily felt)
connection through re-awakening our senses is an important first step
in renewing our relationship with the earth. The body is our core, our
first language, our connection with spirit, and our vehicle for all our
life experiences. Sensory awareness simultaneously awakens us to our
body and grounds us to the bigger body of the outside world, which
helps us tap into our essential creative nature as a microcosm of the
larger Creation. As Brian Swimme, a physicist and cosmologist, says,
"The universe is my body!"

Dance/movement therapy, with its unique understanding of the body and
the psychology of movement, along with its wide array of tools and
techniques, has the potential to take this somatic connection to a deep
level effectively and efficiently. Dance therapist Norma Canner, in her
video "Arts in the Environment", describes a group wilderness
experience where they danced a dance of becoming animals, tumbleweed
and wind. Moving with or as a wild entity brought home their essential
connection with all moving beings. This kind of interaction breathes a
dimension into the experience which transcends our ordinary
interactions with nature.

Wilderness is nature whole and complete in itself. Untouched by human
intervention it carries a quality of divine mystery which cannot be
found anywhere except in wild places. As Barbara Kingsolver says in her
book "Small Wonder", "Oh, how can I say this: people need wild places.
Whether or not we think we do, we do...wildness puts us in our place."
When one has an encounter with a wild being, whether plant or animal,
it is often like meeting the core essence of one's self for the first
time. It is not enough to watch nature, as though it were something
'out there'. In order to deeply connect we must 'become' the other.

While it may be ideal to venture into the wilderness, it is, of course,
not always possible. The point is to find nature and our own creative
wild selves within it. Ecotherapists and Ecodance therapists employ a
variety of practical and simple outdoor activities to facilitate a deep
connection with nature. Elements of breath, movement, creativity,
sensory awareness, emotional responsiveness, spontaneous play,
ceremony, ritual, and imagination are used with individuals and groups
to structure and stimulate an often powerfully transformative
experience. Through these experiences, many people find personal
healing along with a significantly greater sense of community and
belonging. This, in turn, often stimulates an interest in environmental
and social issues. The essential purpose of these experiences is to
create connection and enhance a sense of sacredness and belonging. "It
is about learning to walk on the Earth with reverence for all
things..." (Norma Canner, 2002)

Ecopsychologist Chellis Glendinning, in her book "My name is Chellis
and I'm in Recovery from Western Civilization" (1994) relates a
wonderful story she was told of the place and purpose of each living
creature. In this story, the human was confused as to his purpose and
had to be told, "Your purpose is to glory in it all. Your job is to
praise Creation". Cultivating a deep relationship with the natural
world and healing our relationship with it leads to a sense of wonder,
joy, and gratitude for all Creation. Our relationship with the visible
world often moves our hearts, as well as our bodies, and we fall in
love. Love alters behavior. Thus it is this deep joy and love of God's
creation which leads to deep caring and to a sense of responsibility,
belonging, and healing for ourselves and our planet.

Ecopsychology needs dance therapy, its organic, somatic and creative
connection with the core of our being. Dance therapy needs
ecopsychology to reconnect us with our roots in the earth and a global
perspective. Ecodance therapy builds a sense of belonging to the earth
and to finding our place in the universe. It reminds us not to falter
in our fears, but rather to rejoice in the glory of it all in order to
heal not only ourselves and our communities, but our planet as well.