Maps to Ecstasy

I got this book as a gift from my roommate about five years ago. After many moves around the world where I gave away many of my things, this book still managed to be among the remaining possessions. I refer to it periodically when I feel in need of a lift and when I want a reminder of the power of sinking into a the rythm of a dance when the world seems bleak and dark. I also recommend Gabriella's CD to understand what she means by each rythm. My favorite is BONES which provides clear examples of each rythm and fantastic music that will dig into your bones. I had limited exposure to Gabrielle Roth's 5 Rythms prior to reading the book, but her messages still came through clearly. I love how she shares her own private story as a seeker and how she manages to find a path that works for her. When I saw her dance in NYC once, I understood what is meant by the art of melting into a dance and I was glad that through the unconventional life path that she took, she was able to find path to truth that apparently envelops her when she dances. An inspiration to those who follow the path less traveled. I recommend this book and an exploration into the concept of the 5 Rythms of Life for those interested in adding magic, color, and healing to their dance.

I loved reading Roth's Sweat Your Prayers and Connections. I've danced like a wild woman to her music. Now I find Maps to Ecstasy to be filled with guidance for my inner journey and how to live my everyday life in the world. I'm ordering two copies for Christmas presents. For my daughter-in-law, who is a young mother, I want to share how Roth understands and honors motherhood with rare honesty. For my massage therapist daughter-in-law, I want to share Roth's perspective (and background) of massage as a spiritual art. If they only read those chapters, Roth will have touched their lives in very profound ways. This book is full of treasures for all who intentionally journey within.

Reading this book was something like a dance. I moved in readily to embrace her passionate stories and images of dancing, recognizing the value that dance can have for me in letting my body express how it feels. Then, I found myself withdrawing, as Roth began telling me how to experience the world, what labels and definitions to apply to my emotional experience and how I should go about knowing myself. Yet, I was drawn toward her again to discover many pearls of wisdom embedded in the passages of this book. Overall, this book was for me a rich tapestry of life experience and collected wisdom which encouraged and stimulated me to reflect on my relationship with my body and my own psychological reality.Roth's most vital message, in my judgment, is of the body's role in coming into relationship with the unconscious. Most depth psychologists emphasize the intra-psychic realm, the work to be done within the psyche to develop a strong connection between the ego and the Self. Yet, here is a person whose way of individuation is through the body and she contributes her awareness of this path with great passion and energy. For people who exist at some distance from their bodies, Roth's stories and descriptions of dancing into relationship are food for renewal.

Having read her first book, I was interested as to where the second book would take this. In this book, Ms. Roth extends her Five Rhythms to be included as part of everyday life.This is a natural progression, and Ms. Roth draws parallels to include similar patterns. She discusses the Cycles of Life - Birth, Childhood, Puberty, Maturity and the Death, in which we can see these rhythms and the progressions. Life does indeed have a rhythm to it and she sees these as the "dance of life in five movements". The final step to this dance is healing, a bringing about of the oneness of ones self. This is done by embodying the spirit through the five levels of consciousness: inertia, inspiration, imitation, intuition and imagination. This is her path to ecstasy. She finds dance and life has a map we can follow and find the spiritual ecstasy we all seek in our lives.Her method of writing, incorporating her own personal life rhythms and experiences and her insightful observations make this book a wonderful and easy read. We can always learn from other people's experiences and Ms. Roth weaves this well. Her days working at Esalan enabled Ms. Roth to put together her then acquired skills, tune them, put them into practical use and give us the final product here in this book.She shows how these rhythms are present in each persons life and can be applied to our personal self healing, attunement, stress relief, personal relationships and general health and well being.I enjoyed this book and found Ms. Roth's insightful self-questioning and personal exploration a path that can be incorporated into each person's life, as a whole or with partial application. It definitely left me thinking upon things I have since considered and seek to explore further.Both books here are complimented by her music and she also has an instructional video "The Wave" as a visual aid to her work. You need not have magic dancing toes or be a rhythmic person to apply any of this. All you need is the ability to move.

"I love Gabrielle's unique, poetic, down-home, funky style. She has been a constant inspiration to us creative people around the world. "Maps to Ecstasy" opens the door to living an ecstatic life." - Margot Anand, author - "The Art of Everyday Ecstasy"