Cacao Ceremony

Welcome to this journey through the senses sharing the space, meeting your soul and heart, with Movement, Meditation and a more.
*No dance experience required*

Cacao Ceremony – Combination of Meditation through Experimental Music, Contemporary dance, Shamanic Drumming, Aromatherapy, Tibetan Bowls and Trance Dance.
Cacao is a powerful heart opener that paves the way to transformation through self-love…
In this workshop the dance choreography will connect your body with your heart, experiencing the healing music from all over the world from the Antarctic, Asia, South America also an experimental music at *432 hertz; the sound of healing and attuned vibrations, where the emotions and sensations will arise like a waterfall in the mountain.
This beautiful and potent medicine opens the heart and body allowing unmet emotions and held energy to rise to the surface to be seen, felt and brought back into the open heart. There is an invitation to drop deeply into your body and into relaxation allowing it all to move through and be released.

Cacao has largely been overlooked as an Entheogen (which means becoming divine within or finding the divine within) as it is not a psychedelic.
Because of cacao’s ability to increase your connection to your inner self and your heart chakra, it aids in any transformational shift you are working towards, whether you are looking to deepen your understanding of who you are, release old patterns and traumas, or move into a more self-confident space.
Whatever your path, the intention is yours to set, and the cacao allows you to the insight and awareness to move towards that goal. It’s quieter than many entheogens but no less punchy for it. Unlike other plants used for spiritual journeying (which seem to ‘take’ you on a journey) cacao facilitates your unfolding.
This beautiful and potent medicine opens the heart and body allowing unmet emotions and held energy to rise to the surface to be seen, felt and brought back into the open heart. There is an invitation to drop deeply into your body and into relaxation allowing it all to move through and be released.

What is the immediate physiological effect?

One of the main active ingredients that we experience in our physiology during ceremony is Theobromine. Theo-broma literally translates as God-Food, and potentiates the release of dopamine, the ‘pleasure’ hormone. This, alongside phenethylamine, which is known to help relieve stress and depression and which is released in the body during emotional euphoria, create heightened sensation and empathy. Alongside these, the high amount of nutrients in the cacao support and nourish the body, whilst also inducing a detoxifying effect on the liver and kidneys.

Cacao is associated with universal love

Why is this?

Is this why we gift chocolate to our lovers?

Due to certain active ingredients that help release ‘feel good’ emotions, cacao is considered a heart opener. Creating feelings of emotional intimacy and pleasure, it has long been considered a luxurious delicacy, especially with the addition of sugar and spices to suit modern palates. Without realizing, we still get to enjoy a small fraction of it’s potential when we eat cacao in a regular chocolate bar. And yes, this is why it has become associated with romantic gestures and pleasurable indulgence!

Where and when did cacao ceremonies originate?

It’s thought cacao was first used as a health elixir and ceremonial medicine as far back as 1900 BC by the ancestors of Central America and South America, the Olmec people, before becoming a ritualistic medicine used by the Aztec and Mayan cultures. Signifying both life and fertility, it was ingested by Royalty in ceremonial God worship and in sacrificial ritual.

What is a cacao ceremony, and when do people seek this medicine out?

A cacao ceremony is an opportunity to connect to yourself and open your heart. Because of cacao’s ability to increase your connection to your inner self and your heart chakra, it aids in any transformational shift you are working towards, whether you are looking to deepen your understanding of who you are, release old patterns and traumas, or move into a more self-confident space. Whatever your path, the intention is yours to set, and the cacao allows you to the insight and awareness to move towards that goal.
In a sacred and intimate space, the people that attend always surprise themselves at how they are able to open up to strangers, especially when they start to realize they we are all a mirror for each other, all just human beings with the same fears and sufferings, the same hopes and dreams. The dance help to connect with the body, during which the cacao activates within the body and the heart, allowing a truly transformative and ecstatic process to unfold.

What is a ceremonial dose?

And how is the cacao sourced and prepared?

I have used cacao from an Organic Farm in Colombia, at the Atlantic Coast, at the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, ( Sacred place where very ancient indigenous groups live, also Mexico, work alongside the local indigenous community to provide the highest grade cacao possible, grown in the purest conditions and harvested and prepared with love. A ceremonial dose is around 1 – 2 oz of cacao, mixed with water into a drink. Traditionally cacao was served with chilli and honey, but I have sometimes combined it with other herbs or super foods to assist a particular journey.

And the emotional impact?

Due to the euphoria inducing ingredients, the emotional impact can be profound. Everything feels heightened within the physical and emotional body, including your awareness to your deepest sense of self and to your heart. The experience of love and empathy, particularly for yourself, can literally feel as if your heart is opening like a flower. With this, the body can become flooded with the many emotions stored in the heart, some of which can be painful. It is not always an easy experience, and I have seen many tears shed as people peel away old layers of hurt. But as the cacao facilitates a deep sense of self-love, tears are always followed by smiles of deep gratitude. In other moments, the sheer ecstasy felt from the cacao can be described as nothing other than a divine experience.

The workshop are open to all those over the age of 18 irrespective of sexual orientation, religion or spiritual practice, gender etc & is an alcohol & drug free event.

Video

https://youtu.be/T_46t06NunUhttps://youtu.be/P7lClViFTGkhttps://youtu.be/RAohd1vCCIchttps://youtu.be/AkwRjCGmTtk