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About Parashakti There's
a world behind the one we see, one humans have pursued since first
inhabiting this planet. A certain few break through layers to communicate
deeper; some call it soul, others spirit, but most agree it is unnamable,
infinite. Parakshakti is one such initiate in this rare class of
seers, using her own life as a template for others to map out. "My
goa A native of Jerusalem, Israel, Parashakti melds the teachings of dance, shamanism and the yogic arts. An adept at massage therapy, yoga and TranceDance - a communal ritual blurring the lines between dance, music, and internal therapy - she is a healer in every facet of the word. Working with energy fields and day-to-day tensions alike, partaking in a Parashakti ritualallows one to touch the eternal without leaving the moment; her techniques offer immense healing potential, regardless whether diehard skeptic or enduring believer. Dancing and acting her way through high school, where she took part in an alternative performing arts curriculum ("I couldn't stay in a regular school, I would sit in class and kind of fly" she says), Parashakti's love of dance culminated in being accepted into the Israeli Army's performing troupe, an honor reserved for 20 people out of the whole country each year. After her time there, she joined the Habima National Theater in Tel Aviv, following a residency at the National Theater in Haifa, where she pursued acting. The practice would be short-lived, as she could never gel with regimented movement. Just as in dance class, she used the art as means of complete expression, unable to adapt to rigid steps, and found the confinement oppressive. After acting alongside such greats as Chaim Topol (of Fiddler on the Roof and Flash Gordon fame), Parashakti pursued her original passion. Moving to California at 22, she studied dance at Santa Monica College. It is said that a shaman must experience trauma to be initiated, and it was here she encountered her own. Breaking her foot three days before a performance, the real journey began as "everything was taken away from me. My whole expression was through dance and I was in a cast for three months, then in recovery for another three. That period of time was a vision quest; that's when I got the calling to explore the true essence of spirit and dance." Meeting
shaman Wilbert Alix, Parashakti began her studies. A main duty of
shamans is to travel into the spirit world, comprised of three levels:
lower, upper and middle world, the latter where we usually exist.
The other two are fostered by the imagination, which, in shamanic
belief, is not a whimsical instrument of daydreaming but a tool
to recovering true identity. Parashakti began journeying while further
exploring yoga and massage Her move to New York led her to Integral Yoga, as well as forming the Shakti Spirit Dance Ensemble, a troupe that toured Portugal, Canada, and many domestic locations. Finally settling into her skin, Parashakti saw how to incorporate all these elements into one: TranceDance. Based on shamanic ritual, a practitioner is blindfolded in a ceremonial setting, allowing them to free themselves of the daily chains vision allows. "I use the blindfold because it's really an ancient shamanic tool to allow people to go on this vision quest through dance," she says. "It really helps let go of everything around them." Recently opening Grand Space in Brooklyn, a multi-functional performance/healing center in Brooklyn, Parashakti has a base to continue her lifelong calling to heal. Also leading retreats (Costa Rica, Israel, to name a few), house blessings, shamanic bodywork, and a style-in-development called Earth Yoga, she is a true "empty vessel," as the Buddhist dub it; empty, that is, to allow the spirit to pass through and heal others. If change starts from within, and you can only make change by changing yourself, Parashakti has shed the "self" to make room for everyone else. "Shamanism has taught me the real teacher is the teacher within," she concludes, "and we all have that guide. Shamanism can connect deeply the spirit world and yourself, and then you can then journey. You tap into a non-ordinary state of consciousness, and that's where the truth of your own darkness can be completely revealed. You have to go through some of your deepest fears and experience them in order to find your truth." HOLISTIC,
RETREAT & YOGA CENTERS United
States International |
l is to connect people with the earth," she says, "with their own voice in a very deep way."
therapy, as well as her first love, dancing.Sign up for our newsletter!