The San healing trance dance remains widely practiced today: women clap and sing around fires while men dance for hours, entering states where energy "boils" in the stomach and rises through the spine. The healer's soul leaves the body on a spirit journey. These ancient practices show remarkably similar themes to Hindu kundalini, Chinese neidan, and Siberian/Native American shamanic traditions. 🕺🔥
San trance dance rituals mirror global spiritual practices
Key facts
- The great healing dance or trance dance is among the most widely practiced San rituals in southern Africa today
- Women sit around fire clapping and singing while men dance in a circle for hours
- Healers enter trance states described as n/om boiling in the stomach and rising up the spine to the head
- The healer soul leaves the body on a spirit journey to fight malevolent spirits causing illness
- Rock paintings depicting trance dancers are thought to be around 10,000 years old
- The practice parallels Hindu kundalini energy rising through the spine and Chinese neidan internal alchemy
- Siberian/Native and Native American shamanic traditions also describe heat and energy rising through the body during trance states
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