What do you think?
Rate this book
The Dance: Moving To the Rhythms of Your True Self
Welcome to The Dance, the wise and practical book that expands on Oriah Mountain Dreamer′s new moving prose poem. In this compelling book the acclaimed author of The Invitation challenges readers to live with passion, energy, and honesty. The key, says Oriah, is to savour the everyday world of family, friends, love, and work with clear minds and open hearts. When we are physically and emotionally stressed and our spirits are depleted, we must realise that happiness has not vanished but is buried beneath the clutter of our harried lives. With rare courage and honesty, Oriah unveils the challenge of her inspiring poem through compelling stories from her own experience, offering us tools to become fully the person we already are -- not ways to change."To dance -- to live in a way that is consistent with our longing" -- is to discover a gift that we can give ourselves again and again over a lifetime. To dance, alone or with others, is to be who we truly are as we fulfill our soul′s desires. To do this, we must learn how to let go and slow down, returning to the sacred emptiness where we encounter our true self. Practical, inspiring, and profoundly illuminating, The Dance is an invitation to discover a place of connection, serenity, and joy that is uniquely our own."
208 pages, Hardcover
First published August 21, 2001
106 people are currently reading
1367 people want to read
About the author
Oriah Mountain Dreamer
27 books463 followersOriah is first and foremost a story-teller, a lover of words and symbols and the stories that lift our spirits, open our hearts and offer us ways to see patterns and create meaning in our lives. The focus of her life and work has been an on-going inquiry into the Sacred Mystery. Her writing, teaching and personal journey all explore how we can each become the individual we are at the deepest level of being and how we can co-create meaning together in the world. Blending humor, insight and compassion for our human struggles Oriah encourages herself and others to be ruthlessly honest and infinitely kind toward our own strengths and our weaknesses.
Raised in a small community in Northern Ontario, Oriah’s family encouraged her to bring her questions and explorations to the Christian tradition they espoused. At home in the wilderness she was drawn to and at home in the ceremonies and earth-based teachings of the First People’s, eventually teaching and sharing what she learned. Her daily practice includes ceremonial prayer, yoga, meditation and writing. A graduate of Ryerson University’s social work program (Toronto) and a student of Philosophy at the University of Toronto she has facilitated groups, offered classes and counselled individuals for over thirty-five years. The mother of two grown sons, Oriah lives in Toronto, Canada.
Raised in a small community in Northern Ontario, Oriah’s family encouraged her to bring her questions and explorations to the Christian tradition they espoused. At home in the wilderness she was drawn to and at home in the ceremonies and earth-based teachings of the First People’s, eventually teaching and sharing what she learned. Her daily practice includes ceremonial prayer, yoga, meditation and writing. A graduate of Ryerson University’s social work program (Toronto) and a student of Philosophy at the University of Toronto she has facilitated groups, offered classes and counselled individuals for over thirty-five years. The mother of two grown sons, Oriah lives in Toronto, Canada.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
January 13, 2015
This is where I believe "Books can change people". I have never felt more at peace and capable of loving what I don't or can't understand. I have no words to write what this book changed in me, what it taught me. I am grateful my best friend brought it into my life.
November 3, 2015
Loved this book; it's raw, real and beautiful. The author asks insightful questions which makes us think more deeply on the meaning of our life, feelings and actions without pretending she knows the answers to it all but simply inviting us to explore them with her. Highly recommended.
July 3, 2011
The single most profound book I have ever read. My new favorite. Keeping this one close to my heart to share with someone special :)
January 27, 2013
Oriah writes with such lucidity that you don't feel like putting the book down.
But the ideas are at a deep intense level and the language has a steering of its own :) So unless you like delving deeper into the abyss of your consciousness, this book will otherwise not appeal to you.
It is truly a recommended book to any seeker of spiritual seeking and completeness at a core level.
Her idea of understanding the Sacred Mystery is so simply and so well explained! Loved it. Totally in line with Sufi thought :)
But the ideas are at a deep intense level and the language has a steering of its own :) So unless you like delving deeper into the abyss of your consciousness, this book will otherwise not appeal to you.
It is truly a recommended book to any seeker of spiritual seeking and completeness at a core level.
Her idea of understanding the Sacred Mystery is so simply and so well explained! Loved it. Totally in line with Sufi thought :)
February 28, 2017
Great meditations at the end of each chapter.
September 27, 2024
5⭐️
This book was incredible. It really changed my perspective on life, the universe, connection, other people, and the world. I feel so much more connected to life in general.
I appreciate the authors perspective, and I really like how she talks about “the Mystery” aka the universe/god/higher power. Im so lucky to have stumbled across this book in a little free library!
“Dance with me in the infinite pause before the next great inhale,
Of the breath that is breathing us all into being,
Not filling the emptiness from the outside or from within”
I feel like I will definitely go back to this. It was a quick read too, and I liked how easy it was to read and process, even though it was very deep and non-linear at times. The writing was accessible.
Amazing little book!
This book was incredible. It really changed my perspective on life, the universe, connection, other people, and the world. I feel so much more connected to life in general.
I appreciate the authors perspective, and I really like how she talks about “the Mystery” aka the universe/god/higher power. Im so lucky to have stumbled across this book in a little free library!
“Dance with me in the infinite pause before the next great inhale,
Of the breath that is breathing us all into being,
Not filling the emptiness from the outside or from within”
I feel like I will definitely go back to this. It was a quick read too, and I liked how easy it was to read and process, even though it was very deep and non-linear at times. The writing was accessible.
Amazing little book!
May 15, 2017
I admire the depth of soul to which this author reaches. She does not simply scratch the surface of individual spirituality and existence but offers insightful personal stories and self-examining questions that help discover, unfold,and embrace the souls joy. There are useful meditations at the closing of each section that help in becoming known better to the self and enable us access to a starting point where we can begin to live from a deeper and deeper connection with who we really are.
This is surely a book to keep close and read then re-read again.
This is surely a book to keep close and read then re-read again.
June 15, 2008
great so far, just forgot to finish it. not really a self help book, but a memoir about a mom dealing with lifes ups and downs. - ok finished it. some of the book was really good, but the lady who wrote it is kind of a hippy so some parts are weird about listening to the earth and sacred solitude.
February 27, 2017
Oriah begins each of her books with a delightful poem, and then goes into detail in each chapter, providing examples from her own life. The book is enjoyable, inspiring, and easy to read.
June 7, 2017
Found this book quite illuminating though I haven't quite practised the meditations. The sense that e are good enough as we are and should just be ourselves is truly liberating.
December 5, 2017
A poetic masterpiece, full of insight, eloquently written, spiritually rewarding, thought evoking, and existentially driven.
April 1, 2019
I liked this book , but I don't think it measure up to ' The Invitation' . Just a little to much on the mystical side for me .
August 10, 2020
The book starts off with a prelude of questions followed by a poem called “The Dance.” That, then, becomes the basis of her book. Each chapter begins with a section of the poem and then is expanded and explored by Ms. Mountain Dreamer’s (a name given her at the end of a ceremony in which she participated) own story along with other examples of those she has known. The end of each chapter is a meditation or time of reflective questions on how the chapter relates to your life and what you might want to unravel about that topic. Some of the chapters explore slowing down, relationships, sorrow and anger and others—all the while reinforcing that we are loving enough/compassionate enough in whatever stage we find ourselves, no matter what life tosses our way. She also stresses why slowing down to do the dance of life for those of us who find ourselves over-booked, over-work without time for the important things.
She addresses how fear drives us too many times in directions we really don’t want to go. She is a divorced woman who lives several doors down from her ex-husband as they share every-other-day custody of their children, both having learned they are better friends than mates. She doesn’t air dirty laundry about that but talks intimately of her ex remarrying one of her best friends and some of the issues that brought up—sometimes going against her own advice. She gets very real about life and love and deep feelings, maybe prompting the reader to really understand she knows how each feels as they read through her book. As you now know, she is a writer and also holds workshops teaching many of the lessons found in the book.
The timing of the reading was interesting as I fit it around an intense seminar experience of 4 10+ hours of input with a high-powered business success personality in an event with 23,000 others. It was really a test of what I was taking from her book as I was at the 1/2-way point into "The Dance." I, until fairly recently, was "never enough," in ways of money-making, time-management, social situations, etc. It turned out that a portion of that speaker's time was to reassure the audience that we are enough to achieve the goals we set for ourselves...whew!!! I could be ME!!! Finishing the book after that experience was a nice transition back to the real world, being enough.
She addresses how fear drives us too many times in directions we really don’t want to go. She is a divorced woman who lives several doors down from her ex-husband as they share every-other-day custody of their children, both having learned they are better friends than mates. She doesn’t air dirty laundry about that but talks intimately of her ex remarrying one of her best friends and some of the issues that brought up—sometimes going against her own advice. She gets very real about life and love and deep feelings, maybe prompting the reader to really understand she knows how each feels as they read through her book. As you now know, she is a writer and also holds workshops teaching many of the lessons found in the book.
The timing of the reading was interesting as I fit it around an intense seminar experience of 4 10+ hours of input with a high-powered business success personality in an event with 23,000 others. It was really a test of what I was taking from her book as I was at the 1/2-way point into "The Dance." I, until fairly recently, was "never enough," in ways of money-making, time-management, social situations, etc. It turned out that a portion of that speaker's time was to reassure the audience that we are enough to achieve the goals we set for ourselves...whew!!! I could be ME!!! Finishing the book after that experience was a nice transition back to the real world, being enough.
March 9, 2022
This was a random find at a used book store and it was the question printed on the cover, "What if the question is not why am I so infrequently the person I really want to be, but why do I so infrequently want to be the person I really am?" that struck a nerve.
I don't know that I know any more answers after finishing the book, however, I did very much enjoy the book because I value writing that brings up questions and gives me pause. I may not have found "answers" but I did find many paths of reflection to explore.
I began the book with great enthusiasm and after chapter one thought I should buy copies for several friends. About midway that heightened enthusiasm subsided and instead of purchasing extra copies assuming everyone else will be equally enthused about it, I think the best recommendation I can give others is simply that if the question posed on the cover strikes a chord within you, then chances are there will be many points within that you'll find worth pondering.
I plan to hang on to my copy of the book because I not only want to revisit the poem at the start of it, but I also liked several of the post-chapter meditations.
I don't know that I know any more answers after finishing the book, however, I did very much enjoy the book because I value writing that brings up questions and gives me pause. I may not have found "answers" but I did find many paths of reflection to explore.
I began the book with great enthusiasm and after chapter one thought I should buy copies for several friends. About midway that heightened enthusiasm subsided and instead of purchasing extra copies assuming everyone else will be equally enthused about it, I think the best recommendation I can give others is simply that if the question posed on the cover strikes a chord within you, then chances are there will be many points within that you'll find worth pondering.
I plan to hang on to my copy of the book because I not only want to revisit the poem at the start of it, but I also liked several of the post-chapter meditations.
March 6, 2020
Honest and simple
Oriah is an honest writer. She doesn’t hide her failures, feelings, bad thoughts or mistakes even as a spiritual guide. Her writings are down to earth, practical and applicable steps for living a slower and calmer life. This book is easy to read, things we might have already know but to be reminded again. I also enjoyed her brutal honesty at the events her life and I felt so human and adequate after finishing this book.
Oriah is an honest writer. She doesn’t hide her failures, feelings, bad thoughts or mistakes even as a spiritual guide. Her writings are down to earth, practical and applicable steps for living a slower and calmer life. This book is easy to read, things we might have already know but to be reminded again. I also enjoyed her brutal honesty at the events her life and I felt so human and adequate after finishing this book.
January 1, 2018
This book guided me into a better healing space and opened up my mind to a new perspective of trauma and my own reactions to that trauma. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has lived through tough circumstance and wants to come through it with light and energy to keep unfolding their life in a positive way!
January 5, 2020
A most excellent read...I find Oriah Mountain Dreamer's words intoxicating, inviting, inspiring and a little intimidating but only because they prod me to do the work required for elevation of the highest self.
February 16, 2020
Loved everything about this book! Still read the poem to this day, and I love how each chapter dives in deep about a couple lines. It is both a book about life and love and being true to yourself, and a beautiful elaboration of the poem.
March 31, 2020
Made me cry. The author is honest in her self assessment and emotions. I just felt this deep sadness every time I picked up the book to read. Not sure if it's me and my emotions or a reaction to the author's emotions. Made it difficult to finish.
September 15, 2022
One of my very best friends gave me this beautiful little book. I loved the message, that we are enough, just the way we are: flawed humans with the capacity to love.
The meditations are also wonderful.
The meditations are also wonderful.
May 4, 2019
I love Oriah's writing and stories. Her words speak directly to my soul.
August 31, 2019
Loved it!
Read
September 17, 2019I read the cover many times and was moved by. And the beginning few pages. I don’t really know why I don’t want to continue.
March 16, 2020
BEAUTIFUL and inspiring but a very slow read
May 3, 2020
Loved the invitation, but was a little disappointed with this book in that it was more like her personal journal. Some parts I had to slog through; other (small) parts were excellent.
January 11, 2021
Profoundly illuminating.
May 19, 2021
Absolutely love this book.
August 12, 2021
Interesting view points.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews