Mr. Richard Williams, the founder of 6 Degrees Spa Consulting,
has interviewed Ms. Suzie Craddock, a teacher of Five Rhythms movement meditation
Suzie and I have been good friends and colleagues for over a decade already, a friendship that began with various rendezvous at Spa industry gatherings in Southeast Asia and a thread that linked us having both worked for Chiva Som, Thailand at different times. Me, as the Health Resort Spa Manager in Hua Hin, and Suzie, project managing for the new build of the Chiva Som Spa Academy in Bangkok.
It struck me that what Suzie offers and teaches is of such profound value to the people who discover and participate in the movement meditation of the Five® Rhythms, that it would be of great value to share this with the readers of SpaChina Magazine.
Suzie has many years of practical wisdom and in-depth experience and offerings in the spa industry, from her internationally accredited school by the government in Australia, to pre-openings of spas in Hong Kong, China, Southeast Asia and beyond. She now teaches Five® Rhythms workshops and classes, including a restorative Grief and Loss workshop, a Movement Workshop for women who have breast cancer, and the Unplugged Wellness Series for youth.
Richard: Tell us about your journey and how this has come to your current home and your professional and life passion of the Five® Rhythms movement meditation practice.
Suzie: I discovered Gabrielle Roth’s, (the founder), incredible movement meditation practice over 20 years ago when I attended a 5-day workshop retreat in Zurich, Switzerland, with dedicated and renowned Five® Rhythms teachers. This was during a very traumatic and challenging time in my life, triggered by a tumultuous divorce and later the ongoing stress which I believe activated a breast cancer diagnosis.
The inspiring workshop teachings changed my life. It was collaborative, engaging and impactful. It gave me the platform and solid foundation to follow and participate in this continued embodied somatic movement practice in my everyday life.
This rich Five® Rhythms movement meditation workshop happened for me at exactly the right time, which was to navigate and examine the challenges for my inner and outer healing of various emotions and feelings that were being triggered by trauma. It seemed a simple practice, however it facilitated a deep unending exploration of my body, moving me from my limitations, and helping me to let go of what didn’t serve me anymore, and discover dance as a new companion that gave me joy and presence. Being fully present allowed me to attain and focus on these changes within myself to heal.
Richard: How did you deepen your knowledge of the practice and facilitate your own healing?
Suzie: Drawing in the experience of many Five® Rhythms teachers I was able to access this practice, contemplate, sustain, and embrace all of the above. As well as slowly addressing and healing old wounds as I moved forward, I was able to nurture myself in this alchemical meditative movement practice. It was the hallmark that empowered and uplifted me to find new directions, and set new mindful intentions for myself through a new health and wellness movement journey, and to finally after many years of this practice, train as a teacher of this work.
I was accredited as a teacher after being engaged in this holistic practice for many years. Travelling overseas to get the hours needed to finally qualify to be able to be accepted for the training in 2013 and was finally accredited in February 2014.
Richard: Tell me more about the Five® Rhythms.
Suzie: The Five® Rhythms was started as a dynamic movement practice created by the founder Gabrielle Roth, in New York, and it is now practised by thousands of people all over the world. Elements from indigenous, world traditions, shamanistic and Eastern philosophy, along with Gestalt Therapy were merged by Roth. She brought people together in the spirit of connection, collaboration, and artistic expression. Her work is now a devoted world global movement with many accredited teachers worldwide.
Richard: What exactly is the Five® Rhythms philosophy?
Suzie: The Five® Rhythms is a philosophy and perspective of performance art and a practice rooted in the principal quote from Gabrielle Roth; “If you put the body in motion, it will heal itself. Movement is both the medicine and the metaphor reaching across all languages, cultures, and age groups to transform suffering into art, art into an awareness, and awareness into action.”
Whenever the Five® Rhythms is practised, a community is born to dance, to sweat, to change, and to support. To provide a safe space for each of us to invite the ego to let go of what it holds onto and awaken the juicy, unpredictable, edge walking, creative, wild part of our selves that yearns to be free. She created a practice with the idea that everything is energy and moves in waves, patterns, and rhythms. Its authentic movement map embodies and transforms us through this wave dance process.
Richard: How is the practice delivered and maintained?
Suzie: The practice is delivered in a safe, sacred space on various dance floors around the world. From halls to studios, from sessions to Workshops. However, with the Covid pandemic, it can also be delivered on the Zoom platform and can be offered in outdoor, natural, retreat settings. It’s a place where people can express themselves through the veil of vulnerability and be themselves without judgement.
The Five® Rhythms consists of Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, and Stillness. This map takes us to our planes of physical, emotional, and spiritual consciousness. What I love about this practice is it brings awareness to our bodies, awakens, moves, connects, and balances our bodies. The Five® Rhythms helps integrate and taps right into your body, sweat, breath, and intuition, until you’re ready to ride the next wave in or out of the dance floor! It helps us regain trust of our body and to find all our anatomical parts in the dance that we have forgotten to observe. Be it the arms or the pelvis, or the feet. It’s about falling in love with these parts of ourselves that we have forgotten, honouring and having gratitude for them. Using expressive movements to surrender and let go, and ground ourselves.
The music playlist is carefully designed for this experience by the accredited Five® Rhythms teachers. For me, it was prayer and spirit that came together in unison, to heal my physical body.
One woman in eight gets diagnosed with breast cancer each year, and for this reason I have designed an amazing workshop called Movement A Breast ®, that has been successfully piloted now in Perth, through a well-known cancer integrated therapies group, and is now part of our program offerings worldwide.
Richard: What else would you like to share about the Five® Rhythms practice Suzie?
Suzie: While a seemingly simple process, the Five® Rhythms practice facilitates deep and unending explorations, moving the dancer beyond self-imposed limitations and isolation, into new depths of creativity and connection. *see website: https://www.5rhythms.com/
Each week themes are explored and woven into the dance practice. This inner transformative process allows us to know and find ourselves through the instrument of our bodies.
Richard: How can one accomplish the spirit that is Five® Rhythms?
Suzie: Gabrielle Roth quotes the rhythms ride the energy of our own unique spirit, and her question was always, “Do we have the discipline to be a free spirit through the dance?”
I believe when you immerse yourself in the dance, you find the freedom to see things through new perspectives and you learn to investigate and look at your life both on and off the dance floor. This is a powerful way to explore and enquire what is unique to our own body, mind, and spirit, so we can be the architects of our future.
Richard: What are the Five® Rhythms movement meditation benefits?
Suzie: When we think of meditation, we often think of sitting still in a Bali retreat, in a yoga space, or in the lotus position. However, meditation can involve moving your body too, and the Five® Rhythms dance is a great way of incorporating various movements into meditation. What I love about the practice is that it’s for everyone. This movement meditation invites everyone – no matter their size, age, complexion, gender or flexibility, or culture – to lose themselves in the world of dance.
Many people tend to shy away from dance classes, afraid of not being able to keep up with the pace of the choreography, or because they are body-conscious, or self-conscious, or have self-esteem or judgement issues.
Moving and dancing provides many benefits to our health and wellbeing. Firstly, it opens the neural pathways in the brain which is crucial to cognitive processes, it increases mobility and flexibility, it boosts our moods, and alleviates stress from various traumatic experiences. It brings inner peace as it empties the mind, awakens the soul, and embodies the spirit. It raises awareness, connects. Surrenders, enhances, and cultivates a space to bring awareness, curiosity to our bodies, and re-learn to play, and have fun.
Dancing studies have also shown that there’s an increased improvement in balance and energy.
Everyone goes on their own journey, exploring their body but sharing the collective experience of the ‘wave’ or five stages of dancing that mimic different aspects of life
Richard: Are there life lessons or specific health conditions that greatly benefit from the practice of Five® Rhythms movement meditation?
Suzie: Yes, there are various life lessons. The first life lesson is that we get to express our deep emotions through this movement meditation practice, and it gives us a way of validating ourselves as humans. A sense of individuality is created as we learn to experiment with imagination. Our movements become present, we learn to dance alone, and also dance together in community. This is a powerful process and enables us to accept and embrace our imperfections. Moving among other bodies, you not only feel an amazing connection, and peace, but you also experience how extraordinary we live in the only home we actually have, that is our body.
It also helps in resilience, perseverance, and the capabilities to believe in oneself to heal. We can extend and push beyond our limits to have the courage to overcome the struggles and large waves we ride in our lives. As Gabrielle Roth quotes, “Energy moves in waves, waves move in patterns, patterns move in Rhythms. A human being is just that… Energy, Waves, Patterns, Rhythms. Nothing more, nothing less… a dance”.
During the workshop offerings we find a deep understanding of our emotions and we can have them be validated on the dance floor. Especially in these social media times we feel we are not enough, we feel we aren’t perfect.
Others are going through various stages of Grief and Loss. The way we can process through the practice helps to adjust to this challenging, traumatic experience. By using various creative reflective movement processes, we can become aware and re-frame the story and adjust to the loss to move forward. This contributes to the insight of our painful journey and the various movement process helps us to rediscover, accept, and acknowledges the depth of our losses. Expressive movement is a powerful healing tool that helps us open up about our feelings in these difficult times. This gives us hope and is a profound intimate group experience that supports the journey.
Richard: How would a SpaChina reader participate in Five® Rhythms?
Suzie: The Five® Rhythms is available in various Asian cities including Hong Kong, Shanghai, and is also available online.
Richard: What is the Five® Rhythms tribe? Where can they be found? Suzie: It’s a community of dancers that wish to discover, tap into, connect, or exchange, celebrate, digest, and refresh our trainings through the Five® Rhythms. Anyone interested or practicing this work can be found on the Global Five® Rhythms web site, or you can find events on social media.
