Enjoying All The Elements Of The Journey
- Ecstatica
- Oct 22
- 5 min read
Lessons (re) learned from picking up a new skill + our final event of the year
It’s fast approaching the end of 2025 and soon another year will have come and gone. It seems like only yesterday we were looking forward to the beginning of summer and now we’re buckling down for winter. And alas, it’s back — that distinctive grey that seems to rest comfortably over London without a hint of moving for days on end, like a smug cat on its favourite pillow.
While it’s true that the colder months can inspire a sense of melancholy, it’s also true (for some people at least) that they represent a time of learning and growth. Spending less time outside, we must stay inside and keep ourselves busy one way or another. Personally, I’ve always used the autumn and winter months as a time to study. To start or restart a course, to look back at the resources I have accumulated and decide where I want to go next, to uplevel or learn a new skill…
And this time, that skill is DJing. As someone who runs ecstatic dance events, it has of course always been at the back of my mind that DJing would have to appear on the menu of my skill set one day. One day. It’s not that I didn’t want to learn to DJ…more that I didn’t think I could. Funny that. Just like I didn’t think I could dance before I discovered ecstatic dance.
But one thing ecstatic dance spaces do really well (when done well) is help you to feel safe. And so, as someone in the ecstatic dance space and working with the Dance The Medicine team that trained me as a facilitator, when I was offered the chance to do their DJ training, even though I felt scared that I’d be rubbish, I felt safe to try.
So, in September I started their online DJ training — a 9-week course learning the ins and outs of creating an Ecstatic Dance DJ set, with in-depth lessons on how to use a controller and software. Unpacking my Traktor controller for the first time, I felt like a 90-year-old might feel unpacking their first iPhone (everything looked totally alien to me plus I’m naturally a technophobe). However, I am happy to say that within a few weeks I’ve been able to get a handle on how more than a few of the buttons work. Woop!
The training has taught me a few things about myself (or more accurately, has reminded me of a few things that I already know about myself, because annoyingly patterns are not that easy to give up). As usual, when we are in the process of learning, we are always learning about ourselves along the way. For example:
I don’t like it when I don’t get everything right away. When I have to start at the bottom, it feels overwhelming. Why can’t I just know how to loop like a pro right now? But I also know that when I do eventually learn it, I will feel like a boss. So, patience continues to be my forever teacher. I will be a looping pro one day, just not yet, and it’s probably better to enjoy the journey rather than lament on what I haven’t achieved.
I never saw myself as a DJ. But I’ve discovered that what is equally unhelpful is seeing myself as a DJ. As tempting as it is to imagine that being a DJ means having the title and being seen as ‘cool’ because you can twist a few pieces of plastic to make great sounds (ha), I must remind myself that what I am doing is DJing, not being a DJ. Which means that when I mess things up, that’s OK. I’m not a bad DJ. It’s all part of the process of DJing. Forget the title and get stuck in.
Similarly, while in theory I know that being willing to be uncomfortable with failing is key to learning, my fear of failure and discomfort of not knowing (as an old friend of mine from school) has predictably reared its head again. But I’d like to do things differently this time — moving towards the discomfort and actively failing.
A side story: several years ago I had a skiing accident which had a lasting impact on my health. You could call it a big fail. Ever since then, I’ve been afraid to fall in the snow while skiing in case I get hurt and feel pain again. But what I am trying to do with DJing is ‘fall in the snow.’ Deliberately fail so that I can learn that it’s OK, and I’m OK. It helps that the Dance The Medicine team make you feel like it’s OK to slip in the snow sometimes.
For those who have made it this far, I truly appreciate it and hope that it’s helped you in some way. Perhaps you resonate with the fear of failing. Or perhaps you’ve taken up a new skill and feel like you’ll never reach where you want to be. And we won’t. Because where we want to be is not one place. We are always shifting the goalposts because, secretly, we know that the journey is what it’s all about. We just have to remind ourselves of it. Over and over again.
Our Final Event of 2025: 'ELEMENTAL RESONANCE' (7th Nov)
If you told me at the beginning of the year that we would have run eight events before the year was out, I’d be pretty chuffed (and I am!), but more about that in a future post. For now, we’d love to invite you to join us for our very last event of the year, ELEMENTAL RESONANCE, on November 7th at our beautiful home of Soma Home, N16.
As you can guess by the name, the theme is the ‘elements’ (we do love a theme at Ecstatica). The idea behind this event is that, as we come face to face with the harsh winter elements again, we also bump up against our resistance to them. Our resistance to change. Our resistance to the darkness within and all around us.
Through the warm-up, we will go through exercises that encourage us to meet and feel into the elements within us — our fires, our waters, our air and earth — and express them through our movement and dance. Instead of shying away from the elements, we move towards them and dance with them.
We will then move into the free-flow ecstatic dance, and this one is going to be extra awesome because we will have special guest EdūWild of the Earth Echo Collective joining us, playing a host of live instruments. Live instruments in any setting hits different (for want of a better phrase), and in an ecstatic dance setting, it’s even more beautiful. Imagine feeling the sounds of the live mouth harp or flute vibrate through your body as you dance in a way that feels good to you. Don’t imagine — come live it! Join us on November 7th for what is set to be a gorgeously resonant evening.
Find out more about the event and buy tickets here.
You can also join our community on Instagram, where we post more news, inspiration and updates.
See you on the dance-floor 💜
P.S. If you’ve always wanted to DJ, or this article has sparked your interest, Dance The Medicine is running an in-person Ecstatic DJ Training this November in Portugal. Find out more about it here. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions – I’ll be there too!
