On Simplicity: how simple gatherings can hold big power

Reflections on a week spent at a Dance Facilitator Training in Portugal and the journey up to this point

This time last week I said goodbye to a group of people who, for a brief period of seven days in the thousands of days we may live on Earth, came together to create something that could never be created in its exact form again.

Just one week before, we had gathered as strangers in a gorgeous pocket of countryside in Portugal, for the Dance The Medicine Dance Facilitator Training. When we left, we were a family, bonded by the irreplaceable experience we shared that week. It's hard to put the experience into words, not only because so much happened but because so much of it was felt rather than known.

While I can't speak for everyone, what it felt like for me was this: This is right. This is real. This is what it feels like to be relaxed in my body, in my humanness.

The stunning Portuguese countryside

The journey up until Portugal

When I was studying philosophy at sixth-form, I found myself drawn to John Stuart Mill’s seminal text On Liberty in which he encouraged people to pursue “experiments of living” where they tried out different, non-conventional ways of living in order to find what way suited them - quite a controversial mandate in 19th century Britain.

Perhaps unconsciously inspired by this text (or perhaps due to my own nature, which found “experiments of living” an exciting idea in the first place) I went on to have several of my own.

I lived in China for two years, in a variety of living situations and jobs. I lived almost as a recluse in the suburbs of Moscow for three and a half years. I spent a year in Colombia living in Medicine and land-connected communities. I’ve couchsurfed and cat sat, where it felt like I was stepping into someone else’s life, not just their homes. For a long time, moving around and trying on different roles and lifestyles felt like the most exciting thing to do.

Then, in 2023, I felt called to return to London. At the time, I couldn’t understand it, as I had always wanted to flee London as soon as I arrived. I know now why.

When I was living alone in Moscow, as much as I was enjoying the journey of self discovery that was unfolding at the time, I was craving connection. I rarely saw anyone outside the small group of people I worked with. I asked whatever higher power there was to show me the way to community.

When I decided to travel to Colombia after leaving Moscow, an interesting turn of events led me into the hands of a community. In fact, it was at an Ecstatic Dance in London that I met the person who would invite me to join their community in Colombia. The people I lived with in Colombia were strong, open-hearted, and wise and I learned a lot from them. I had several experiences there which have changed me forever. But I knew it wasn’t the place where I would stay. With some reluctance, I returned to London in 2023.

Two years on, I now know the reason why I was called to return was because my community was to start here in London. A community that now spans worldwide. A community that, at its core, cradles a simple truth: Dance is medicine.

Upon my return to London, I kept going to Ecstatic Dances (which I first heard about randomly in Moscow, having no idea of their existence beforehand). To my surprise, I found that I kept meeting people who had something meaningful to offer me, and I to them. Synchronicities abounded. I met amazing people, many with whom I enjoyed one dance, and some with whom I continue to share moments of my life today.

In 2024, I attended my first Dance The Medicine training, their flagship Dance Facilitator Training. It was following that training that I got introduced to the “Dance The Medicine Fam”, an international network of dance organisers, facilitators and DJs. The dance community went from being solely London based to global. I have since attended their DJ training and another Dance Facilitator Training as a Level 02. Each time, not only has my knowledge and skills of conscious dance expanded, but my sense of belonging to a community has too.

My time in Portugal

There are so many things that I could say about the training but the word that keeps coming to me is “simplicity.” Here are some things I learned and was reminded of:

• The simple truth that moving our bodies in an uninhibited way can be so nourishing for the mind, body and soul. At the training, we danced up to three times a day, including a session called “Morning Movement”. It wasn’t always easy waking up early to dance in the morning, but my body always thanked me afterwards.

  
  

• That when a group of people come together to simply dance - and nothing else - powerful things can happen. On the dance floor there was laughter, play, tears, deep insights and shifts. All this "just" from dancing.

  
  

• Things like eating together, sharing (without trying to “solve” anything), walking barefoot, swimming in wild waters, lighting fires, and watching the horses graze at sunset are more than just fulfilling, they're life affirming. I felt like a different person when I was there, one more in touch with my “humanness.” It’s cliché because it’s true: it’s the simple things.

  
  

• I also learned that facilitation doesn’t have to be so complicated. As someone who has always overproduced for fear of “not being enough”, witnessing examples of simple facilitations having big impacts has been both inspiring and healing.

  
  

To me, the week in Portugal was an “experiment of living” that reinforced to me the kind of life that I want to continue to keep living. One in which there is space for connection, for honesty, for sadness, for joy, for movement, for mistakes, for acceptance, and (hopefully, if I remember) for simplicity.

Dancing outdoors was much needed

Coming home

The week has also shown me how much ecstatic dance has become a home for me. As someone who moved around many times growing up, and then as an adult, it can be hard to pinpoint “home”, and for a long time I felt like I didn’t have a real one to return to.

A dance may just be a dance. But it may also change your life, as it has done for me. It has brought me a home that I can return to wherever I am in the world. I know that wherever I visit, I can seek out a dance and find something that feels like home there. It may not be the best dance ever, and I might not meet my new BFFs, but as long as I stay conscious and connected to myself in the dance, I am always home. Perhaps that is one of the greatest gifts that ecstatic dance has given me: an opportunity to really be with myself and my body. My true home.

So, for anyone new to ecstatic dance (or not), may you be open to the magic. And may we never forget the simple truth: Dance is medicine.

Our next event: "PURE RELEASE" (22nd May)

Inspired by my experience at the training, as well as the recent sunnier days, comes the theme of our next event: Pure Release.

Pure Release is part of our 2026 series, which includes The Reset (Jan), Origins (Feb), and Rebirth (March), all of which held a specific intention. The intention of Pure Release is, you’ve guessed it, all about letting loose on the dance floor. Because sometimes, you just need to shake it out. There will be less words and more movement. Less thinking and more feeling.

I’ll be on the decks as DJ YASYA, and the idea with my set is to take you on a journey that stirs up your inner fire and wild energy and sets it free on the dance floor. Expect lots of high vibe, high energy tracks to get you jumping, shaking, leaping, and laughing.

This one is going to be extra fun! I hope you can join us 💜

Find out more about the event and buy tickets here.

You can also join our community on Instagram, where we post news, inspiration and updates.

With love,

Yasmin