Definition of Biodanza

Biodanza is a system of human integration, organic renewal, affective reeducation, and relearning of life’s original functions. Its methodology consists of inducing integrative experiences through music, singing, movement, and group dynamics.

INTEGRATION
In Biodanza, the integration process functions by stimulating the primordial functions of the connection with life, enabling each individual to integrate himself, the species, and the universe.

 

AFFECTIVE REEDUCATION
This is the ability to establish meaningful connections with other people.

 

ORGANIC RENEWAL
This involves action on organic self-regulation, primarily induced by special trance states that activate processes of cellular repair and global regulation of biological functions, reducing factors of disorganization and stress.

 

RELEARNING THE ORIGINATING FUNCTIONS OF LIFE
This is about learning to live from instincts. An instinct is an innate, hereditary behavior that does not require learning and is triggered by specific stimuli. Its purpose is to preserve life and facilitate its evolution. Instincts represent nature in us, and becoming sensitive to them means restoring the union between nature and culture.

 

INTEGRATED EXPERIENCES
An integrated experience is lived with great intensity in the here-and-now and has ontological quality (it is projected over all existence). The experiences in Biodanza are integrative because they inherently have a harmonizing effect. These experiences are designed to stimulate the potentials of vitality, sexuality, creativity, affectivity, and transcendence, known as Lines of Vivencia.

 

IN OTHER WORDS
“The most subversive of all disciplines is that which is founded on respect for life, the joy of living, the right to love, and contact. From our meditation derives a technique that involves stimulating, creating, and developing life in others, which in turn generates life in us. People are our most powerful environment. The ecological couple, the ecological family, and the ecological community are expressions of the Biocentric Principle.” — Rolando Toro Araneda.

The text quoted below has been extracted from the material prepared by Professor Rolando Toro
for the Training and Updating course for Teachers of the Biodanza® System.

 

I have defined the concept of ‘Vital Unconscious’ as a proposal to refer to the cellular psyche. There is a form of psychism of organs, tissues, and cells that obeys a global ‘sense’ of self-preservation. The vital unconscious gives rise to phenomena of cellular solidarity, tissue creation, immunological defense, and, in sum, the successful functioning of the living system. The act of healing will then be understood as a movement to recover that vital harmony with the universe.

Let’s briefly examine the three levels of the Unconscious:

1. The Personal Unconscious: Described by Freud.
2. The Collective Unconscious: Described by Jung.
3. The Vital Unconscious: Proposed by Rolando Toro.

The three levels of the Unconscious communicate with each other through ‘transition thresholds’. Between the Personal Unconscious and the Collective Unconscious, processes transition from personal history to the archetype.

Between the Collective Unconscious and the Vital Unconscious, the processes move from the archetype to the systems of biological integration through integration dances.

The Vital Unconscious is nourished by cosmic memory and organizes matter (protein chains, organic systems) based on presumptive programming that may or may not generate stable organic systems. The patterns of self-organization that generate living systems capable of reproduction are quite stable.

Biodanza® specifically works with the Vital Unconscious, enabling highly effective actions at the deepest layer of the human living system. Through the experiences, a cosmic adventure begins, navigating in an unknown direction towards optimized life forms.

The Vital Unconscious expresses itself through endogenous humor, kinesthetic well-being, and overall health status.

THE DESIRE TO LIVE

The desire to live originates from the cellular psyche, not from conceptual thought or conscious will.

Cells possess a survival quality, an index of longevity that is linked to the desire to live. This desire is experienced when genetic potentials are expressed.

Depression represents the exhaustion of this life impulse, a loss of motivation to continue living.

Stimulating the expression of the five sets of genetic potential—known as the five lines of experience—is a method to positively influence the vital unconscious.

The Biocentric Principle is inspired by the intuition that the universe is organized around the function of life. It involves a proposal to reformulate our cultural values, taking respect for life as its reference point.

The Biocentric Principle proposes the enhancement of life and the expression of its evolutionary powers. From this perspective, Biodanza is a poetics of the living, grounded in the universal laws that preserve and facilitate the evolution of life. All Biodanza actions are aligned in resonance with the profound and stirring phenomenon of life.

Biodanza employs an experiential methodology, emphasizing lived experience over verbal information. This approach facilitates the initiation of internal transformation without the interference of mental processes of repression.

We embrace the visionary thoughts of Albert Schweitzer: ‘Meditating on life, I feel obligated to respect any will of life around me, as it is equal to mine.’

The fundamental concept of the good, then, is that it involves preserving life, fostering it, and leading it to its highest value; while evil consists of annihilating life, harming it, and obstructing its flourishing.

The Biocentric Principle focuses on a universe perceived as a living system. The realm of life extends far beyond plants, animals, and humans. Everything that exists, from neutrinos to quasars, from stones to the most subtle thoughts, is part of the prodigious living system.

According to the Biocentric Principle, the universe exists because life exists, not the other way around.