From Raver to Healer: 1990's UK Raving as Reenactment of Dionysian Ritual

Gnosis of the Body

Show notes:

Tammy B episode:

Rave to heal

From Raver to Healer Reenactment

English CBT and play therapist, Tammy Brett shares her wisdom and stories starting from the glory days of raving in Manchester in the 1990’s to healing her trauma from abusive relationships in body based therapies such as breathwork, myofascial release and EMDR.

Starting out with a spoken word ode to 1990’s UK and raving in the spirit of the witch, diving right into ritual, body and archetype, and the role of dance in coping with and healing from abuse, PTSD, eating disorders and trauma. We discuss how subconscious knows the needs that were then met in the raves. Tammy reflects on essence of dance and rave environment of places like the legendary Hacienda and warehouses, use of ecstasy and the collective needs for rebellion and coming together of violent gangs in the raves.

Mythic elements discussed are the orgiastic, ritual Dionysian aspects of raves and the collective need to experience rebellious, bodily release in ritualistic times and spaces. We dive into how nightclubs are spaces where our bodies reexperience in womb like environment in sensation. How collective trauma is healed by movements of dance, as in poly vagel theory, we discuss women's groups where dance for women of all ages is a healing ritual. Katherine explains the “Shakeout” she uses in teaching trauma informed yoga that has the benefit of discharging anxious energy and taking the system to parasympathetic nervous system; tammy ties this into her TRE trauma therapy work.

In later half, Tammy shares her wisdom from practicing therapy with children with ADHD and the role early infant environment can play in subconscious held aspects in the body later in life. Identifying as a witch, Tammy, shares how connecting with nature and its wisdom in ritual and retreat has played a role in her healing journey. Through her evocative spoken word poetry, Tammy tells stories of her raving days and ends with one about returning to feelings of safety in the body.

We end with another of Tammy’s poems of which tells what feeling safe in the body feels like, what is the feeling of conscious healing.

Contact for Tammy Brett

[e-mail]

https://www.facebook.com/tammy.brett.5

http://www.soulution-events.com

“A ritual is the enactment of a myth. And, by participating in the ritual, you are participating in the myth. And since myth is a projection of the depth wisdom of the psyche, by participating in a ritual, participating in the myth, you are being, as it were, put in accord with that wisdom, which is the wisdom that is inherent within you anyhow. Your consciousness is being re-minded of the wisdom of your own life. I think ritual is terribly important.”

― Joseph Campbell