Remembering Gabrielle Roth

“Our soul, our true self, is the most mysterious, essential, and magical dimension of our being. In fact, it is not a separate reality, as traditional Western thought views it, but the cohesive force that unites our body, heart, and mind. It is not a ghost trapped somehow in the physical machinery of our body but the very essence of our being.”                  Gabrielle Roth

We are upon Gabrielle Roth’s 81^st birthday on February 4. Though she crossed over in 2012,  she continues to inspire me through her music and her 5Rythms work. My favorite collection of her music is “Bones” and I immerse myself in the tracks for journaling, creating art, or sometimes meditating. With a quiet mind and a settled body, the rhythms facilitate a deepening into non-ordinary states of consciousness. It is at this level that the muse as well as the inner healer is empowered to speak to us.

In this time of tension, opposites, major adjustment, and isolation, music and movement are a means to explore inner spaces. Rather than escape, it could be a form of inner retreat, finding the gifts within, working with the grit to smooth rough edges, polish what is already radiant, release what is no longer helpful.

There is a wonderful documentary on Gabrielle and her work on YouTube if you are moved to learn more. Below is a list of works by or about this amazing woman (taken from Wikipedia):

Books

• Roth, Gabrielle; Loudon, John (1989). Maps to Ecstasy: Teachings of an Urban Shaman. New World Library. ISBN 978-0-931432-52-1.

• Roth, Gabrielle (1997). Sweat Your Prayers: Movement as Spiritual Practice. Tarcher Putnam. ISBN 978-0-87477-959-2.

• Roth, Gabrielle (2004). Connections: The Five Threads of Intuitive Wisdom. Tarcher. ISBN 978-1-58542-327-9.

Music

Raven Recordings

• Jhoom
• Still Chillin’
• Bardo (with Boris Grebenshchikov)
• Tribe
• Refuge (with Boris Grebenshchikov)
• Zone Unknown
• Stillpoint
• Tongues
• Luna
• Trance
• Waves
• Ritual
• Bones
• Initiation
• Totem
• The Raven Classics – 4-CD boxed set
• Endless Wave
• Endless Wave 2
• Music for Slow Flow Yoga
• Music for Slow Flow Yoga 2

Other producers

• Path: An Ambient Collection (1995) Windham Hill Records
• Conversations With God: A Windham Hill Collection (1997) Windham Hill Records

Television and video

• I Dance the Body Electric (1993)
• Secret Egypt (1995) Mystic Fire Video (Directed by Sheldon Rochlin)
• The Spiritual Path to Success (1997) Quest special on PBS (now part of the Quest Life Trilogy, only available in the Quest Wisdom Collection).^[30]
• Sukhavati: A Mythic Journey (1997 [music]) [DVD 2005] for Joseph Campbell Foundation and PBS (Produced, Directed, and Edited by Maxine Harris and Sheldon Rochlin).
• The Wave (2001) Sounds True VHS (DVD 2004)
• The Power Wave (2001) Sounds True VHS (DVD 2005)
• The Inner Wave (2001) Sounds True VHS (DVD 2005)
• Ecstatic Dance Trilogy (2004) Sounds True
• Dances of Ecstasy (2003) [featuring: Michelle Mahrer, Nicole Ma, and Gabrielle Roth] BBC / Opus Arte
• Open Floor: Dance, Therapy & Transformation (2002) Raven Recording
• The Great Lesson:^[31] A New Film About Mind and Body: Featuring Gabrielle Roth