The Mythology behind the Dancing Dragon
The Dragon Dance is by far my favorite yoga flow sequence. So playful, graceful, powerful it truly embodies the mystic of a dragon.
I learned it from my Yin Yoga teacher Paul Grilley. The focus when we spoke about was always on the Chi flow, in stimulating all major meridians with this sequence. Even without mentioning the mythology of dragons you feel the positive effect on the body. I also must say for a long time I didn’t looked into the symbol of the dragon, also had no negative association with dragons, which seems to be the most common image in the west.
The logic mind will say there is and there were no creatures on earth such as dragons even though we can find them in almost all cultures around the planet. Not just since Game of Thrones. And still the image of those fantasy creatures in all different cultures looks pretty much the same, also it turns out dragons don’t have the best reputation, especially for us in the west we tend to see them as evil. While in Asia dragons are seen as good luck charm, the embodiment of good. Which, I must say, I prefer and from the reactions in class - the excitement of moving through the dragon flow, everyone is so energized, positive, buzzing - I must say dragons are good value!
But no matter where I taught the dragon dance, from Europe, to Morocco to Sri Lanka people from all over the world instantly fell in love with that little flow. That’s why I integrated it into one of my first online live classes at the beginning of the global Coronavirus lockdown.
The Dragon Dance flow always works, but especially in Coronavirus times I found it very fitting as dragons represent mother earth. Dragons are often pictured as a big snake or a worm that eats itself to rebirth itself again. Pretty much as in the legend about the Phoenix. So a dragon represents endings and new beginnings, renewal and reformation, which refers to our mental faculties - with the ability of our brain to think, to imagine, to create we possess the power to change us, our lives, with the power of our mind and our imagination we can fly, we can create, innovate and this is represented by the dragon wings. The wings of our mind, for fateful changes.
That dragon image as a snake is also fund in Greek mythology, Gaea, that big snake Mother Earth that resides deep in the core of the earth is also part of the Hindu or yogic mythology where its named Kundalini, that energetic snake which lay dormant in the human pelvic area. Using different names, imagines and stories but telling the same content more or less, we find the dragon in all cultures. Saying the dragon is within all of us. The dragon represents our potentials, our power. It’s said when a dragon sneaks into your mind, he already spread its wings, it’s the time for a change. In yoga they say, that’s what we are aiming for in our spiritual practice, that kundalini raises. Nothing will be as we knew it. With our yoga practice or in educating ourselves we learn to handle those dragon or kundalini energies. So we can say a dragon sleeps in each and everyone of us, snoozing until it’s time to wake up to release unknown power and strength, call it talents if you like.
So in times of uncertainty as we facing these days I found the analogy of dragon energy very fitting, as we are facing challenges of unknown quality, old reliable routine don’t pay off any longer for most of us. So why not allowing yourself to unfold your true power. With the Dragon flow as it addresses the whole body, with all the movements we stimulate the Chi flow, the flow of Life energy in our body, so with that flow we mount our inner dragon. And feeling freshly energized you can create your new reality. And maybe it’s just a little break from the hard reality, to take a pause in fantasy to refresh your mind. Release your inner dragon from time to time.