Authentic movement as a laboratory for spirituality: opening to God and the inner self

Abstract

The main purpose of this research is to evaluate authentic movement as an effective approach to liberative religious education. Authentic movement is a field of modern dance that focuses on emotional movement and its ability to open access to the human unconsciousness, especially as understood in Carl Jung’s psychological perspective. Through authentic movement, a person is able to glimpse one’s inner self and one’s sense of the Divine, and also to release suppressed feelings, including those feelings evoked by the pressures of social expectations and stereotypes. Authentic movement thus engages persons in a process of religious education that can liberate them toward greater integration with their inner selves and religious experience.