Abstract

Dance is one of the earliest and most fundamental modes of human expression, emerging alongside the evolution of humanity as a means of communicating emotion through bhava and expression through rasa and abhinaya. From spontaneous movement to structured forms, dance has developed across countries in different forms and is part of human rituals, celebration and festivals. Rasa – The Sanskrit word for ‘essence’ can directly lead to a meditative state; by engaging deeply with the present moment through emotions, art, or sensory experiences, rasa serves as an entry point to calm the mind and enter a meditative state. Bhava - The Sanskrit word for feeling can naturally lead to meditation. By directing and channelising one’s emotional energies by focussing on mind and transitions your awareness into a state of deep one-pointed concentration. Abhinaya – The art of dramatic expression and acting) can be a profound pathway to meditation both practices require intense present moment awareness breath control and the ability to detach from the ego to fully embody a subject. Thus, a combination of the three pillars of dancing rsa, bhava and abhinaya leads to a complete meditative state of the mind where there is a performer is only in the present and is without self-awareness and ego and had become one with character and the performance just flows though just like soft wind touches the nostril whole breathing.