A closed group that gathers weekly in Bristol on Thursday evenings, to connect and support one another to drop deeper in the dance and expand the experience, comprehension and embodiment of the profound 5Rhythms® map.
The Rhythm Circle runs in ‘terms’ of approx 12 weeks. There are currently 40 places – at the beginning of each ‘term’, if anyone drops out, their place will be offered to those on the waiting list (contact Jon via the ‘Get In Touch’ button to join it).
Well, I was introduced to the 5Rhythms in a seven-day intensive that I went on, so we were moving about eight hours a day, every day, for a whole week and – I’m very well aware it’s a cliche but – it’s still a fact that it changed my life. So much so that actually I’ve been teaching the 5Rhythms for the best part of 20 years [edit: now 25!], ever since. One of the things that I’m very aware of is that most of my students since then only know the 5Rhythms as an evening class, and what I’ve learnt through teaching it as much as I have is that, even just as an evening class, it is an enormously powerful practice, and that it does people the world of good. They love it, and there’s a reason why they love it, and I always think of it as like a cleaning out of the energy systems – that they’re able, even if it’s just once a week for two and half or three hours, really able to move freely, openly, and that does extraordinary things for people.
But I know that there is more. I know because I experienced it right back at the beginning, and then again and again over the years, my favourite thing was to dance for days on end, and when you go further into the 5Rhythms the way that I have done in the past, there are layers and layers more – there are so many places to go, that we can’t touch in just two and a half, three hours, when there are every week people who are new, and are needing to go back round the basics. So I really want people to know what else is there.
So the other places that there are to go… there is a deeper exploration of each of the Rhythms, coming to understand where they come from, how they move in the body, what they do as they unfold, just really deeply going inside each Rhythm… and then finding each Rhythm inside. It’s a fractal map so, if you take the first Rhythm, Flowing, you move in that Rhythm, and you start to explore it, all the Rhythms are there again, and you go inside that, they’re there again.
But more than that, there’s also the dimensions of the emotions, and that particularly I believe we can start to unpack, when you have the same people moving together, dropping deeper into the practice together, over a period of time, and there’s the possibility of understanding the energetic of the emotions – getting to know, and feel, and understand how emotions move in your body when you translate it into dance, you get to know it in a whole different way – and one of the most profound things for me was the discovery of the degree of choice that I have about what I feel in any one moment, and I learnt that through the 5Rhythms. I learnt it by going into feeling, finding it, expressing it, and then… changing it, and we have extraordinarily more choice about what we feel at any one time, and how we can transform uncomfortable, difficult or unwanted feelings into something else that serves us more fully.
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5Rhythms® is an enormously powerful practice – and even just as an evening class, people love it, and benefit greatly from it … and, as Bernadette explains in the video (above), there’s so much more…
Have you ever wondered about our other classes? The course can be difficult to get onto as existing members and the ‘waiting list’ get first shout and then, if space allows, there’s a narrow window for others to dive in – if you are curious read on.
What’s different from Fridays, and why a ‘closed group’? What’s the powerful ‘magic’ that happens some weeks in open drop-in classes that leaves us all sitting in a circle, in Stillness, apparently ‘struck dumb’? Can we choose to go to those places, or is it some kind of lovely accident? And if we can go there, from scratch, in two and a half hours… where else could we go if we kept going…?
‘Rhythm Circle’ is where we gather to connect and support one another to drop deeper in the dance and expand the experience, comprehension and embodiment of the profound 5Rhythms® map. Where magic happens because we choose it, through deeper individual focus, and active and conscious work with our collective energy. While workshops (particularly when residential) are the most obvious vehicle for this, with the trust and mutual support of a dedicated group, picking up where we left off week after week, we enable this deeper work in weekly classes too.
Since we started in 2014, each term many renew and others join us, mixing continuity and fresh energy. Being part of this group will demand more of you, but equally it will give more back. It will demand your curiosity and your commitment both to your own process and that of the group as you join a collective exploration. The map is rich and profound, the landscape endless and fascinating, the process powerful and deeply healing.
So if you’d like to practice some deeper 5Rhythms ‘magic’, we set off for new terms in late September, in early January, and after Easter – it may not be Platform 9 3/4, but the journey can be as exciting, unexpected, and literally life-changing. There are always a few spaces each term, so why not join the waiting list? It’s never too late to find out more: watch the video, contact us (via the GET IN TOUCH button), and indeed, speak with any current or recent Rhythm Circle member on a Friday night… once words return…
See you on the dance floor
Much Love
Bernadette, Jon and team xxx
P.S. Some terms we shall be working in both the 5Rhythms ‘Waves’ and ‘Heartbeat’ maps. This will be clearly indicated above and, for this more advanced work, there will be an application process, partly as we anticipate higher demand 🙂
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The Purpose of the 5Rhythms Heartbeat™ map is to release the heart from its history – the old feelings that have been locked in our limbs or frozen in our chest – beginning to shake them loose and release an expanded emotional maturity and spontaneity.
As we become comfortable with allowing and giving expression to feelings, neither getting attached, nor denying them, we discover how to transform the energies of the heart, and the power of a heart fully able to feel and respond with love.
“Feelings are the language of the heart, but we have silenced them. We talk about feelings, we think about feelings, but when we actually feel them, we get so scared we immediately shove them back into the deepest chambers of our hearts. Yet none of us wants to be numb. We long to connect. We long to be real. We long to be intimate.”
~ Gabrielle Roth from “Connections”
(Note: Heartbeat classes are powerful, and yet not a substitute for Heartbeat workshops – in a 5 day residential workshop, we can drop very much deeper still, deeper than is possible in evening sessions. To explore the Heartbeat map in more depth, do also join us in future for a workshop – the two are highly complementary.)
If you are a current member, or already on the waiting list, you will receive an email invitation with details of how to sign up – contact Jon if you need another copy of your email. Otherwise…
Heartbeat™ is a step deeper in the 5Rhythms maps. As we go deeper into the truth of our selves, the group dynamic becomes that much more important, to ensure we are supporting each other in allowing our vulnerability.
We are therefore asking each dancer to set an intention to stay present with the group. This is completely familiar, indeed second nature to the majority of experienced 5Rhythms dancers. Such a commitment can help in the moments this is difficult. So if you can’t be in the central group process, you can either:
As we explore what is moving in our hearts, the simple act of making an internal commitment to supporting yourself and your group in this way can make all the difference.
If you are have already received an invitation (and therefore have a booking password!):
If you have not received an invitation already, please complete this (adapted) contact form to receive one:
Updates & notices for current members & ‘alumni’:
Forthcoming term: Waves/Heartbeat
Dates: Thursdays, Sept 4 – Dec 11
(14 sessions, half-term break Oct 30 – but see also drop-in classes re our Hallowe’en Dance that night)
Times: 7:30pm – 10:00pm
(prompt start! see ‘Further Details’)
Venue: St Michael’s Parish Hall (see below)
Prices: £168 / £132 conc (14 sessions – special price this term)
(payable in full before first session)
Booking status:
OPEN FOR RENEWALS AND WAITING LIST
New applicants (not yet on waiting list):
Sign up/renew*
(pay in full/deposit):
Pay balance
(you’ve ALREADY BOOKED and paid a deposit):
(*password is in your invitation email!)
Following term: [t.b.c.]
Jan XX – Apr XX
(XX sessions, [no] break)
* Still some last minute spaces! *
Contact via:
To apply to join if you’re not yet on the waiting list: see ‘Get in Touch’ button above or below.
(Note: If you’re on the waiting list you should already have received an invitation – do contact Jon for another copy if you can’t find it!)
*Booking links are sent by email. Once you have seen the video (or transcript) and the ‘What’s so special…’ post beneath it, do get in touch if you have any further questions, and/or would like to join us. Thank you 🙂
There will be drop-ins / DJ sessions during August 🙂
These are by invitation for members of our Rhythm Circle community, and dancers on our mailing list.
Venue and timings are as above. Further details will be posted nearer the time, and sent out to mailing list members.
Contact Jon for any further info (‘Get in Touch’ button).
St Michael’s Parish Hall
Park Ln, Bristol BS2 8BE
(parking: drive right up to the hall itself, and double back through the gate, to park in the ‘playground’ immediately adjacent to the hall – please NOT in the lower car park just down the hill)
[Google map]
Sometimes, especially during the summer break, we host extra sessions for members of the extended Rhythm Circle community & other invitees dancing together (untaught). Venue and times are the same as Rhythm Circle term-time.
Watch this space (and emails) for details.
‘Drop-in’ Thursdays during the Summer 2025 break:
When & with Whom:
Aug 7, 14 & 21
Dan – DJ sessions
by donation.
Welcome: current or former members of Rhythm Circle, and anyone on our main mailing list – to join, please sign up via Get in Touch below.
Date | Notes |
“title” Day of Week (frequency): | |
dd-Mon | venue [linked] |
Yay! Now that we can… the “Rhythm Circle Social” is back!
When? Where? Who?
Please see emails for full details.
General information applicable to all our classes and workshops:
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5Rhythms is both a very ‘free’ individual practice which offers significant permission – while simultaneously being a group/community practice which calls for consideration and respect for the group process.
“Do you have the discipline to be a free spirit?” – Gabrielle Roth
This is a meditation/embodiment practice which has clear boundaries which need to be honoured if the full potential of this work is to be achieved:
For peace of mind, and out of respect for all concerned:
Please do not come to the class if you or a member of your household has symptoms that could be covid.
Weekly Class Terms & Conditions.
Our guidelines and venue risk assessments have been prepared with reference to national regulations, guidelines and current scientific understanding of covid-19 transmission, specifically as interpreted by UK Active, the national organisation representing operators of fitness venues, and similar bodies worldwide. Statistical evidence to date suggests that these precautions result in remarkably little transmission.
If and when Test & Trace is operating, we shall ask for your contact details, in case requested by NHS Test & Trace. It is not compulsory to provide this information, but is recommended. This is privately held by us, and the likelihood of it being requested from us is extremely small.
The above information is intended to be helpful for our class and workshop attendees, and supplements other general advice regarding symptoms, self-isolation etc., including any local regulations currently in force.
Updated: 31 March 2022
Please see:
‘Terms & Conditions – class bookings‘ (opens in new tab/window).
Please download:
‘Workshops, Courses & other events – Booking Terms and Conditions‘ [PDF]