Alan Withers is an accredited 5Rhythms dance teacher. 

He began training with Gabrielle Roth, the founder of 5Rhythms, in New York in 2004 and has been teaching for over 7 years.

My introduction to the 5 Rhythms

From a very early age I've been fascinated with magic. Initially I used to read widely. I was always looking for something. At first it was like a carrot that was dangled in front of me, I had great joy in intellectual stimulation, but it left a feeling of wanting more. After a while I realized healing was a fundamental part of magic. I started to explore psychotherapy and my emotional expression. I began to realize that I tricked myself by thinking and talking about things instead of doing.

My big transformation came when met a Shamanic practitioner who taught me about being body centered. For so many years I had been trapped in my head, at last I could be in my body. 

I came across the 5rhythms in 1989, initially because I liked the sound of the drums in chaos. Very soon I shifted all my attention into body based practices. For so long I had wanted complex answers to stimulate my ego. Now I was able to trust simple body based wisdom.

Around 1993 I created a form of dance called Astrodance, it combined all of the things I was passionate about - free dance, Astrology and Shamanism. I learned on my feet, teaching in Dance Camp Wales and other places.

In 2004 I started the 5 Rhythms training. When I started teaching astrodance I was alone, but with the 5 rhythms I had a tremendous support network. The training was wonderful, free from needless headstuff and over-analysis, it focused on the most important thing - the dance and my relationship to it.

As a teacher, I've learnt to be simple and allow things to happen rather than forcing things. There seems to be a magical guiding force that helps me choose appropriate music and run workshops. I plan to a necessary level, and teach as much as possible from my own inherent spontanaety.