Maria asked the following question in a comment to my review of Amel's Sound Healing, Sufi Whirling, and Zar/Hadra workshop:
Natalia, can you tell us more about the whirling? I have always wondered how they can spin and spin and not get so dizzy they fall down. How did you stay balanced and keep from feeling sick?
It's funny, I don't get dizzy easily, but it seemed that no one else in the class appeared to be getting particularly dizzy either. Amel structured this portion of the class in such a way as to limit our potential dizziness.
She started us with spinning slowly just for a few counts, then worked us up to longer periods. We did whirl for a more extended period, to Sufi music. For that she had us start very slowly, and speed up gradually. Similarly, we were instructed to slow down progressively before stopping. This goes a long way, I think, towards limiting the sloshing of the fluid in the equilibrium-sensing structures in the inner ear.
As far as dealing with the visual part of getting dizzy, she had us hold our arm up and out, and just concentrate on looking at our hand. It was weird. My hand was steady, but the background was a blur. It looked very much like a movie shot of the camera spinning, everything was a blur. But as long as I kept my hand steady, it was pretty easy to let the room do its thing.
Overall, I think the single most valuable technique is not starting or stopping spinning suddenly. The slow start and stop prevents the worst of it. Add to that the steady focus on the hand, which stays steady relative to your head, and it's not too dizziness-inducing.
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