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Loolwa Khazzoom: Dancing with Pain to Heal

There’s power in dance. It’s good for mental, physical and spiritual health. But like religion, dancing sometimes requires a leap of faith.
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January 20, 2023
Loolwa Khazzoom Photo by Moriel O’Connor

There’s power in dance. It’s good for mental, physical and spiritual health. But like religion, dancing sometimes requires a leap of faith.

“It is through the doing that we become,” Jewish Iraqi American writer, activist and musician Loolwa Khazzoom told the Journal. “We don’t feel spiritual, then pray. We pray, and through that act, we feel spiritual. Similarly, the last thing you want to do when you’re in excruciating pain is to dance. But if you dance, the pain subsides. Na’aseh v’nishma. We will do, then we will listen.”

Khazzoom created Dancing with Pain®, an innovative method for healing from chronic pain, so others could benefit from her experience and discovery. 

In 1997, Khazzoom was in a hit-and-run, head-on car collision. She initially suffered acute back pain and, due to medical negligence, went from bad to worse. She suffered from calcified and degenerated discs in every section of her spine, along with arthritis in both hips, a dislocated right shoulder, a torn meniscus in her right knee and various injuries in her ankles and wrists. 

Over the course of the next decade, she ended up alternately bedridden, housebound and wheelchair-bound. Prior to the accident, Khazzoom was athletic, regularly jogging 12 miles and swimming six miles at a time.

“I rejected the surgery, and allowed myself the time and determination to figure out something else — another option that was not yet visible, but which I deeply sensed must be possible,” she said.

A series of serendipitous experiences led Khazzoom to an epiphany: by reconceptualizing dance as more than leaps, twirls and fancy footwork, she could use it to heal herself. 

Khazzoom started “dancing” with whatever part of her body was not in pain. Initially, this was only her arms. Within as little as an hour, she would go from limping to leaping. In the beginning, she would wake up with a pain level of about seven or eight. After dancing, the pain would go down to a two or three xz. But the next day the pain would return. Yet, she was grateful that she had something to temper the pain each day. 

Over the years, she continued her daily dance practice, and the healing gradually snuck up on her. One morning in 2009, she woke up feeling great. It was her first pain-free day in years. Not long after, she had a pain-free week then a pain-free month. Soon, she was mostly pain-free, with only occasional setbacks. Within a few years from that turning point, she reclaimed her body and her life. 

Khazzoom started teaching Dancing with Pain classes in 2008, which are now available online.

So, how does it work?

“You dance from whatever position makes you feel best, whether lying down, sitting or standing,” she said. 

For those suffering from excruciating pain throughout their body, these movements can just be in the imagination and tiny physical motions. 

The core principle, Khazzoom explained, is that you don’t say, “I can’t,” but rather, ask, “How can I?” 

“You move in whatever ways the body is able to do with comfort and ease, to music that inspires, soothes or energizes you,” she said. 

Repeating this practice over time strengthens and amplifies the results. 

“Over the course of about five years of this practice, I went from being bedridden to being able to bike 30 miles at a shot,” she said.

More advanced students learn to dance from and with pain. 

“In the first case, you channel the energy of the pain, so that it essentially is recycled to heal itself, similar to how a runner can channel anger to fuel a powerful workout,” Khazzoom said. “In the second case, you imagine the pain as a dance partner, and can have a lot of fun with that.” 

For example, by making goofy faces, it reduces your pain’s hold on the psyche, and puts you in control of your perception and experience of pain.

“While I did not consciously apply Jewish values in the development of this dance methodology, I see parallels of how Jews approach matters,” Khazzoom said. “We turn to music, story and food — all powerful forms of artistic self-expression — to cope with our collective pain. We elevate and transform through Jewish art.” 

When God chose to give us the Torah, Khazzoom said, “We were the only nation who did not first ask what was in it. A portal opens when we commit ourselves, and our reality can change in a nanosecond. In this way, Dancing with Pain® is a profoundly mystical experience.”

5 Steps for Dancing with Pain at Home

  1. Turn On Music. Put on music that inspires, soothes or energies you. You can be lying down, crumpled up in bed from pain or in a foul mood in your wheelchair. Just put that music on.
  2. Close Your Eyes and Scan Your Body. Say “hello” to the places in pain, so they feel acknowledged, and then move on. Also, look for the places in your body that are not in pain. For now, that might only be in your imagination, but it matters for your physical transformation.
  3. Drink in the Music. Actively invite the music to permeate your body. Imagine it as a warm, soothing mist. Actively direct it to the places in your body that are not in pain. Again, that can be in your imagination. 
  4. Allow the Music to Dance You. That is not a typo. Invite the music to step into the driver’s seat of your body. Allow your body to respond to the music organically. How does it make you feel? How does that feeling want to move in your body?
    Be gentle with yourself; no pressure. It’s totally okay to lie perfectly still, simply experiencing the sound. At some point, your body is likely to begin moving in natural response to the music. 
  5. When you Move, Stay Aware of Your Sensations. You have many body parts to move, and many directions in which you can move: up and down, side to side, in circular motions. The movements can be tiny or big. This is your dance. There is no right or wrong way to do it. Just move in ways that feel good. If at any time you feel pain, stop. 

The dance should always — and only — feel good. If it doesn’t feel good when you move your body, dance in your imagination. Allow the process of healing to unfold on its own time.

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