Come fanno i dervisci a danzare in tondo senza sosta e a non stare male

How do Turkish dervishes dance in circles non-stop and not feel sick?

If you have ever been to Türkiye you may have seen the so-called “whirling dervishes” (in Turkish semazen), dancers in traditional clothes whose steps essentially lead them to continuously turn around, as a form of active meditation. Watching them rotate, you may have wondered how they can continue for minutes or even hours without feeling sick. Is there a possible explanation for this fact? Apparently yes: it would be the result of a very precise position of the body, but also of concentration and a suitable dress.

What they do Semazentheir real name (of Persian origin), is to practice a form of active meditation born in Sufismwhich is a more mystical and ascetic branch of Islam.

Dervishes perform this meditation as part of a larger ceremony of worship of Allah, during which they turn away from their own desires to achieve divine perfection. To get closer to this ideal, Semazen rotate their bodies in a repetitive manner, interpreted as a symbolic imitation of the planets in the solar system orbiting the sun, reaching a state that is assimilated to “trance ecstatic“.

But how do they not feel bad? According to the locals, the exact one series of movements made during the dance, together with the type of clothingstrong concentrationand even to one suitable diet (with few very acidic or fatty foods), they would prevent the onset of dizziness, nausea and a sense of imbalance.

As for movements, the dervishes they move their head about twenty-five degrees to the rightopen their arms, the fingers of the right hand point upwards and the fingers of the left hand point downwards. Their body turns to the left towards the left leg with the heart line: the actual rotation takes place pivoting on the left foot – the center of the rotation is the sole, with the surface of the foot remaining in contact with the floor – with the push being provided by the right foot, turning 360 degrees. With some precautions:

  • move the body’s axis of rotation from the midline to the vertical axis between the left leg and the heart to minimize vibrations during rotation, also reducing stimulation of the balance center of the inner ear.
  • keep your eyes half open to get blurred visionwhich provides a “optical fixation
  • wear them skirts Tennurewhich open during the dance and swirl around the body: thanks to the centrifugal forceoscillation in the vertical plane and the possibility of jolts are reduced.

According to Guinness World Records, the highest number of Sufi whirlwind revolutions made in one hour is 2,905 and was joined by Shafik Ibrahim from Walthamstow, London.