Our own development is fulfilled as our genetic potentials find opportunities to express themselves through our existence. The goal of Biodanza is to help us produce stable changes in lifestyle and improve the quality of our life.

According to the dictionary, to change is ‘to cause to be different’, ‘to give a completely different form or appearance to’, or ‘to transform’. According to Biodanza, there are three orders of change (Pesoa, 2011, p.56, Table A1, Appendix) during the development process of the individual and are associated with the five lines of vivencia (V: Vitality, S: Sexuality, C: Creativity, A: Affectivity, T: Transcendence).

In the first order, the change is related to quality survival. It includes an increase in the vital energy and motor integration and dissolution of armours (V), awakening the body as a source of desire and liberation of sensuality (S), expression of feelings and of the voice as well as artistic expression (C), effective communication, bonding with others and removing toxic relationships (A), and a general enhancement of feelings and bonding with nature (T).

In the second order, the change is more profound and is related to self-regulation. It involves restoration of self-esteem and overcoming psychosomatic disturbances (V), integration of the senses, orgasmic capacity, and love experiences in a couple/pair (S), integration of Yin-Yang and lifestyle reorganisation (C) , solidarity with others, absence of competition and ability to give and receive (A), and ability for regression and holding systemic views, that is, a view that the system is not the sum of parts but it is made of interrelated subsystems (T).

In the third order, the change is more radical and is related to the ease of creating and loving. It involves selectivity and biological renewal (V), affective-erotic integration (of the emotions and the heart), increased orgasmic capacity, and sexual identity (S), erotic ecstasies, artistic creation and existential renewal (C), social action and selfless love towards others (A), and states of enlightenment, intasy (internal awareness of being a unique self) and ecstasy (feeling part of the totality) (T).

Writing this monograph gave me the perspective of the enormous change that I have been through in the last 10 years since I did Biodanza for the first time, and particularly in the last three and a half years while doing the Biodanza School.  I became a more integrated human being, feeling complete. While Biodanza alone did not facilitate all the changes and transformation in me, it has created the right environment for me to question myself how I wanted to live my life. I found answers for the questions that arose in me by accessing different modalities as well as by doing Biodanza.

I had to pause writing this monograph many times to give way to tears. Tears of gratitude to life, it’s richness and generosity. Gratitude for the challenging times and all the times I have felt lost walking my own labyrinth of life, afraid of my instincts and all that is wild inside of me, my own Minotaur. According to Rolando (as I heard him say in an interview), “there is nothing more interesting than being lost because it is the only way of finding ourselves”. I couldn’t agree more.

In this monograph I explain how Biodanza helped me find the pieces of me that I forgotten existed and how Biodanza slowly and progressively shed light on them, encouraging me to explore and embrace them. Particularly, I share how Biodanza assisted me in reconnecting to my affectivity and my sexuality and how it helped me find my voice to express who I am, what I think, and what I feel.

I now feel strong, grounded, complete and open to show myself fully while before I was always hiding behind the scientist/researcher façade. I am that and so much more. As I prepared this monograph and explained the different concepts and the theoretical models, I re-read my notes, the workbooks, and the books ‘Biodanza’ by Rolando and ‘Biodanza Life and plenitude’ by Maria Lucia Pesoa. I realise that today I understand Biodanza from a different perspective, both from my mind and from the knowledge stored in my body; I feel that I embody a lot of what Biodanza is. At the same time, I have the feeling that I am so far from really comprehending the richness of this system, including all the sciences that support it and the mind of its creators.