About Maya Lila

The name "Maya Lila" is taken from the Sanskrit words for illusion and play. It explores the illusory nature of our perceptions within the play of life, relationship and nature. Maya Lila combines Body Mind Centering, Developmental Movement Patterns and Authentic Movement to explore its body based approach to therapy, the arts, performance and spiritual practice. This approach has been developed by Joan Davis over fifteen years within her thirty-two year span of working in the area of professional dance, choreography, therapy and the healing arts. It examines in depth relationship to ourselves, to others, and our environment in nurturing and supportive ways and provides a basic understanding and experience of the origins of our movement and our ways of being in the world. Maya Lila needs to be experienced before it can be understood...its a little like trying to describe deep sea diving if you have never entered the ocean. Private sessions are available.

Maya Lila has several strands and applications and can be availed of as a Personal Therapeutic support, an adjunct to any other Therapeutic Training, an Arts Practice, a Performance Practice, a Physical Education, a Spiritual Practice.

Facilitator

Joan Davis has been exploring the nature of creativity most particularly from a body based perspective for over 30 years. She pioneered Contemporary Dance in Ireland in the 70's & 80's and has consistently experimented with collaborative art as a professional artist and therapist.
Joan is a Body-Mind Centering® Practitioner, has studied Authentic Movement with Janet Adler, and Voice Work with Chloe Goodchild and Rajeswar Bhattacharya.
She has extensively studied Process Oriented Psychology (Mindell) and is a Hakomi Sensorimotor Trauma Psychotherapist.

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Maya Lila Documentation

The process has been documented in written, photographic and video format.
It could be useful to read the written documentation to date if you are interested in attending Maya Lila Courses.
The written documentation is available in pdf format.
To read the pdf files you need Acrobat Reader® software which you can download from this link.
(only download it if you don't already have it)
When you have downloaded and installed that software on your computer, download the books for free by clicking on their titles below.

Just published! Two books written by Joan Davis, available in .pdf format and hardcopy.

• Maya Lila, Bringing Authentic Movement into Performance, The Offering.
  Hardback with accompanying CD and DVD.
  And
• Maya Lila, Bringing Authentic Movement into Performance, The Process.
  Soft cover.
  
  All of the above grant aided by the Irish Arts Council
  The text of the books is available for downloading in PDF format, but not the CD or DVD. To order the set of books, CD and DVD, please email mayalila at gorsehill.net or phone 00353 1 2876986.
  Cost 75 euros plus postage & packaging.

For many beautiful Maya Lila Photographs, see Kevin Logan.

These are the most recent photographs of Maya Lila in performance on August 2006. Dancers are Penny Collinson, Mary Nunan, Maggie Harvey and Joan Davis. Musician is Nicholas Twilley and Vocalist is Eileen Keane. All photographs are by Kevin Logan and are copyrighted. These performances were grant aided by the Irish Arts Council.

More photographs from past Maya Lila Training and Performances are on the Maya Lila Performaces page.