contraction and expansion: a universal pulse in dance, yoga and somatic healing.
In my work as a movement artist and somatic guide, I often return to one core rhythm: contraction and expansion. Wether in dance, yoga, or trauma healing, this pulse teaches us something profound about being alive.
Beneath the surface of every movement, every breath, and every healing gesture, there exists a fundamental rhythm: contraction and expansion. It’s not merely physical, this pulse reveals itself emotionally, energetically, even spiritually. Across disciplines as diverse as modern dance, classical yoga, and somatic trauma therapy, this dynamic forms a shared language of aliveness. In this article, we explore how this duality is honored and embodied in three lineages: Graham technique, Spanda in yoga, and Peter Levine’s somatic work.
dance: the spiral tension of Graham technique
Martha Graham’s technique is built upon the expressive force of contraction and release. Her contraction is visceral: a deep scooping of the abdomen, an inward folding that expresses sorrow, anger, or intensity. Release isn’t simply an exhale, it’s an arc of emotion, an upward reach, a reclaiming of space.
Contraction: rooted in the pelvis and solar plexus, often paired with breath and emotion
Expansion: not relaxation, but expressive reclamation, rising from the depth of contraction
Graham’s spiral, a twist through the spine, unites these opposites into a poetic whole
Contraction in Graham is not withdrawal. It’s the prelude to expression, the necessary inward turn before the outward bloom.
“Movement never lies.” – Martha Graham
yoga: the vibrational pulse of Spanda
In the non-dual Shaiva Tantra tradition, Spanda refers to the subtle tremor or pulse of consciousness, the vibration that gives rise to all form. It is not just muscular contraction or relaxation, but the primordial oscillation between stillness and expression, presence and becoming.
Contraction: the inward motion of awareness (nirodha), the seed state, latent potential
Expansion: the unfolding of that potential into form, expression, life
Practiced in breathwork (pranayama), movement (asana), and meditation (dyana)
In contrast to Graham’s structured physicality, Spanda is more energetic, more about inner spaciousness and the subtle body’s rhythms.
“The universe is a pulsation. Consciousness contracts to create form, then expands back into spaciousness.” – Tantric view
somatic work: the titration of experience (Peter Levine)
Peter Levine, founder of Somatic Experiencing®, works with the body’s natural rhythm of expansion and contraction as part of trauma resolution. Here, contraction isn’t artistic or philosophical, it’s survival. Expansion is not performative, it’s safety restored.
Contraction: the physiological freeze, collapse, or defensive bracing in response to overwhelm
Expansion: the return of breath, movement, orientation, and choice
The process unfolds through titration (small steps) and pendulation (back and forth movement between contraction and expansion)
The goal is not to avoid contraction, but to restore the rhythmic pendulation of the nervous system, to reintroduce flow.
“Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness.” – Peter Levine
one pulse, many languages
Though Graham, Spanda, and Levine speak in different vocabularies—choreography, philosophy, physiology—they all point to the same intelligence: the body’s wisdom in moving between inner contraction and outer expansion. Whether as artistic tension, spiritual vibration, or biological resilience, this pulse is a bridge between expression and healing.
We contract to feel.
We expand to reveal.
We pulse to live.
These principles guide the way I teach and move, honoring the body’s intelligence in every contraction, every release.