Origin & Approach
My work with music, ritual and altered states of consciousness first developed out of my musical practice.
I was interested early on in repetition, loops and cyclical structures, at first through hip-hop and electronic music. It became clear how repetition can change perception, attention and bodily states.
An important impulse came in 2003 through recordings from the Gnawa Festival in Essaouira. The connection of rhythmic repetition, singing, movement and ritual context opened a musical practice for me in which sound becomes bodily and socially effective. Later I travelled to Morocco, visited the festival and began to work more intensively with the connection between music, ritual and altered states of consciousness.
Fieldwork & Research
Between 2010 and 2011, supervised by the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden I carried out ethnomusicological fieldwork in Morocco. The focus was the Gnawa brotherhood and its ritual practice. The resulting paper is titled “Music and Trance: Mechanisms and Effects Using the Example of the Gnawa Cult in Morocco”. The paper was graded 1.0.
The research followed a classical ethnomusicological approach: participant observation, interviews with musicians and ritual participants, and direct participation in ceremonies lasting through the night. A central part was to clarify what is often vaguely called “trance”. Instead, I worked with the concept of altered states of consciousness and understood them not as mystical exceptions, but as context-dependent shifts in perception, attention and bodily experience.
A particular focus lay on musical processes: the interplay of tempo, repetition and intensification; the interaction of rhythm and movement in changing bodily and mental states; and the emergence of collective synchronisation in sound and gesture. These questions remain central to my work.
Since then my research has broadened considerably: from ethnographic observation to a wider interdisciplinary inquiry involving philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, ritual studies and aesthetics. I am especially interested in the ritual space: the interplay of external conditions such as architecture, sound, light, smell, temperature and social constellation with inner processes such as attention, emotion and body awareness.
This includes questions such as: What makes a space feel like a threshold? How do sensory elements such as music, movement, visual form and scent interlock to change consciousness? What role does the group play, and how does individual experience relate to the collective process? How can such spaces be shaped without a religious frame, but with real depth and effect?
→ Download research paper (German PDF)
Gnawa ritual practice – documentary
Documentary on Gnawa music and ritual
Lila ceremony – Morocco
Translation
The question that emerged from this research and continues to drive my work is: How can insights from ritual traditions be translated into contemporary Western contexts, without cultural appropriation, without therapeutic promises, but with real effect on how people relate to themselves, to each other and to the world?
This is not a simple question. Many contemporary attempts at ritual practice remain, in my view, in a fog of experimentation: intuitively promising, but without precision about what actually works and why. My research tries to create more clarity, to understand the mechanisms of transformative experience and to develop forms that are grounded in knowledge while remaining open to the unknown.
A central challenge in Western contexts is individualisation. Ritual is collective by nature; it needs trust, proximity and a shared frame. In clubs, festivals or movement contexts, these conditions are often missing or unstable.
Today I continue the fieldwork by observing and participating in contemporary ritual contexts: Ecstatic Dance, Five Rhythms, techno, concerts and therapeutic formats. I examine what makes these spaces effective when they work, and what limits them when they do not. Together with theoretical work on ritual space and collaborative practice with my colleagues from dance therapy and political education, this ongoing inquiry forms the basis for Re_Connection.
A secular ritual practice of collective reflection and body-based research
In many social, ecological and cultural contexts, people encounter exhaustion, tension and a sense of being overwhelmed. Questions of engagement, belonging and focus touch not only concrete action, but also emotions and bodily experience.
In Re_Connection, participants move together, listen, observe bodily reactions and reflect on open questions. This structured frame connects body-based attention, shared reflection and collective movement, without therapeutic claims and without a predetermined result. The practice invites observation of how personal experience and social realities interact, and how the strength of community can open new perspectives.
Instruments in Re_Connection sessions
The practice begins with nonverbal group activation and body work, inspired by dance and movement therapy. Through breath, spatial perception and simple movement qualities, participants develop sensitivity for bodily states, emotional resonance and relational dynamics. The focus is attentive perception, without artistic or athletic expectation.
The second phase works with philosophical impulses and social questions. Participants examine how emotions and social realities interact. Formats include conversations in pairs, exercises from Joanna Macy’s “The Work that Reconnects” and short written reflections. The process is open-ended and aims at mutual attention rather than consensus.
In the final phase, verbal and nonverbal elements connect into collective movement and sound. Live music provides a temporal structure that supports transitions between individual and collective experience. In the nonverbal space, resonance, orientation and shared dynamics emerge beyond words and self-presentation.
Sustainable activism
Susanne works at the intersection of cultural studies, social pedagogy and political education. Her focus includes group-related hostility, racism, remembrance work, participation and sustainable activism. With long experience in facilitating group processes, she brings a grounded approach to dialogue and research.
Dance therapy & Psychology
Carolina is a professional dancer, psychologist and movement therapist. Her work connects body awareness, expression and trauma-sensitive accompaniment. Participants experience body-based encounters that open new possibilities for perception and expression.
Music & Ritual practice
Arystan is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and music educator with long-standing research and practice at the intersection of music, improvisation and ritual. With instruments from different traditions, voice and Live Looping, he shapes the musical frame of Re_Connection.
Re_Connection emerged from a pilot phase in 2024 and has since been implemented with support from the Federal Agency for Civic Education at riesa efau. Kultur Forum Dresden implemented.
The format continues to develop through regular practice sessions, multi-day retreats and ongoing exchange with participants. Insights from previous cycles feed into further development. At present we are examining how the approach can become a broader research and practice project connecting theory, method development and community work.
A recurring format for groups who want to explore Re_Connection as a regular practice.
Sessions for cultural organisations, educational institutions and civil society initiatives.
Shorter formats for gatherings that address cultural, social or political questions.
Longer working phases for deeper inquiry, artistic research and process-oriented development.
Re_Connection draws on approaches from several fields:
For workshop enquiries, institutional collaborations or programme development, please get in touch:
info@arystan.de→ Request a workshop