Believe it or not, back in the early 90s, I was behind the decks in clubs and free parties across the south west – playing Chicago house, Strictly Rhythm, acid jazz and funk.
I was part of a DJ collective born out of the legendary Pepperbox free parties and closely linked to DiY from Nottingham who still continue to this day.
I had residencies in chill out rooms and played in clubs around Salisbury, Wiltshire where I lived after being at art college there studying fashion. Clubs that were legendary to that scene in an area that had sparked the huge cultural revolution that was raving, Bentleys, Enzo’s as well as at free parties out in fields and woodlands across Somerset, Devon and Oxfordshire.
For me, it was about a deep love for the music, the dancing, the records I’d travel to buy in Soho, London and Exeter, and above all the sense of community.
We were young, coming out of Thatcher’s 80s recession, and this scene gave us joy, energy and something tribal to belong to. It really was all about the love at the beginning, we were surging together with a rebellious yet heart centred vision for a future where we could live in community and find a new path out of a system that felt broken.
Since then, my passion for dance music never left. When I had children, I stepped away for a while, but in more recent years I’ve returned to dance – through festivals, conscious dance, and even clubbing with my grown up children in Bristol and London. The beauty now is we can find ways to connect to the dance music we loved, in a more healthy and inspiring way.
In 2022, during a difficult time in my life, I rediscovered how powerful dance music was for my nervous system and wellbeing.
At one of the first retreats I introduced dance, I called it my ‘retreat rave’ and it was on the last morning of a vagus nerve reset retreat in Dorset. I brought 15 women onto the dancefloor at 10am, I created a playlist that took them slowly up from yoga flow to rave, without them even having to know what was coming – and the joy in the room was incredible. That’s when I realised: dance is medicine.
Not long after, Sam Wilson Zara suggested we might collaborate as two local, well-established teachers with loyal communities. We realised we shared the same passion for house dance music from back in that era and we’d both loved the party scene back then.
And that’s how Soul Medicine was born….
The surge of new energy around dance music that is bringing many of us from that original era back together with the same vision, the same heart and yet more determination to create a new future where we can live in harmony, connect, align and live in peace. That tribal desire within every human being to be together and dance, sing, play, find joy and do so without alcohol or drugs that harm and create toxins in our energy fields.
Ecstatic dance, conscious dance and conscious festivals where drugs and alcohol are banned are growing hugely in recent years, The spirituality and yoga many of us found after the rave years is shining through and I’m so happy to be part of this new movement with the Soul Medicine events we are sharing with you all in Dorset.
Hope to see you at one of our Sober Yoga Raves soon, love Saira xx
Next event – Thursday 9th October 2025 6.30-9.30pm at Moreton in Dorset £27
A rare flier from back in the day below…
