Dance Your Stress Away!
By Shermine Wardé and Nicole Saliba
Edited by Sarah Hayek
Reading Time:
2 minutes
What Is Dance Movement Therapy?
- Dance/movement therapy is a type of therapy that uses movements to help individuals achieve emotional, cognitive, physical, and social integration.
- Beneficial for both physical and mental health.
- Dance/movement therapy can be used with all populations and with individuals, couples, families, or groups.
- In general, dance therapy promotes self-awareness, better self-esteem, and a safe space for the expression of feelings.
- Although further research is needed to determine how effective DMT can be, it continues to show promise as a viable treatment modality for many physical and mental health issues.
Key Principles:
- Body and mind are interconnected so that a change in one impacts the other.
- Different movements can express different aspects of one’s personality.
- Part of the therapeutic relationship is communicated through non-verbal means.
- Movements can be symbolic and can represent unconscious processes.
- Movement improvisation/experimentation can bring new ways of being.
Some intervention examples may include:
- Utilizing “mirroring” (matching/echoing the person’s movements) to illustrate empathy for an individual and validation of his or her experience.
- Incorporating jumping rhythms into a dance with a group of people experiencing depression.
- Making use of a “movement metaphor” to help a person physically demonstrate a therapeutic challenge or achievement.
Benefits of dance movement therapy
The physical, mental, and emotional health benefits of dancing are endless.
Whether you’re 80 years old or 5 years old, engaging in physical activities that involve dancing can change you.
From better physical and mental health to a boost in emotional and social well-being, moving your body to the sound of music, anywhere, at any time and with anyone can transform your life and improve your wellbeing.
Physically:
- Helps release natural painkillers.
- Weight management.
- Has cardiovascular and pulmonary benefits.
- Helps in lowering blood pressure.
- And increasing muscular strength, endurance, and motor fitness.
- Strengthening bones and reducing the risk of osteoporosis.
- Improving coordination, agility, and flexibility.
Mentally:
- Helps reduce anxiety and depression.
- Boosts your self-esteem.
- Coping with your trauma.
- Improving memory.
- Building up your social circle and easing the feeling of loneliness.
- Improving your mood and attitude.
- May be beneficial for children on the autism spectrum.
You can always dance anywhere, at any time, alone or accompanied!
- You don’t have to have severe mental problems to benefit from dance therapy.
- Dancing can be a way to stay fit for people of all ages, shapes and sizes.
- You don’t have to be immensely talented.
- Anyone can benefit from dance therapy, it is a freeform.
- You can dance alone! Choose a catchy song and enjoy, no one’s watching!
