Like many jazz/contemporary dancers out there, I started dancing at the age of 3. I loved music and never stopped bouncing around, so my parents decided to enroll me into dance classes as soon as I could walk. I later decided to turn my love for dance into a professional career. I have witnessed the mental health benefits of those who incorporate movement workouts and dancing into their daily life. I first dove into fitness in my 20s as a form of injury prevention and supplemental income. What I discovered over the last 13 years, while training clients of all demographics, genders, and body types, blew my mind. It really didn’t matter what level of athleticism someone had in their background, there was an obvious trend of improved mental well-being from those who added dance or somatic training into their workouts routines.
In Beverly Hills, I taught at a studio which had 30-day challenges, encouraging new clients to take a class every day consecutively for 30 days. While a common goal for many clients was to see a physical change, I always encouraged them to journal their emotional changes. I wanted to investigate the way their body reacted to movement from the inside out. Many of these clients noticed a huge shift in their perspective, reactions, and ability to practice daily gratitude. Regardless of the type of workouts they chose, meaning hardcore- or recovery-oriented, I witnessed a transformation in the energy that people would show up with compared to prior weeks.
As I learned more about these clients, I would come to find out that often people start a new workout regimen after facing a major life event, both positive or negative. This is interesting because our body stores stress from major events (even the positive ones) causing muscular tension and a feeling of being “stuck”. We often forget how closely connected our nervous system is to our physical body and how they operate symbiotically. Due to my dance background, my fitness classes like HIIT, Pilates, and bootcamp, all incorporate repetitive mobility oriented motions. I use atypical movements involving dance-like dynamics to force people to explore the space around their bodies that normally go ignored. The connection between endorphins and exercising has been known for years, however I encourage people to also learn more about the benefits of dance movement as a healing tool.
Various nonprofits, such as Art of Elysium, Strong Women Strong Girls, Fostering Dreams Project, and She-Is, use dance classes and movement workshops to encourage healing, strength, confidence, and freedom. There is no minimum or maximum age in which people can benefit from different types of movement. One of the main benefits of dance movement that adults describe is a better sense of “self”. Meaning more connectivity in their body, more confidence with how they move, and the courage to feel less “small” in their daily lives.
For adults ranging from their 60s–90s, many felt rejuvenated and had a sense of feeling younger. I recall teaching a disco themed dance class to a retirement community in West Hollywood. After the class, a woman who was 93 hugged me with tears, describing that she felt alive again for the first time in decades. This moved me to tears because it was the first time I realized that many people are deprived of daily movement that could better their quality of life. In that exact class, I noticed how much more mobile people were when they challenged their limbs to move in different directions after only one hour of dance. The description of being internally “stuck” that I mentioned earlier, correlates to being physically “stiff”. While watching the aforementioned community of retired adults find increased fluidity and ease in their joints, I noticed that dance also allowed them to be expressive and generally more engaged.
What’s the craze for somatic workouts? Let us start with what somatic movement is. It is described as a mindful method of movement that prioritizes calmness, centering, and a mind-body connection. People who practice somatic movement daily, sing its praises for helping with PTSD, anxiety, and depression. Somatic workouts were intentionally designed to be 5 minutes or less, though now, there are longer, structured workouts that fuse somatic movement with Pilates and yoga. For the longest time, I didn’t think I knew what a somatic workout was. One day I watched a few videos online and thought… OH... this is exactly like modern dance class… I have been doing this forever. Modern and contemporary dance have historically used these same or similar movements as a part of warm-ups and sequences, prior to them being coined “somatic movements”. Both the scientific side of the fitness community and the artistic side of the dance community have come to the same conclusion: dance based movements stand as a powerful healing tool.
There have been tons of studies on the benefits of dance therapy, but often they are done as a research study on a controlled group of people and never revisited. This has prompted me to dig a little deeper within myself because I have been using tools of movement therapy intuitively since I could first walk. No one ever said, “Hey, keep dancing because your soul will continue to thank you!” However at times, I wouldn’t have been mad about that encouragement (haha!). In fact, I haven’t stopped moving since I could walk. I was often referred to as “Bridget the fidget” growing up because sitting still always felt so uncomfortable. In all seriousness, I have used dance and fitness classes as my sanctuary from as young as I can remember to the present day. I think the beauty of dance lies within the fact it is used both for sadness and for happiness. There really isn’t a human emotion we as a species experience that cannot be infused emotionally through dance. Dance has helped me deepen my understanding of my body, improve muscular strength/stamina, become aware of the space that surrounds me, improve balance and agility, and increase brain function.
As a society we like to overthink what is good for us and how we can achieve greater wellness, but often, the answer is already there. We need to look throughout history and how we as humans have always chosen to celebrate and spread joy since the beginning of time. We all originated from such different cultures, yet almost all cultures use dance to celebrate from inaugurations, graduations, weddings/unions, to promotions and more. Even though most of my dance peers from my childhood did not pursue a professional path, many of them still dance for fun. Some even teach dance or have become fitness instructors. I think this happens because the way you feel when you move from your soul is so freeing and joyful. Once you have experienced that magic, you never want to give it up. I highly encourage all to begin to add dance movement or somatic workouts to their daily regime in order to experience a higher level of intuitive healing.
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