Hello friends, today, I'll show you how to move your painful
emotions and maybe even dance with them.
This is a quick and beginner-friendly therapeutic exercise to
help you use your body to express yourself and process your
feelings.
I’m Lorran Wild, and I do therapeutic dance with people and
for myself. I am sharing this brief exercise with you and invite
you to develop therapeutic habits every day.
First of all, clear a space/environment where you can feel safe
and relatively private. It doesn’t have to be a big room; a yoga
mat will suffice.
You can also watch this video where I show you a
demonstration of the process:
MATERIALS YOU NEED
The materials you need are:
A device to play music such as a phone
A music streaming service such as Spotify
Headphones (I prefer Bluetooth earbuds etc.)
If you like a sip of water, make that accessible too
Yoga mat to pad hands and feet
Comfortable clothing
Props you might incorporate such as scarf, veil, pillow
MINDFULNESS
To open to the movement, attune to your space and body by
checking in with yourself and becoming aware of how you
feel.
Can you identify a few emotions? What sensations are
happening in your body? Are there thoughts repeating in your
mind?
Just notice them without judgment or resistance. Simply being
aware.
MOVEMENT PROMPT
Now let’s get into the DANCE. Here are the steps:
1. Keep in touch with how you feel. What emotion
is coming up for you?
2. Close your eyes and put your hands on your body: feel
your body’s movement as you breath, make an audible
sigh or hum. Tune your body into the music. What is the
first stance or basic step pattern that you feel like
taking?
3. Allow your body to anchor in this first motion. Stay with
it as you invite other parts of you join in this basic
movement? Can you add other layers?
4. As you move, witness your feelings and any messages
you can be aware of. Repeat a pattern to get deeper into
how it helps you understand your emotions.
5. Free up this dance and take up more available space.
Travel in some way and see what what expands in your
body/mind.
6. Transition and Allow another movement to unfold.
Sometimes there is a brief wiggle, twist, or shake. And
then a different pattern establishes. Anchor into this
dance. Repeat the process of feeling the body move
and let it expand your emotions, and mind.
7. If you are wanting to return to any previous
movements, that’s fine; toggle and cycle in the flow of
your intuition. Let the dance do you.
8. Stay curious and open to the alchemy that these
movements are having in your body and mind.
9. As your dance subsides, or the music comes to a pause,
allow your focus to shift inwardly to your feelings. Is the
painful emotion shifting? Are any antidotes coming to
you?
You do not have to follow any directions, or plan what it looks
like. All you need to do is be willing to stay in the flow of
moving.
Use the same idea to dance as long as time allows. Go with
your gut and intuition. Ask it, what movement feels right for
this feeling? Which music suits you well in this moment?
We all have a lot going on in our body, but we rarely use
dance as a way to truly express our feelings. So it can be
difficult to do this at first.
We tend to use our thinking mind to control what we do, and
our body gets judged too much. But when we use our intuition,
our movement aligns with what we are feeling more than how
we look.
Dancing reminds you that everything is in flux. We
release emotional blockages, so our feelings can enter the
flow zone more freely.
Words are limited when it comes to feelings. Instead of
overthinking, a wiggle and shake, stirs up our thoughts and
feelings so we can move through them.
We express the pain on the outside because it feels better
when emotions come out. They need to be heard, be
validated, be listened to. It’s really hard to get that otherwise.
Through therapeutic activities, we can care for ourselves.
Moving the body reminds us that our life is precious and
beautiful too – all the parts of feeling and being alive are
beautiful.
We can dance with our feelings in front of us like a dance
partner and empathize with our whole self.
“Looking IN is also looking ‘OUT’...for number one.” - Tophouse
REFLECTIVE TRANSITION
When your dance comes to a close, you can use another
creative way to explore the feelings you witness.
Bring a pen and paper and write or draw the answers to these
questions:
How is your heart now?
What differences are happening?
What would your heart love to hear or do?
Describe your body from the perspective of your heart:
"I am beautiful... I am love...I am free...I am wise...I am
alive...I’m in motion...I am a dance."
Use words (a few or more) or a doodled image to
acknowledge your self-awareness, and what it feels
like to be you in your body.
What did you learn from this? (Perhaps about yourself
or your relationship to this emotion)
And that’s it for this step by step guide - hope you enjoyed it! I
believe it is truly a gift as humans to be able to move our body
freely.
If you had any difficulty with this exercise, try this one. I have
other videos and classes that give you broken down even more
and gives you an additional structure that can really help you out
if you’re having some challenge with dancing your feelings.
And if you want to actually experience what it’s like to have a
regular therapeutic dance practice with the help of a guide,
then do join the Therapeutic Dance Habit! It’s perfect for
you if you want to make expressive dance in real-time with
other friends online, and be guided by a facilitator. Spots are
open & we welcome beginners! (No skills required). See more
details here.
Join this online group if you want weekly therapeutic dance sessions!
Thanks and see you next time!
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I’ll receive a small commission, which helps me keep making
videos & writing blogs for free. Thank you!
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