Hello friends, today, I'll show you how to shake up the thoughts that trap you in negative moods and help you move through emotions that feel stuck in your body.
This therapeutic exercise is intended to help you hold space for difficult feelings and dance with them. Sometimes, when we want to move emotions, they stay shut down. Feelings are like the weather and they do not like to be controlled.
That’s okay. The more you practice, the more safe your body will feel and your brain will gradually feel more safe too. Once you trust the process, your psyche will be open to exploring the deeper layers of your emotional body.
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 a therapeutic dance habit.
First of all, enter a space/environment where you feel safe and relatively private. If you don’t have an indoor space, you might want to find a remote place outdoors.
You can also watch the video where I demonstrate the process:
MATERIALS YOU NEED
The only thing you need is:
A way to play and listen to music
You might also like to set up:
A Yoga mat
Journal materials
I often keep my journal materials close by in case images or words come up that I want to jot down.
MINDFULNESS
To open this practice, attune to your space and your body by checking in with yourself and becoming aware of sensations and thoughts that are present this moment.
It’s okay if you feel restless or agitated.
It can be helpful to sway or wiggle as you connect to your mind and body. Placing your hands on your belly or over your chest can help you stay grounded and open to how you are feeling.
As you scan through your body – can you locate where and how emotions are trapped? It might feel like tension, a block or some stiffness, or you might have a sensation of a texture or colour even.
Sometimes, the feelings from painful events are so uncomfortable, we lock them away. Then, as the body unwinds, these memories resurface. See if you can let thoughts and feelings move around.
What are the thoughts that you associate with your feelings?
Thoughts and feelings are so interconnected, that they often come threaded together. We can even carry the emotional stories and voices of other people. So, it can get pretty chaotic and tangled in our heads – just acknowledge what is there without any need to force or control it to go a certain way.
Keep unwinding the tangled thoughts and feelings as if you are untying knots. It’s quite phenomenal that we can have multiple emotions at the same time.
THE MOVEMENT PROMPT
And now let’s get deeper into the DANCE. Here are the steps to warm you up:
1. To keep in touch with how you feel, greet the emotions as they come up for you – like guests. Spread your hands and arms in a gesture of welcome. Invite them to soften, spread, and embrace movement.
2. Close your eyes and inwardly scan your body: make an audible sigh or hum or moan/groan. Your sounds will help you release the tension. Tune your body into the music. And allow your feet to step into a pattern. Stomp, skip, or bounce. You can stay in one place or turn and travel.
3. Allow your body to get familiar with this motion. Stay with the essence as you invite other parts of you to join in. Shape the energy that comes up with your hands. Can you go on a journey where you flow with the impulses of your body?
4. As you move, witness your feelings and any messages that arise. Repeat patterns to get deeper into how your body helps you understand and process all that life has been for you.
5. You are welcome to take up more available space with your dance. Travel in some way, spin, or descend to the ground - and see how that expands your experience.
Now that you are in tune and warmed up, let’s transition to shaking:
1. Begin to quicken your movement with a wiggle, twist, or bounce. Build it up to a quaking, shaking dance. Explore the tempo and intensity until you discover a style that feels right. Anchor into this dance. Let it fill your space.
2. Let the bones vibrate. Let the skin shimmy. Feel the effect of shaking on your belly, your heart, and even your brain. If you need a pause - that’s fine; wobble between shaking and smoother movements - honoring your intuition. Trusting your body’s way.
You are literally shaking off the dust of stress, the residue of trauma, and anything your body would prefer to not hold on to. As you shake, see if you can find a flutter or quiver that opens up the body even more. Allow the head to bobble; the hands to release and shake; the shoulders to cast off tension.
And as the music ends or your body desires to rest:
3. Put your hands on your body again and ground into the floor beneath you. Allow your focus to shift inwardly to your feelings. You don’t need to find words – just be with whatever is happening now.
The body can only hold so much. It’s so healthy to release some of the issues from the tissues. Movement becomes a medicine to flush away the sludge in our nervous system, so we can complete cycles of healing.
It empowers our freedom when emotions have room to be understood and respected.
Life is in flux. Taking a pause in the day to wiggle and jiggle reminds us that the body is potent. Letting the body move freely is a reclamation of wisdom. Through therapeutic activities like dance, we can care for ourselves.
REFLECTIVE transition
When your practice comes to a close, you can use another creative way to explore the feelings you witness.
One idea is to do a 'scribble doodle':
Use a few colours and draw random lines and shapes on a piece of paper.
Look at what you draw with curiosity – as if it is an oracle. What images or words come to your mind?
Post a comment about your experience with shaking practices in the comments:)
And that’s all for this therapeutic practice –
I hope it served you and that you will enjoy a shimmy shake often!
If you want another therapeutic dance exercise, try this one out. It focuses on your hands which can really help you move gently.
And if you want to experience what it’s like to have a 1-on-1 therapeutic session, please join me in my Therapeutic Dance Program! It’s perfect for you if you want a supportive witness for whatever you are going through. Find more details here.
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