from our Angel Messenger Creative Team

Throughout the ages, cultures have used dance to heal disease, commune with the heavens and celebrate life itself. In modern times our culture has lost track of the power of dance to heal. A lot of our younger population still loves to dance and move to music; but as we age most of us loose our connection to dance and free form movement.

Modern research has shown us that our minds and bodies are connected in intricate ways, and that dance indeed does have the power to heal us in many ways.

What are Some of the Health Benefits to Dancing?

• Dancing actually enhances our thinking, and our ability to remember; it can even help lift us out of a mild depression.  Several studies, including one published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that people who dance can increase their memory, enhance creativity and it can even help to ward of Dementia as we get older.  In fact, dancing was the only physical activity out of the 9 studied that showed a high correlation to reducing the risk of developing Dementia.

• Dancing boosts heart health, muscle strength, and energy levels.  An Italian study showed that dancing actually improved cardiovascular health more than those that took up biking or walking. Dancing also boosts Serotonin, the happy hormone that also gives us a lasting boost in energy levels.

• Dancing can reduce your stress level, improve your balance and flexibility, and can even enhance your perceived sexiness.  A German study looked at Tango dancing and found that partner dancing reduced stress levels, increased levels of testosterone, relaxed people, and even enhanced a person’s perceived sexiness.

What forms of Dance are Best for Healing?

While all forms of dance can help our heart,  mental outlook and energy levels; only the free-form spontaneous types of dancing have been shown to help heal us of inner trauma.  Although memorized dance sequences have their benefits they do not necessarily allow us to heal rifts between our body, mind, and emotions.  Think of spontaneous type dancing as exercise and food for your right brain.

Everything alive moves and expresses itself through movement.  As children, we are able to fully express movements and emotions, but over time our life experiences, injuries, and personalities start to limit our range of motion. Over time as we age our mind, body and emotions become habitually entangled and as a result, flow less freely than they did when we were children.  Spontaneous dance that involves an authentic movement from within can help us release and heal in many ways.

Dance / Movement Therapy 

There is a branch of Psychology called Dance Therapy that uses authentic movement to unlock pent-up trauma that has become locked into our body
.  The main principle in Dance / Movement Therapy is that the mind and body are in constant interaction with each other and are intricately connected in a way that actually forms who and what we are. The key is to think and feel an aspect of your life that you want to change or heal; then put on mostly non-verbal tribal or world music, close your eyes and let your body move in whatever way it wants to move in order to try and release and discover stuck aspects of your being.  There is no right or wrong movement, just listen to your body and let it move in a spontaneous and authentic way.

Free Form Dancing – Ecstatic Dance & The 5 Rhythms

Free form spontaneous dancing is the perfect outlet for emotional expression and release. Dancing to modern day electronic club music is a good way to let your body spontaneously move to music.  Unfortunately, a lot of people can be a bit self-conscious about dancing in a typical club type dancing environment.   For spontaneous free-form dancing to take place you need to let your body move from the inside out, and in doing so your body may want to just keep jumping around or move in socially funny ways.  As a result, to truly practice free-form dancing you need to be in a safe dance environment; which could be with a dance therapist, home alone, or in a free form dance environment. If you are looking for a free form dance environment in your area, then do a search online for free-form dancing, ecstatic dance or The 5 Rhythms.

The most important thing is to just let go and try and enjoy just moving to music; the healing and other benefits will naturally follow.  So get out there and start dancing your way through life.

Much Love & Angel Blessings,

Angel Messenger