Move Your Mind: Enhancing Mental Health Through Movement

Our bodies and minds are in constant communication. These communications can be both conscious and subconscious. That shoulder pain that occurred out of nowhere? The tension headache every evening? The nervous butterflies before a presentation? These are all examples of how our bodies and minds are intertwined. When our minds get stuck in a thinking pattern, by proxy our bodies might get stuck too. 

Movement is crucial to our overall wellbeing and it can be a great way to support our mental health. With a therapist that is knowledgeable about the mind body connection, you may be better able to shift your thinking and make more progress in therapy. Have you ever heard of a Registered Dance/Movement Therapist? There are a variety of ways that incorporate movement into therapy and your life that can be helpful to create change. 

Different types of movement and their therapeutic benefit

1. Expressive Movement: anyone can do this type of movement at any time and anywhere! It is as simple as channeling your emotions and letting them guide you in movement. By doing this you can process your emotions through a physical form. 

Here are a few ideas to get you started! As busy adults, there are times in our lives that catch us off guard and leave us in an expected puddle of confusing emotions. During times like these, a simple way to begin to process our emotions can be through movement! 

• Take a walk and ground yourself in nature. Walking is a great cross-body movement that can help our brains begin to sort out emotions.

• Turn up some music! Whether your music is a Broadway soundtrack, your favorite songs from high school, or something sad that gets your tears flowing, music can be a great start to moving and dancing. Your casual sing a long could turn into a full concert - hairbrush microphone included!

• Do a deep breathing exercise. Maybe you’re in traffic or your well-meaning but annoying neighbor won’t stop talking and you feel yourself start to tense up. By taking some deep breaths and noticing the way the air moves through you, you begin to bring your awareness back to your body and are able to keep your body relaxed and present. 

• Shake it off! Any time you start feeling those big emotions through your body, find a quiet spot and start moving! Start with your hands, then your forearms, and then your whole arm. Then move on to your legs. 

2. Mindfulness-Based Movement: mindfulness is all about bringing intentional awareness to the forefront of your mind. Sometimes this is fully focusing on the way that your chest rises and falls with your breath by feeling how the expansion and contraction of your ribcage, the air moves through your lungs and in/out of your nose. 

Practicing mindful movement means that you are putting your full awareness into your movements and observing them without judgment. This takes practice, so be patient with yourself when choosing to engage in mindfulness.

3.Group Movement: There is something so powerful about moving as a group. Whether this is through a traditional Dance/Movement Therapy group led by a certified Dance/Movement Therapist or another group movement class led by an instructor, there are many ways to engage with others around you. 

Maybe you challenge yourself to create a new community with dance. You could join a new yoga studio, go to a local Zumba class, take a hip hop class, or a group fitness class. When we engage in community movement there is something that transcends judgment and perception and we can fully just be, well, ourselves! 

4. Dance/Movement Therapy: The American Dance Therapy Association defines Dance/Movement Therapy as, “the psychotherapeutic use of movement to promote emotional, social, cognitive and physical integration of the individual.” If you are interested in becoming certified DMT please find more information at: https://www.adta.org/.  If you are looking to find a certified DMT in your area you can find them here: https://www.adta.org/find-a-dmt#/

Adding movement to your life can greatly shift your well-being. By incorporating some of these techniques you can experience the power of movement to promote both healing and growth.