Do you find yourself feeling foggy, lacking clarity, and depleted of creative energy?
Do you want to release emotional and physical stress blockages in order to better connect your mind, body, and spirit?
If so, then somatic dance is for you.
And don’t fret! Prior dancing experience is not required as somatic dance is a form of movement practice that focuses on the experience of the body with emphasis on the internal sensations and feelings of each movement.
It is based on the principles of somatics, a field of study that emphasizes the importance of embodied awareness and movement as a way of improving overall health, healing, and well-being. It is known to be a highly effective method of neuromuscular education to release tension within the body and relieve chronic pain.
What is Somatic Dance?
Somatic dance is a practice that emphasizes the internal experience of movement, rather than external form or technique. In other words, it focuses on the mind-body connection and overall experience rather than worrying about how we physically look doing each movement.
Judgement free and free to be! Sounds nice, doesn’t it?
Somatic dance can take many forms, including improvisation, contact improvisation, and other forms of dance that prioritize internal experience over external form.
The practice is often done in a group setting, and may involve guided movement explorations or free-form dance. Somatic dance is accessible to people of all ages, abilities, and conditions – which can be modified to meet individual needs and preferences.
How Does Breathwork and Somatic Movement Relate to Healing?
Breathe in, breathe out…
Breathe in, breathe out…
Ask yourself, does the breath feel deep or shallow? Just observe.
Now, take a deep breath from belly to chest, and notice again. See if you can notice the gentle movements in the sacrum, coccyx and lumbar spine area…how does your body feel?
Breathwork is an essential element of somatic dance. It refers to the practice of paying attention to your breath, intentionally regulating its rhythm, depth, and quality, and using it as a tool to support and enhance your movement and intention.
Did you know that every organ, every joint, and every vertebra is connected with an emotion?
That’s right! If you’ve ever heard of people crying after yoga, a massage session, or after being in a meditative state – that’s because specific areas in the body were activated to produce an emotional release, often on a subconscious level.
There could be deep rooted memories and trauma that might create sensations in different areas of the body once it’s released.
At Self Empowered Minds, we use somatic dance to help release emotional blockages that are trapped inside our bodies through various movements in hopes of accepting and acknowledging these feelings.
For example, someone could be struggling to get over a tough breakup, the death of a loved one, loss of a job, or experiencing a major life change. All of this can harbor emotions and feel like you’re “carrying a lot of weight on your shoulders.”
The goal is for individuals to achieve a sense of transformation to feel more alive and aligned with their purpose and core values. That’s the beautiful thing about somatic dance, where one person feels tension and sensitivity in their bodies might not be the same for another.
Individuals are encouraged to tap into their intuition to be their authentic self and heal themselves from traumatic events or personal history that may be preventing them from moving on to living life fully.
All in all, somatic dance is a fun, engaging, and positive outlet for people looking to improve their physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
Benefits of Somatic Dance
Somatic dance offers a wide range of benefits for physical, emotional, and mental well-being. Here are some of the key benefits that you can experience:
1. Improved Body Awareness
Somatic dance helps to cultivate a deeper sense of body awareness and connection. By focusing on internal sensations, individuals learn to listen to their bodies and respond to their needs, leading to increased physical awareness and a greater sense of embodiment. It may also include specific exercises to reduce physical tension stored in the body as well as to release traumatic memories that may ruminate in one’s mind.
2. Reduced Physical Tension and Emotional Stress Through Breathwork
Somatic dance can be a powerful tool for reducing stress and anxiety. By tuning into internal sensations and releasing tension through movement, individuals can experience a greater sense of calm and relaxation. It also uses deep relaxation and breathwork techniques to reduce muscle tension found throughout the body.
By focusing on the breath and allowing it to guide the movement, individuals can create a sense of ease and flow in their body, which can help to reduce muscle tension and increase flexibility. This can lead to a more relaxed and open physical state, which can enhance the quality and expressiveness of the movement.
In addition, breathwork can support individuals in accessing deeper states of consciousness providing a foundation for physical, emotional, and creative inspiration and exploration.
3. Increased Creativity and Self-Expression
Somatic dance is a form of creative expression that allows you to explore movement in a free and uninhibited way. By tapping into your own unique language of movement, you can discover new ways of expressing yourself and accessing your creative potential. Choose a song of choice that has a good tempo so that you can feel each movement while also allowing yourself to let out your emotions.
4. Improved Posture and Alignment
Somatic dance can help to improve posture and alignment, leading to greater ease and efficiency of movement. By releasing tension and developing a greater sense of body awareness, individuals can improve their overall physical alignment, balance, and feeling grounded. This is particularly helpful for those with chronic pain, as somatic dance can help reduce pain and discomfort by promoting relaxation, releasing tension, and thus, improving posture!
5. Greater Sense of Connection With Self
Somatic dance can help to cultivate a greater sense of connection with oneself, others, and the environment. Mindfulness is incorporated within somatic dance, which is the practice of re-centering the self in the present moment, as oftentimes, trauma can keep people living in the past. By tuning into internal sensations and connecting with our bodies, we can experience a deeper sense of presence and connection with the world around us. 6. Unblocks Your Body’s Chakras and Releases Emotions
The body has seven main chakras, each associated with specific physical and emotional aspects. Here is a brief overview of how somatic dance can help open and activate each chakra through movement:
- Root Chakra: located at the base of the spine and associated with grounding and survival. Movements that can help are stomping, marching, and swaying the hips can improve feelings of enthusiasm and interest in life.
- Sacral Chakra: located in the lower abdomen and associated with creativity and sexuality. Fluid, circular movements of the hips, pelvis, and lower back.
- Solar Plexus Chakra: located in the upper abdomen and associated with personal power, self-esteem, generosity and joy. Movements to help this area include twisting, bending, and stretching the torso.
- Heart Chakra: located in the center of the chest and associated with love, compassion, and fear. Movements that help open and expand the chest include reaching, lifting, and opening the arms and shoulders.
- Throat Chakra: located in the throat and associated with communication, self-expression, authenticity, gratitude and grief. Movements to do that involve the neck and shoulders by rolling the shoulders backwards and forwards, shaking, and stretching.
- Third Eye Chakra: located in the center of the forehead and associated with intuition, wisdom, insight, alertness and anger. Movements that involve the head and eyes, include “looking up at our third eye” while eyes are closed, blinking, and rotating head nice and slow.
- Crown Chakra: located at the top of the head and is associated with enlightenment, bliss, and a spiritual connection with yourself, others, and the universe. Movements that involve the whole body include reaching upwards, stretching, lifting the arms and legs, standing still and focusing on the breath can all help connect with the energy of this chakra.
Join us at our upcoming workshop on Mind Energizer where you will learn to release blockages and stimulate creativity through movement and other modalities so that you can tap into your creative potential! If you prefer private one-on-one sessions, then check out our Self Discovery and Inner Greatness Programs If you want to restore and balance your mind and body, then come see us for Reiki sessions with an LED add-on at Self Empowered Minds. Self Empowered Minds is here to help you strengthen your mind, empower the positive beliefs you have, and help rebuild new patterns in the brain to support healthier habits. Our services support you in the best way possible so you may fill your life to the brim with love, happiness, family, friends, health, wealth, gratitude, and joy.
