Our Monthly Tip: Explore Dance to Cope With Grief

Our Tip of the Month

If you have lost a loved one, dancing may be the furthest thing from your mind. Yet movement can be a powerful way to grapple with difficult emotions such as grief. Providing a space to reconnect with your body and explore your experiences nonverbally, dancing can be a rich addition to your self-care toolbox.

Plenty of research indicates that exercise can help to boost your mood. Any type of physical movement can be beneficial—SevenPonds has previously suggested yoga as another method for coping with grief—but dancing offers some unique benefits. As a creative medium, dancing goes beyond activating your muscles and allows you find new avenues for self-expression as you deal with loss.

How-to Suggestions

– Take part in dance therapy. Shown to improve quality of life and ease depression and anxiety, dance therapy uses movement to work towards healing. Led by trained movement therapists, dance therapy sessions seek to integrate social, emotional, mental, and physical well being. You may encounter dance therapy by connecting with an individual therapist, but many cities also have open classes that are rooted in movement therapy.

– Find an open movement class. If you’re unsure of where to begin, open movement classes can be an approachable way to explore dance in the company of others. No matter where you live, it is likely that there are dance classes of some kind in your area. Although technique classes can be challenging and enjoyable, classes rooted in improvisation provide more room to explore your own inclinations.

Created by a dance therapist, authentic movement emphasizes mindful and nonjudgmental exploration. In these classes, you will be asked to dance with your eyes closed, your movements witnessed by others in the room.

Many cities around the country also offer both Gaga/people and Dance Church classes. These classes require no dance experience, and offer a warm and accessible environment in which to move. Encouraging participants to stay in motion for the entirety of the class, both Gaga and Dance Church allow you explore sensations, activate your imagination, and revel in the difficulty and pleasure of movement.

– Explore movement on your own. You don’t need to go to a class to incorporate dance into your life. Push the furniture to the walls, put on some music, and move in whatever way feels best.