Reprogram Your Brain With Dance
The Shame of Bad Dance
When you think of dance, it is usually in the context of art. Whether a performance, or something to be observed. Dance typically isn’t in the conversation of “ways to exercise” or “mental health maintenance”. We speak of how movement is vital for nearly every capacity of well being and vitality, but dance is never included in the prescribed modalities of said “movement”.
Dance is saved for people who are “good dancers”, people that have rhythm, people who have studied it. Dance isn’t for the common folk. There is a certain shame that surrounds dance, and if you aren’t a “good dancer”, dance is left out for you. However, dance is one of the most ancient, primitive, and divine forms of self expression that we have been utilizing for thousands of years.
Ancient Dance
Tale as old as time, dance has been there. Dance has guided us through the Euphrates River in ancient Egypt, to the native pow- wow’s in North America, to the tribal fire of Polynesia. Dance has always been a way to be a conduit of massive amounts of energy. Dance has carried us through times of grief, joy, power, sorrow, rage, and celebration.
Dance has been our direct link to g-d. Dance is the one link that connects almost every single culture. Perhaps it isn’t a coincidence that a lot of cultures that didn’t have a strong dance practice were unfulfilled and sought a dopamine hit from colonial exploitation vs. a nice boogie in the village square.
Somatic Dance
When you surrender into a dance, you are no longer thinking. Your mind isn’t in control anymore. Your mind is completely shut off, and you are now responding to what your body wants. You’re body begins to speak to you, and you respond in a way. Different parts of your body have conversations with themselves. Have you ever let your elbow talk to your forearm?
You quickly can hypnotize yourself with the power of dance, lost in a deep state of meditation that will hold you captive. Your body moves, and you can sometimes achieve out of body experiences as you can literally feel yourself vibrate out of your physical vessel.
Psycho-somatic dancing.
It doesn’t have to be that dramatic. You won’t always have an outer body experience. Sometime you’ll have such a dance session that will make you feel functional. That will make you feel like you can actually complete the tasks you need to complete throughout the day, and not completely bury yourself in a cuddle nest of sorrow. It’s like a giant mood reset button lies on the other side of cranking Third Eye Blind’s “Semi- Charmed Life” and jumping around to head bang a bit.
Et voila, an instant hit of energy. Repeat as needed.
Survival Dance
Saviors come in unexpected boxes. Who would have known that the plucky habits of dancing in parking lots in costumes in high school would result in a habit that would save me, and allow me to become a completely new woman when the woman I used to know was violently taken from me.
In the matter of 3 weeks in January, I lost a relationship to my husband from divorce. Through that can of worms, I gained enough courage to approach my family about a hazy, dark memory. To my horror, it was much worse than what I had anticipated. They confirmed the memory, and made it impossible for me to continue a relationship with my mother, father, and grandmother at that time.
All of the preconceived notions of me were violently taken away. I had no idea where I stood as a daughter, or as a wife. I lost my best friend 6 months prior, and I was standing on shaky ground where nothing felt real. I began to get panic attacks for the first time of my life. I was unable to eat. My whole life was tightly wound and fragile. I was living alone for the first time of my life, in the apartment that I had shared with my husband. We had a business, a marriage, a home.
Luckily, the apartment didn’t have a ton of furniture, and we had a full length mirror. I started listening to music: constantly. It was how I soothed myself. I didn't want to be around the harsh silence. Then my body began to move.
I don’t consciously remember it moving, but it was something I always did. I always danced. I knew this about myself. I could always dance and shift my mood. That’s what I did. I began dancing all day, everyday. I was always grooving. Sometimes to happy music, and sometimes to the most angsty music I could imagine. Layer on the drama and dance it out like an exorcism.
I gave myself a year to recover. To not push myself too hard in career or any other matters. One year to really get to know myself, and the best way for me to get to know myself was through dance.
I took to the streets, marching down the sidewalk with my speaker dancing like a looney toon in the shy streets of Denver. I needed the sun. I needed the fresh air. They were my allies in getting me to feel like a new person again. I didn't want to be contained to the four walls of the apartment. I wanted to explore.
I also found my way into kundalini breath work, because this kundalini breath work meditation would be the only thing to to slow my breath down enough to regain control during a panic attack.
And to my surprise, it worked. 6 months of diligent dancing and breath work, the panic attacks stopped. I had forged a new life for myself, a more gentle life for myself with new characters, a new home, and a new set of eyes.
Reprogram Yourself
After I discovered this cheat code of dancing to reprogram yourself, I began to shoot a documentary based on people who danced everyday and how it had profoundly changed their life. We met people who recovered from addiction, and managed their mental health diagnosis strictly through dance. We met people who avoided gangs by dancing. People who had immigrated, and clung to the dance and spirit of their previous country as a means of assimilation.
The more you dance, the more you know yourself. The more you know yourself, the more you trust yourself. The more you trust yourself, the more agency and power you have. If you trust yourself, fear cannot manipulate you. Fear can scare you, but it can’t control you. When we start acting from a place that isn’t fear, this is where the revolution happens. This is how the world becomes a radically different place because we have the integrity in ourselves and our community to fearlessly stand up for what is right. Stand up against the injustices of the world.
We will dance during the revolution
How Do You Start?
First, take a look at how you do habits.
1) Are you a pedal to the metal, full force kind of person, or do are you a gradually build a habit.
2) How comfortable are you dancing? Do you already dance alone in your room?
The magic number for me has been twenty minutes, every day. I would suggest starting there for a month. its about 5-6 songs. If this seems daunting and unrealistic for you, I would start with 1 song a day, preferable in the morning to set the energetic mood for the day.
If you read this before March 1st, 2023- we are hosting a challenge where we dance everyday for the month of spring. We are holding each other accountable, and working through weekly intention settings in the annual:
Click above if you want to join in, and join the revolution.
Side effects may include: feeling more comfortable in your body, learning some sick dance moves, quantum leaping to a radically different self, overwhelming amount of self love, confidence boost, epiphanies, and a radiant amount of joy.