Dance / Movement Therapy (DMT)

Dance/movement therapy, usually referred to simply as dance therapy or DMT, is a type of therapy that uses movement to help individuals achieve emotional, cognitive, physical, and social integration. Beneficial for both physical and mental health, dance therapy can be used for stress reduction, disease prevention, and mood management. In addition, DMT's physical component offers increased muscular strength, coordination, mobility, and decreased muscular tension. Dance/movement therapy can be used with all populations and with individuals, couples, families, or groups. In general, dance therapy promotes self-awareness, self-esteem, and a safe space for the expression of feelings.

WHAT KIND OF ISSUES CAN DANCE THERAPY HELP WITH?

Dance therapists work with people in therapy to help them improve their body image and self-esteem. Dance/movement therapy is a versatile form of therapy founded on the idea that motion and emotion are interconnected. The creative expression of dance therapy can bolster communication skills and inspire dynamic relationships. It is commonly used to treat physical, psychological, cognitive, and social issues such as:

Physical Issues:

In contrast, when we try to be in control, we initiate planned, forced actions and interventions causing us to feel tense, burdened, and alienated from our ability to trust ourselves. Likewise, those we are attempting to reach may also sense the strain, and respond accordingly.

However, when we allow ourselves to be in charge, we yield to our authentic life forces, creating a natural flow from within that is empowering. Therefore, it is critical that we, as therapists, take the lead to help our patients trust themselves to discover their own natural flow.

One patient, Mary, explained how these skills were important to her in terms of being in charge versus being in control.

“When we are in control, we don’t allow life to just happen. Being in control means that we spend so much of our energy and so much of our time trying to attain perfection in every sense of the word that we miss out on day-to-day life. We miss out on everyday simple things.

We miss out on the happy, magical, mysterious things. The unfortunate thing is attempting to be in control usually leads to more things being out of control. Life then becomes stressful, and all of our attention becomes focused on controlling the stress in our lives. Giving up control, little by little, will lead to much happier, healthier, beautiful lives.

I want to eventually be able to feel as if I don’t need to be in control of everything. I want to be in a place where I am okay with allowing life to happen as it should. I want to enjoy the everyday moments.

Being in charge allows our lives to be care-free, yet not care-less. Not chaotic. We are able to trust our instincts and trust our feelings, and this leads to feelings of confidence. When you are confident, you understand how vital being in charge really is, and that in turn leads to even stronger self-confidence.

When you are in charge, you trust your authentic, true self. You know that you are okay.