“Your soul is the sum–total of every feeling you’ve ever had” Neale Donald Walsch.
I believe your body is the physical manifestation of your soul.
These two statements combined mean that your body is the sum total of every feeling you’ve ever had.
Your body holds onto the good, the bad, the angry, the sadness…everything.
If we don’t process those feelings they stay in us trapped.
These feelings become memories that fuse with your muscular DNA. It’s why specific stretches and movements trigger certain memories or emotions.
Dancing can help us process those trapped emotions by creating pathways to let your energy flow out.
Making the quote above literal, I can describe it like this.
Each day you gain a layer of emotion. Each experience is a feeling you hold on to going forward, coated on top of another emotion all in this invisible layer.
Each day you may have an emotion that leaves a strong imprint on you.
Most days, however, your feelings will be filler. My day was…unremarkable, another average day. Those days mean you will be moving in the same ordinary way. Each day we move like this, the stronger the movement pattern becomes. The staler our movements and our days become. These days become a wall around the feelings that stand out the most.
Deep emotional traumas and joys disrupt your movement pattern. You have these deep emotional imprints that, over time, become more and more normal. These pains and these exhilarations guide you on how to move the following day, and the following day… You keep moving in this pattern, and these once great feelings become numb, more unremarkable. Another day wandering in the same general way.
When we dance, we move differently.
We disrupt our bodies’ flow. We break through monotony.
As you flow and push your energy through your body, you gain access to more and more feelings.
You can access all these muscles, all these memories, by flowing and expressing with control of your body. You use the constant movement to help you cycle through and push deeper into certain feelings. You give those trapped emotions avenues to flow through the different levels of stagnant energy.
What is so amazing about dance is that its…
Fun.
It’s Communal.
It’s Musical.
Dancing is such an empowering practice, but it’s also light and easy.
The more you move, the better you move.
The more people you have, the more energy you have.
The more energy you have to help you move better, the more fun you will have.
Dancing can empower your body. It can ease your mind.
Dancing has the power to free your soul.
Credits:
Inspired By:
Soul Body Picture: Google Search Results Cosmic Avatar Aang
Safe Place Dance Clip: Safe Place Event Filmed by Ben Lunn
Fun Picture: Safe Place Photo Credit Ben Johnson
Communal Picture: Jurgis DID
Musical Video: The Greatest Show Screened Via Youtube
Header Photo/Final Photo: Kinetic Meditation Photo Credit Ben Johnson
