Healing Dancing

Dancing and shaking are two branches of Somatic Experiencing: a body-based approach to healing developed by Dr. Peter Levine. Somatic Experiencing takes the focus off of thinking, talking, or mentally processing trauma or stress and places it on moving, breathing, or engaging the senses. 

Stress initiates a natural response in our nervous system: we pump out adrenaline and cortisol, increase heart rate, pause digestion, bypass memory storage, and prepare to survive. This is the fight/flight/freeze response in action. Unfortunately, many of us experience this response when facing stress that is not a matter of life or death, and our nervous systems are in a constant state of overdrive.

We can talk to a therapist all day about the stress of work, but unless we know how to teach the body to regulate, our nervous systems will continue to go into this state of panic. This can lead to poor memory, indigestion, anxiety, emotional lability, hormonal imbalance, impaired thinking,

Illustration for mindshine's newsletter about Dancing and Healing the Nervous System