Everything You Need to Know About Dance Movement Therapy
There are different types of psychotherapy that work well for every individual. Dance movement therapy is a specialized field of traditional psychotherapy. However, not a lot of people are well aware of the benefits that this kind of psychotherapy offers, unless they belong in the psychotherapy and alternative healing industries. There are still limited resources associated with such a therapy whether books or websites. Usually, websites and books will only talk about the dance movement therapists or those who are studying them. Fortunately, this article will give you everything you need to know about dance movement therapy and more.
When it comes to dance movement therapy, dance is a crucial aspect. For a long time, dance is considered a means of communication that is linked deeply to the human mind. While dancing has become a spectator event or a performance, it is ever-present across historic time periods and cultures from around the world. Keeping this fact in mind, dance movement therapy is not all about doing dancing right or being a dancer. For each and every person existing, the ability and the desire to dance are always there. Engaging in dance movement therapy just shows that there is nothing that you can do wrong.
Similar to variations of dances, there are also variations when it comes to dance movement therapy sessions. Every session is unique and for good reason. These considerations often cover certain situations as well as the functionality levels that are present within a person or a group. A common approach to dance movement therapy is authentic movement. The unconscious essentially dances the body and mind. This process enables one to censor out their ego or move it. The person goes into a waking dream state. It is very much possible for their active imagination process to become engaged during this time. The imagery that arises from this state will be what the person will be following. This person then pays attention to the quality of their movements. They, then, work with what the factors reflect in terms of the metaphors.
There are certain participants in any dance movement therapy session. When it comes to authentic movement, it often takes place in a dyad. This means that you should have a mover and a witness. For the witness, it can either be one of the members of the group or the therapist. In terms of importance, both the movement and the witnessing are important. Some movements cannot be grasped by the mover. The same goes for the feelings, and on the part of the witness. Clients are more capable of understanding what happened to them during the movement if they take the time to reflect back on what was witnessed and what was experienced. Only by taking this approach will the client feel like they are seen. People who are highly functional can benefit the most from authentic movement.