Dance/Movement Therapy and Anxiety

"Anxiety is a body/mind split that is constructed in the mind, but felt in the body. Dance/movement therapy is a psychotherapeutic process that creates balance in the nervous system, ownership of one’s own body, and agency through movement by turning anxiety into excitement…and giving it someplace to go." - Jennifer Frank Tantia, PhD, MS, BC-DMT, LCAT

About the speaker:

[taylornelson]

I am currently enrolled in a class that teaches about dance therapy. One of the questions we were asked in class is how might mirroring be a positive experience. I had my own opinions and, after watching this video, I have a better understanding of "mirroring." It's amazing that such a simple practice can make someone feel like they were listened to and valued. I feel like a lot of people were raised by parents who didn't understand how important it is to listen to your child and make them feel like they are valued. This is something that I will always remember when I have my own children. I can see the impact of being treated as unimportant on many of my friends.
The story of the young girl showed that her anxiety was coming from being ignored and treated as unimportant by her dad. I wonder what are other causes of anxiety? I know I have anxiety when it comes to school and exams. I know that it stems from my family's high expectations of me and my need to fulfill those expectations. But how does one figure out where their anxiety stems from if they do not know? THIS is why I think dance therapy is so cool. Dance therapy can bring out emotions that may be unacknowledged. As the speaker said in the video, the mind/body connection is re-established through movement.

[bethanywolfman]

This applies a lot to myself. As someone dealing with anxiety, I feel like there are a lot of times where I was wondering why dance classes felt so freeing and overwhelmingly emotional. There were times where I would break down when I finally got to do something that I had created and worked on. I was intrigued by the idea that "movement can turn anxiety into agency". This creates an avenue for me to release the energy that is pent up inside. With dance movement therapy, it allows the client to take over and be listened to as feelings and emotions are brought to the surface. When joined by another, it allowed Sasha to feel cared for. I have felt this in dance classes when able to improvise with people around me. When coming into contact with others, it makes it feel like I have people that are there to support me and what I am experiencing internal. I love the idea that dance movement therapy can take the energy created by anxiety and turn it into movement as a way to get rid of it. It creates a way for the person to feel as though they are in control of what they are feeling.

[katiewalsh]

I found it so interesting to think about anxiety as your brain deciding why your body is having a negative response to something, because our hearts race when we're excited or when we're nervous. Sasha feeling cared for when her therapist mirrored her movement was a classic example of how mirroring can relate to empathy and give power to someone that feels powerless. I think this was a great example of one of the many avenues of dance/movement therapy, outside of work with children or extreme cases.

[chloedruckrey]

"The mind is able to respond to these bodily functions" - I think this is a perfect gateway to explain someone about Dance Movement Therapy. I also love how you explain how autonomy is gained through Dance Movement Therapy

[JACKIEHAWES-ld]

I love the statement "Anxiety is a body-mind split that's created in the mind but felt through the body. Dance Movement therapy takes that energy and moves it through the body, turning anxiety into excitement and giving it someplace to go." This is a great explanation for people who have physical symptoms of anxiety.

[tearmad-]

I love her explanation of anxiety as "energy that has nowhere to go" I obtained the knowledge that excitement and nervous share the same symptom. For me, nervous is a negative word, I feel like I could mess something up any time if I am nervous. On the other hand, excitement is a positive word. So it is up to my choice whether the feeling that I am experiencing is being nervous or excitement. I also love how she is using the lightweight movement to help her client maintain anxiety.

[WeAreComingHome]

Wow. When you were telling us the story of your client Sasha it felt like you were sharing of my experiences. I learned recently that my therapist is a "drama therapist." I had never heard of this and when I brought it up to her we began experimenting with some of the exercises that you mentioned. During one session when we were mirroring movements, myself as the guide, I found myself overcome with such powerful emotions that I had to sit down and I just cried. I didn't know why. I haven't thought about that for quite some time but hearing Sasha's interpretation of her experience "I feel cared for. Like you care enough to do what I want to do, " light bulb moment. Agency. Control over my life and of myself.

While I am thankful to be in a much better place anxiety-wise these days, panic attacks and still happen from time to time. I am definitely going to add the grounding technique you showed us where you touch the back of your hand and begin to define that body boundary to my tool kit for the future. Thank you. Great talk.

[renakornblum]

Excellent. I love the last lines. "Anxiety is a body/mind split that's created in the mind but felt through the body. Dance/Movement therapy take that energy and moves it through the body, turning anxiety into excitement and giving it someplace to go." Great example of how anxiety can be worked on in a DMT session. I also loved the clients comment about how she is listening to herself now. Great talk.

[ansleylaev]

The description of Sasha showing herself care through touch and then feeling another's care by the therapist's mirroring was beautiful. I really appreciated the emphasis of "healthy fear" and what was described as "turning anxiety into excitement and giving it some place to go." I think this approach to anxiety makes a lot more physiological sense and is a healthier way of understanding and then treating it.

[ellaredmore]

When she explained the connection/split between body and mind in an anxiety disorder, it made so much sense how the movement could aid the healing. Movement gives energy somewhere to go, rather than just building up inside you, and being in charge of the movement helps the client not feel so tied down, but rather, freer and in charge of her actions.

[alyssacanales]

I found it interesting how fear and excitement can elicit the same response; anxiety. Also, I loved how you described anxiety as excitement with no place to go. This made me realize that I need to get moving! Nonverbal movements can be help soothe anxiety and regulate our emotions. Nonverbal movements can also help us explain where our anxiety comes from and give us control and relief.

[chongvue]

Thank you for sharing one of your dance therapy experiences. It was beautiful how your client, Sasha, was able to overcome her own anxiety and was finally able to listen to her own thoughts. Her healing definitely will motivate many others to do the same!

[julesredlinger]

The idea of finding control as opposed to just relaxation is very interesting and I can see how movement would help someone to do that. That Sasha was given control of the session was powerful, the feeling of being cared for because someone is willing to be there for you and follow you is amazing to think about.

[faithpernsteiner]

Jennifer's description of the physiological response the body has when experiencing anxiety gives ample insight into WHY dance movement therapy is effective in treating anxiety. Giving patients an environment to explore their boundaries and bodies allows patients to, "turn anxiety into excitement".

[laurynjessup.soprano]

The key point of this seems to be that anxiety is just excitement that has no way to be released from the body. She points out that neurologically, excitement and anxiety are the same thing. The key difference between the two is how you release it from your body. She proves this in the beginning when she asks everyone to hold their breath. I found this to be very interesting part of this talk. She describes a patient of hers who had anxiety and how she had her use her arms to help make herself feel in control of her anxiety. This was very interesting to me because I’ve always been told that anxiety comes from a fear of being out of control and it makes sense to have a physical action that can help reduce that fear so that the patient can feel comfortable releasing the anxious/excited feeling from their body.

[karolina]

Im currently taking a non verb communication course at csulb and my professor had a group session that taught us what a Dance therapy session might be like ( however she made it clear that this was not a Therapy session and it would look much different) and he all got into groups and began mirroring eachother. When it came my time to demonstrate my movement for my classmates to mirror i wanted to express how anxiety affects me. When i get anxious my body shuts down and wants to sleep so what i did is i grabbed my body and hugged myself and demonstrated a closed body language, i dropped to my knees and fell to the floor and layed down. Seeing my peers mirror my movement and seeing how each of them manifested stress in their own way was a vulnerable experience and a empathetic moment. I felt less lonely.

[MICHAELKEEFE-hy]

I think the idea of anxiety as a body/mind split is very accurate given the difficulty for the body to understand why it is anxious. Sasha's story was inspiring to hear as something like mirroring movement allowed her to feel enough care and support that she could have honest conversations and not only take control of her body but also take control of her life.

[genli]

One thing that I remember is she is talking about the body boundary that is utilized to re-recognize the selfness in relation to the environment. It accentuates oneself to be able to hear oneself and foster a self-communication. Once it's accomplished, self-regulating of the emotion is available. At this point, the psychological being is more important as referring to the fact that anxiety and excitement own same psychical symptom and what we respond to it becomes decisive.

[karinanaze]

I love the concept of empowerment through body movement. Taking the initiative and being proactive are often things I struggle with. I find myself settling within the comfortable boundaries set by others rather than exploring ways of being that may better suit my own social/emotional needs. My takeaway from this talk is to allow time for personal growth through creative expression (whether it involves dance/movement or other enjoyable energy/anxiety releases), so that I can learn to better exert my own agency.

[mrparis]

"Dance/movement therapy takes anxiety, turns it into excitement, and gives it somewhere to go" -- this statement alone was worth the entire video. Figuring out how movement can do so much for the body and the mind is so astounding. I've never been able to put anxiety into words, because I do feel sort of excited when my anxiety kicks in, but I'm not exactly sure why or what that happens for. Understanding that it is excitement that's unsure what to do with itself but it can be turned into agency through movement was sort of an "a-ha!" moment because it suddenly all made sense to me.
The power that movement has to create a window for so much opportunity to heal and understand yourself is great. As Sasha explored herself more and gained access to ownership of what she wanted to do, versus what the therapist was suggesting, it was an experience for her to actually be the leader of her own body and mind. With Sasha just playing around with movement, it created joy, it created freedom of expression and with the therapist accepting everything that Sasha had to offer, it made her feel valid and welcome in her own head, turning her anxiety into agency.