You are out there worrying about something and you hear upbeat music. You tend to ignore the sound. “No!” You shout it loud to your mind, it obeys you. But after some time you realise, your body wants to make movements, and you try to convince your mind. Slowly, you let it loose, from your head to toe and enjoy the sheer music. Aah! How exhilarated you feel!
What is it in music? It elevates your mood and also depresses your mood (depends on what you choose to listen) Let’s talk about the ones that elevate your mood. It associates happiness to music and makes you think of good things in life and helps you gain more out of an experience.
Now, let’s add dance to the upbeat music and see what it does. Dancing releases endorphins. Let’s put it in a simple way, the principal function of endorphins is to inhibit the transmission of pain signals. It’s proved, for most people dance boosts mood more than exercise.
Watching someone dance associates the feeling of joy in your mind and imagine how stretching out your body to dance can make you feel. Dancing is a way of expressing yourself. Dance, any form for that matter can help you express yourself more. Just the way how more of a feeling you feel when you express yourself with someone.
I was always fascinated by the fact that body and mind communicate with each other. Your body listens to your mind and so does your mind to your body. Here is an interesting TED talk by Dr Tal Shafir, How Your Body Affects Your Happiness
Excerpt from the talk,
- It’s the feedback that comes from your body to brain that determines your feelings
- Different movements affect people slightly differently.
- The qualities that characterize happiness are lightness, expanding body in horizontal and vertical directions, jumping, raising your arms up, and repetitive rhythmic movement.
- Be conscious and aware of how you hold and move your body. Because your body continuously send signals to your brain, and constantly affects your feelings.
A quick fix for your mood:
Play happening music in your mind and just swing your head, let your body loose and don’t hesitate to move your body a little.
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Bull’s eye! I always play the beat(y) song and dance wild, just to shake the negativities (that sometime tries to dig my mind) away from me. And guess what it really works… by all means :)
I run and that makes me feel awesome. So technically, we can say that any physical activity that brings happiness to one, should be pursued.
Great post and valid points that you have mentioned. I don’t dance but I let myself sway with the music :)
I definitely never miss a chance to dance. My favourite dance form is Jive and it absolutely liberates me from everything around. It is truly the song of the soul.
Nice points here Vidyashree … I am glad I love to dance anyway :) How I did not learn Kathak is an open secret now :D :D But I love to dance for any reason :) Its definitely de-stressing .