Day 17- Just Dance - 30 Days Mindfulness Challenge

​“To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.” ― Osho

Dancing is the language of the soul. When you allow the body to move the way it wants to, you get out of your mind and completely into the present moment.

Dancing from the heart, for the sheer joy of it - and not to attract anyone or show off our talents - is a beautiful, fun way to enhance our mindfulness while being active.

When dancing, you allow the music to move you, you learn to surrender to the rhythm and express your emotions through movement.

If you give it enough time, like in a Trance Dance session, your rational mind is put on hold and you enter into an altered state of awareness. And this happens without using any external chemicals. The ones secreted by your body while moving and breathing are more than enough.

My experience with conscious dancing

I've experienced several Trance Dance sessions, where I danced blindfolded for two to three hours together with about 30 other people. In a session like this, I learned to trust my senses and other people while surrendering to the different rhythms and beats.
The fear of not bumping into other people while dancing blindfolded was quite strong in the beginning. But all went well with the instructions and the constant supervision of the organizers.

Another dancing meditation I've tried and enjoyed is The 5 Rhythms. I've been through two intensive workshops a few years ago and it was a wonderful experience. The idea is to move you through 5 different rhythms that are each associated with different emotions and ways of expressions.

There's also another type of dance that it's like meditation in action that I recommend trying. Although for this one you'll need a partner. I'm talking about Argentinian tango.

From all the dances I've learned and experienced, this type of tango is the best to help you train being present every moment. You need to be attuned to your partner, to the music, to your own body, and to the surroundings. It's a lot to deal with, especially when you're just starting out. But later on, when you get the hang of it and if you have a good partner, you can enjoy the out of mind and in the flow state.

But for today's exercise, you don't need to go to a Trance Dance ritual or sign-up for tango lessons.

Day 17- Just Dance

You can practice mindful in the comfort of your own home. I'll give you two suggestions, but it's up to you and the state you're in. And of course you can come up with your own ideas.

• First thing in the morning, after you freshen up and drink your water, put on your favorite song or list of songs, and just start dancing. If you're feeling rusty, take it slowly. Allow the body to warm up and then expand your movements. Be aware of where you are in the moment and honor that.

For extra fun involve your partner, your kids, your dog, whoever is around you at that moment.

Notice the energy shift in your body and in your home after dancing.

• Another way is to start moving without any music at all. To just allow the body to move to the rhythm that it likes in that moment. You can set a timer for 5-10 minutes. Then if you like yo continue and have time, go on, get wild!

So that was it for today. Less talking, more conscious dancing!

Have fun with it and let me know how it went.

image source Unsplash

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A note on The 30 Days Mindfulness Challenge. I initially published this challenge 2 years ago on my blog Being Raluca and I'm using those articles as a base for this one. I sometimes rewrite 80% of the article, other times I keep more of the original version and rewrite and add less new content.

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I'm a psychologist, intuitive coach, blogger and vlogger. You can find me mainly on my blog at Being Raluca where I write about communication, relationships, listening and sexuality. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @raluca.

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