Release emotions through meditative dance

How do you handle your emotions? Do you suppress them because you were brought up to believe that they should not be shown in public, or maybe feeling your emotions is overwhelming so you do not like to give them too much thought? However, if you keep pushing your emotions aside they will at some point break down your door. So how can you learn to look at your emotions, to feel them and release them as they appear, and how can you release emotions by practicing meditative dance? 

Emotions are physical

Firstly, allow yourself to feel your emotions by connecting to your body: How do your feelings show up in your body? Which sensations do your emotions evoke? As you get acquainted with your emotions and recognize them as physical expressions, they are no longer so difficult to grasp, because they are not concepts floating around in your mind; emotions are actually very physical. A headache, a stomach ache, or a stiff neck might be the body’s way of letting you know that you are feeling something quite strongly. It is easy to blame coffee, sugar or your pillow, but you will benefit more from allowing yourself to truly feel the emotions in your body.

Maybe there are certain emotions that you choose not to feel, or that you struggle feeling because they feel so intense that they could be too much to be with. In my somatic coaching I provide a space for you to look at how you can sense that, and how to release that tension, knot or energy. 

Allow emotions to flow

Releasing those emotions can be done through naming the sensations, breathing into them, and moving with it all. Somatic movement gets you present in your body, present with your emotions. But rather than being present with what you are feeling, bring movement to support what you are feeling. Meditative dance allows for emotions to move freely, to get into a flow. The flow of the practice releases emotions.

When you get to know what your emotions feel like somatically, you have the option to process your emotions by getting into your soma, getting into movement, putting emotions into motion, instead of merely analyzing them, and trapping them in your head. When you practice releasing your emotions through meditative dance, or free form movement, you have a new understanding of what your emotions are, and how you can feel them, sense them, and release them. Your emotions are simply looking for an outlet. They want to find their way out, to be put into motion, into flow, and to be released out of your body.

If you learned to not express emotions, it means that you learned to bottle up emotion, and to not express them or feel them. This leaves them in the body, and in the end they will force their way out, manifested as rage, violence, panic attacks, or confusion around what you are feeling in certain situations. Your meditative dance practice allows a space for you to express emotions, release them out of your system, to let out a cry, a scream, or a song. Channel your emotions authentically; allow emotions and feelings to move through the body. How you move reflects what you feel and what you are experiencing.

Movement puts emotions in motion

Movement is medicine in the sense that it puts the energy within us in motion. Once there is movement it creates more energy and releases stress and tension. Your emotions are put into motion with your movement, and by using the breath and the voice, you create space in your body for a new way of being.

Do you allow for your emotions and body to experience how powerful an intention of releasing is? Do you allow for your emotions to be felt and released, so that the intention of setting it into motion, can change your state of being? Do you allow your breath and movement to set your emotions into motion? Do you allow yourself to set the intention to feel your emotions?

Don’t suppress! Practice releasing emotions

Dedicate time to practice, and set your intention. When you practice connecting to your embodiment, looking at your emotions will become easier, because you will learn to allow them space. As you create space for your emotions to be in your body, you allow space for them to be expressed through your body. And as you practice movement, your meditative dance can release your emotions.

Even if it is foreign to you in the beginning, it is important to connect to your emotions. When they are suppressed and rejected they grow in power, you get angrier, more sad, or lose hope in finding relief. Being authentic towards what you are carrying allows for those emotions to be processed. 

You will feel lighter and free when you stop avoiding your emotions. Bypassing them never leads to letting them go. So do you want to continue carrying them around or are you ready to get in touch with them and process them through your embodiment practice? Let me know how I can help.