Dancing Mindfulness

Within Dancing Mindfulness, dance is used as the primary medium to discovery, explore, and deepen the practice of mindful awareness.^[1] Dr. Jamie Marich, the creator of Dancing Mindfulness, touts that its primary focus is to allow participants to utilize their body’s natural healing resources.^[1] Creativity, spiritual practices, meditation, yoga, and general movement are all used to help those attending to become more self-aware^[2] “Come as you are” is a phrase used throughout Dancing Mindfulness, attempting to reach participants of all experiences, ages, and walks of life.

Origins[edit]

Dr. Jamie Marich, of Warren, Ohio, developed this practice and first introduced it in 2012 at two addiction-focused conferences.^[1] Dr. Marich is a clinical counselor, trauma expert, EMDR practictioner and trainer, and an advocate in the areas of recovery, addiction, spirituality, and LGBT issues.^[3] During her recovery from addiction, Dr. Jamie Marich learned about conscious dance via her yoga practice.^[1] After studying several types of conscious dance, Marich set out to combine all of the various elements she had learned with trauma-informed safety guidelines.^[4] Although not promoted as a clinical practice, Dancing Mindfulness was created based on Dr. Marich’s extensive clinical knowledge and expertise.^[3]

Conscious dance, the umbrella category of dance that Dancing Mindfulness falls under, is the practice of non-choreographed dance. This category of dance is what many call “intention-focused” dance, as participants often begin their practice by setting an intention for their sessions.^[5] Other forms of conscious dance include Nia, 5Rythmns, Journey Dance, Chakradance, Dancemeditation, and others.

Mindfulness is the practice of being present in the moment and observing thoughts, actions, and feelings without attempting to make changes.^[6] It is a non-judgmental practice that focuses on actively noticing without using labels, such as good or bad, to describe what it is happening.^[1] While many may think that in order to be mindful you must be still, leaders in the fields of mindfulness and meditation have begun to acknowledge that the act of being present can happen within any moment, be it still or active ^[6]

The Practice[edit]

Dancing Mindfulness is defined as a practice that aims to combine the principles of mindfulness, yoga, and mediation, with the practices of dance and conscious movement.^[4] Fundamental to the practice is the idea of honoring the safety and integrity of each participant.^[1]

There are seven areas of motion-based mindfulness used: breath, sound, body, story, mind, spirit, and fusion (of all elements).^[2]

Classes generally range from 45 minutes to two hours, depending on venue and aim of the class.^[7] There is significant variation between facilitators and venues, as classes are promoted as being tailored to their specific audiences.^[1] Each class incorporates the awareness of breath and rhythm within movement and music. The official webpage states that within a class participants are encouraged to “express their own, personal story on the dance floor.^[7]” Within the Dancing Mindfulness sphere, the phrase “dance like no one is watching” is used to promote non-judging and individuality.

Personal Practice[edit]

Dr. Jamie Marich also presents a personal form of Dancing Mindfulness to practitioners.^[1] Marich encourages those who benefit from classes to take the practice home with them, using music and movement within their own lives to process through emotions and enhance mindfulness. On the Dancing Mindfulness blog various practitioners have posted their own personal stories of how they use Dancing Mindfulness within their daily lives.^[8] This site encourages others to dance anywhere, anyway they can in order to create happiness and to tap into mindfulness skills through dance.

Barnes and Nobles lists the up-coming Dancing Mindfulness book as a source for learning to create "a a personal practice of living in the moment without judgment—using dance as the medium of discovery".^[9] The book expands on the idea of using the principles of Dancing Mindfulness as a personal practice.

Research[edit]

The first research study on Dancing Mindfulness will be published in Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing. The study, entitled Dancing Mindfulness: A Phenomenological Investigation of Early Participants in The Emerging Practice will look at increases in spirituality, positive attitude, and use of mindfulness principles in everyday life found within an initial sample of Dancing Mindfulness participants. Co-authored by Jamie Marich, Ph.D., LPCC-S, LICDC-CS & Terra Howell, M.Ed., LPCC