Angry? Overwhelmed? Dance it out !
Feeling angry, overwhelmed, disappointed or anxious?
Dance it out !
Negative, intense emotions can sometimes show up in the body as an electrical current looking for a light to fire up, catastrophic or judgey thoughts, digestive problems, insomnia, loss of appetite or all of the above. We cannot make these emotions go away by telling ourselves ‘just let it go’ and there is not enough venting to a friend, tequila, cocaine, pain meds or work that can make these feelings disappear.
Intense emotions that are negative or positive, like joy or love, need to be felt. These feelings are your body’s way of letting you know what is happening within you — they are like an email or text message that is needing a ‘Read’ receipt. Once the body knows you have received and accepted the message, the energy behind the emotion will start to soften.
Journaling, talk therapy or slow body movements that incorporate breath such as yoga or martial arts can be helpful to process fiery emotions.
But sometimes there are times when the fiery emotions are too intense and too scattered to be contained on a journal page or released through Tai Chi.
Again, dance it out !
Dancing fosters connection with others and gets us in touch with our bodies
Dancing reduces stress, improves self-confidence and enhances mobility and muscle coordination
Dancing encourages self-expression while improving blood circulation
Dancing stimulates the vagus nerve by sending signals of ‘safety’ within your autonomic nervous system
Dancing is free! Find a tune on Spotify, YouTube or the old-fashioned radio station and as long as you have at least five-square feet of space you can be-bop your body and mind out of rage and into relief.
Yesterday I took my own advice by going to the free version of Spotify, finding ‘Supersad’ by Suki Waterhouse and danced in my kitchen because ‘there’s no point in being supersad’.
“Everything's going wrong
Tryna reach out but I can't find my phone
Spiralling is what I do
Maybe I should treat myself, new point of view
Wash my face, fix my hair
Swear to God I'm nobody, I am so damn scared
I look so much better, when I don't care
Could be the worst time I ever had
Lose my mind, always get it back
There's no point in being supersad
All of the tears I wish I never cried
And, in other words, I'm doing fine
There's no point in being supersad”