3 Reasons for Dancers to Practice Yoga: Holistic Wellness

Traditionally, dance has largely operated on a "no pain, no gain" ethos; tough it out, get through it for the sake of the art form and growing as an artist. Yet there's a real danger there, because dancers aren't machines; they're living, breathing, feeling human beings with true needs.

Denying those needs never ends well: high rates of toxic perfectionism, eating disorders, and other consequences for holistic wellness, for example. Furthermore, dancers literally live in their instruments. What the art demands on the body, mind and soul don't necessarily end when class or rehearsal is over.

Thankfully, the dance world is gaining a greater awareness of the importance of attending to dancers' physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs -- those of holistic wellness. Not only is that a moral imperative, it's smart and effective; comprehensively healthy, "well" dancers are stronger and can have more longevity as artists. Yet we have room to grow in all of that. We can do even better.

As we explored in prior blog posts in this series, the dance and yoga worlds have genuine connections; many dancers practice yoga, and some have even become yoga instructors. True, the goals at hand and the contexts in which they each evolved greatly differ. Yet yoga can be a space to explore, discover, and grow through the body -- just like dance!

Like many who come to yoga, dancers often do so for its physical benefits -- as a way to cross-train (it’s a great way to balance strength and flexibility, as well as overall fine-tune one’s dancing instrument). As they get deeper in the practice, dancers often find that there are parts about yoga that deeply resonate with them that have little to nothing to do with physical fitness.

As such, some dancers have found yoga and mindfulness, within a comprehensive self-care and wellness plan, to be a powerful tool for their holistic wellness. Yoga is about body, mind and spirit -- thus, it's a tool for dancers (and all people) to attend to the health of all of those parts of them.

In this third of a three-part series on benefits of yoga and mindfulness practice for dancers, we’ll look deeper there.

It's the journey, not the destination.

Dancers are notoriously goal-oriented: hit that triple pirouette, get that coveted role, get hired by that big company. They're also notoriously perfectionistic and hard on themselves; if they don't hit those goals, uh-oh, no good news in terms of aspects such as mood, focus, and self-perception.

Yet yoga has a different approach to share -- it's not about achieving or not achieving something at a particular point. If you haven't hit that fancy arm balance yet, it's okay, you can keep coming back to the mat and trying again. If your focus in your mindfulness practice just isn't happening today, there could be many reasons for that and it's no big thing -- just keep trying again.

It is about that coming back and trying again, and the growth that happens over time as a result. To be nauseatingly cliche about it, it's about the journey and not the destination. Dancers can bring this to their dance journey to understand that if that big fancy leap isn't happening today, it will come. Just keep working at it. If you didn't get accepted into that program that you're dying to dance in, you can try again.

The positive effect of that mindset shift can be huge for dancers. In artistic aspects, particularly in contemporary dance spaces where artists have more agency in shaping the creative process, dancers can be more mentally flexible and open to the gifts of creative exploration. In any stylistic focus, dancers can keep their mental energy on growing and learning -- rather than on beating themselves up or catastrophizing.

Perhaps the most significant advantage of that mindset shift, however, is it just feels better. It can be a huge mental load-off! Dancers face enough burdens; self-imposed pressures and draining inner narratives don't have to be among them.

Freedom is found in the "letting go".

That perspective shift, and all of those ensuing advantages, can fall under the umbrella of a notable part of yoga philosophy: acceptance and detachment. The former is accepting what will be, will be; que sera, sera. As noted, one can then focus on the best course of action rather than bemoaning what one can't change (the Serenity Prayer, anyone?).

Detachment is releasing from all of that mental weight -- those draining inner narratives and self-imposed pressures. It doesn't mean apathy or resignation to "well, whatever…". It just means releasing that negative emotional baggage. Similarly, with acceptance, it doesn't mean that one has to like what they can't change -- it's just a shift in the mindset and energy towards that thing, to something more constructive.

That's not to invalidate or discourage any natural feelings that arise. Those should not be pushed away or shoved under the bed.

Brene Brown has astutely described emotions as tunnels; they have to be moved through. Tools like acceptance and detachment help one to move through the tunnel more quickly and smoothly, to get to the light on the other side.

Apart from all of those artistic and personal benefits described before,

detachment and acceptance can help dancers to handle the big ups and downs and frenetic, unpredictable quality of the creative life. A stable job, healthcare, or even where one lives is nothing like guaranteed.

Fulfilling, stable work can come in a flood, and then comes a drought. Schedules and sources of income can be all over the place. Cancellations, last-minute commitments, endings, beginnings -- they're just about constant. Acceptance and detachment can help dancers move through all of that sometimes amazing, sometimes crushing craziness with more grace and ease. Just do all you can, and don't worry about the rest.

We're all more than one thing (including dancers!).

As noted, dancers live in their instrument. A tendency can be for dance to become us; we don't know who we are apart from dancer. That can keep us working very hard and remaining very committed. Yet there can be a lot of life that we're missing out on. Apart from that being quite limiting in itself, that's limiting to who we can be as artists.

And if for some reason we can no longer dance -- whether because of health matters, finances, aging, or any other reason or reasons -- we can face a literal identity crisis; if dance has become who we are and then we no longer have dance, who then are we? That's a lot to handle, and I would wish it on absolutely no one.

As previously described in this series, yoga can be a laboratory to learn a lot about ourselves: how we treat ourselves, our tendencies, our innate likes and dislikes, and more. Yes, like dance, yoga inherently involves things dance does: the body, creativity, continuous commitment.

Yet involvement with a neighbor to dance (in yoga) can be a smooth transition into learning things about ourselves that have little to do with dance. That can be a key step towards learning who we are beyond dancer. Remaining connected with and nurturing that person is a key step for sustained wellness -- not to mention making us stronger artists. It all comes full circle, and it's all connected.

Photos courtesy of unsplash.com.