After months of being stuck at home watching Netflix and doing every craft imaginable, it can be a challenge to keep your mind engaged. As we continue learning how to go about life in our new normal, it is easy to feel distracted and even easier to let our brains zone out. A great way to check in on ourselves and reengage our brains is to maintain a creative outlet we are passionate about. For myself and our TSDPAC dancers, our creative outlet of choice is dance.
Why is a creative outlet important?
Having “Me Time” – Now more than ever you might notice your friends, family, and even the news talking about self-care. Having a scheduled time each day/week/month to do something for yourself is very important for your mental health. Having a scheduled time to dance each week allows your brain to have something to look forward to!
Fun with Friends – Drawing and painting are great creative activities, but are often done alone. Dance, on the other hand, is done with groups of people (even while socially distanced). It’s important to teach ourselves not only how to work well in a group but how to express ourselves around others!
Engaging Our Brains – After having school or work all day it is very easy to “zone out” and watch our favorite TV shows, Youtubers, or movies. Taking time to engage our brain creatively can fill a void you may feel in your life. Learning new skills, remembering complex combinations, and having to think through your acquired techniques engages a part of your brain that may lie dormant!
Expressing Ourselves for Ourselves – Checking in on our own mental health can be quite the task. Allowing our bodies to express how we are feeling and what is going on in our lives can help melt away our stress and anxiety. Dance allows us to not only have a safe space to forget our problems, but also to dance through our problems. An added perk? Expressing our joy on our best days through dance releases hormones associated with general happiness and wellbeing through exercise.
Bringing Joy to Physical Fitness – After being in school or work all day you might feel as though you are drained. I can’t begin to count all of the times where I intended on going for a run after work, only to arrive home “running on fumes”. A dance class is a fantastic way for your children and for you to get your bodies moving while being distracted by having a great time.
Dance is a great way to check in with our physical and mental needs. It gets rid of pent up energy, exercises our bodies, and provides us with a way to keep up with friends. We also get to train our brains by learning new moves, tricky combinations, and dance vocabulary. At TSDPAC, we are so excited to have our students back in class and can’t wait to help them express themselves through dance this season.
