Five Unexpected Ways Dance Can Heal Your Brain

In September of 2021, I hopped on a quick flight to Orlando to attend the annual American Association of Christian Counselors conference for mental health professionals. My hope was to knock a big chunk of my continuing education credits out of the way, but what I didn’t expect was to fall head over heels in love. With neuroscience. During that conference I sat, almost in trance, under the teachings of Dr. Ben Carson, world-renowned neurosurgeon, Dr. Curt Thompson, a brilliant author and psychiatrist who concentrates his work in the area of neuroplasticity, and Dr. Daniel Amen, a double board-certified psychiatrist and founder of the celeb sought-after Amen Clinics. Thus began my fascination and descent into the study of neuroplasticity, or the fact that our brains can heal and change based on internal and external stimuli to which they are exposed.

Rewind to years before the Orlando conference. I’m ten years old, trying to survive life with an alcoholic father, divorcing parents, and being the target of attention – the not-so-positive-kind -- from the mean girls’ ring at school.  At ten years old I have no formal training in psychology or neuroscience, but I do know one thing: dancing helps me feel better. Through elementary, adolescent, and teen years, I took years of ballet, trained in hip hop, jazz, and even danced competitively. I danced not only because I loved it, but also because it seemed to carry me. Simply put, when I let the music move me, life felt lighter. I didn’t know or intentionally understand that dancing was fundamentally healing my brain, but now I do.

These two very different snapshots of my life are related to one another in the fact that movement has the power to change our brain via neuroplasticity. Therapeutic dance movement, which as an adult I’ve grown to love as a modality of treatment in the processing of trauma with my dear clients, is a powerful tool for healing our brains indeed. Our locally- founded women’s mental health clinic, Truth and Counsel, is beyond ecstatic to bring this form of healing to 417- land.  

Although I am a licensed Zumba Instructor, therapeutic dance movement is not Zumba. Therapeutic dance is good for your body, but it’s not classified as a workout, either. Therapeutic dance is so much more. By integrating specific cognitive focus prompts with movement, therapeutic dance is a powerful force used in healing one’s brain. Intrigued? Read on my fellow lovers of dance, read on.

 1. Dancing releases stored trauma.

Moving in a rhythmic manner activates both the right and left sides of the brain, which works much like the popular, evidence-based Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy used widely to treat trauma victims. Because trauma becomes “frozen” in the right hemisphere of the brain after time, rhythmic movement, such as dancing, can dislodge these memories. The traumatic memories can then be properly processed from a healthier place and integrated back into one’s memory storage system with less emotional pain associated.

 2. Therapeutic dance alleviates stress and increases resiliency. 

Most of us know that exercise can improve our health; dancing is one of the most enjoyable ways to do this. The endorphins released while dancingserve to alleviate stress while simultaneously increasing the brain’s ability to handle stressful situations. Dance more and become more resilient when life stressors do come your way.

 3. Dancing slows the natural decline of cognitive functioning brought on by aging.

Dancing has been shown in multiple recent studies to increase gray matter in the brain even more than walking or stretching, thus facilitating stronger memory and cognitive function. Dance more, remember more.

 4. Need help managing depression and anxiety symptoms? Dancing can do that, too.

Dancing does not take the place of traditional therapy or psychopharmacology, but it does work supplementally. Dopamine and Serotonin are neurotransmitters that are increased as gentle movement sends signals of joy, safety, and peace to the brain.

 5. Therapeutic dance forms new neural pathways and can help rid the brain of cognitive distortions.

Stuck in a thought or way of life that feels like prison? Dancing supports the formation of new neural pathways, which the brain needs to think in new patterns. Additionally, our brains cannot ruminate and worry as we dance, thus old thinking patterns are forced to take a back seat when new thought pathways open up to follow the rhythmic movement of choreography. 

Therapeutic dance, with its many benefits, is one part medicine, one part therapy, and a hundred parts fun. Look for us at Truth and Counsel at our new location, dance studio included, at the corner of Republic Road and Charleston. In the words of the famed Australian playwright and novelist Vicki Baum, “there are shortcuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them.”

By Lindsey Racz, MS, LPC, CBT-E