Movement Therapy Goes Mainstream

Written By S. Christina Boyd
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Since the beginning of time, indigenous societies around the world have used movement and dance for both individual and community healing. Dance remains an essential part of many healing traditions and practices throughout the world today.

Eastern movement therapies, such as Yoga, QiGong, and Tai Chi, began centuries ago as spiritual or self-defense practices and evolved into healing therapies that promote mental clarity, physical strength, and emotional equilibrium.

In the West, movement therapy was first introduced in the early 1960s when dance was used to assist individuals with their physical and emotional health.

Today, movement therapy refers to a broad range of approaches that includes familiar disciplines such as Pilates, Brain Gym®, Rosen Method, Alexander technique, Feldenkrais, Rolfing, and Trager. The beneficial effects of these methods affirm that the connection between brain and body is a two-way street: the brain affects the body and the body affects the brain.

Movement therapy is everywhere – in mental health facilities, rehabilitation centers, medical settings, education, and private practice. Personal trainers, athletic coaches, social workers, and counselors increasingly use the body to support healing. Trauma-informed movement is an expanding subset of fitness aiming to complement traditional trauma therapy. Currently, movement therapy is being studied as a useful adjunct to rehabilitation programs for survivors of stroke and spinal cord injuries.

Research over the last two decades has brought us new knowledge and a deeper understanding of how intimately connected our minds and bodies are to each other. Without question, what happens in the body affects the mind and emotions, and vice versa.

An Augment to Conventional Methods

“The activities and exercises based on the primitive reflexes are helpful for rewiring the brain to support emotional stability, attention, reading, behavior issues, fight or flight, sensory processing disorders, developmental delays and other learning challenges or disorders.”
— Integrated Learning Strategies

This growing appreciation of how the body stores emotions in the tissues and nerve networks has moved many in the counseling community into the realm of therapeutic movement as a means of healing emotional disturbances. Because traditional counseling is often unable to fully resolve trauma, anxieties, depression, and confusion, movement therapy is now used as an adjunct treatment and sometimes as the primary treatment itself. Movement therapy promotes emotional, social, cognitive and physical health with the aim to increase overall well-being. Most neuroscientists agree that there is a powerful connection between movement and cognition and emotion.

Beginning at conception and throughout our development both the brain and the body require stimulation to develop and to function. As such, it is natural to expect movement within a therapeutic setting, to realign and reorder those things that have “gone wrong.” Nerve networks are not hardwired, they are continually being created and rewired throughout our lifetime, allowing for the possibility of emotional and physical healing.  

A very broad range of techniques and approaches fall under the umbrella of movement therapy. At Highpoint Mind & Movement, I use a variety of methods to promote neural changes, increase blood flow, expand flexibility, balance the brain hemispheres, activate the parasympathetic (calming) nervous system, cleanse the neural networks, and quiet the limbic system (our emotional brain).

In Practice

Here are a few examples of how therapeutic movement can effect change:

  • Brain stimulation boosts the production of new brain cells, which can replace damaged cells.

  • Gentle, directed movements can eliminate anxiety by increasing the “vagal tone” of the Vagus nerve. The Vagus is the 10th cranial nerve and the longest nerve of the autonomic nervous system, extending from head to gut. The autonomic system is responsible for our fight/flight and rest/relax responses.

  • Contralateral movements strengthen the neural connections between the brain hemispheres – which is extremely important for processing information. Contralateral movements require opposite sides of the body (left arm and right leg) to work simultaneously across the midline of the body

  • Functional movements that replicate the primitive reflex patterns of the child (developmental movements) can switch off the fight/flight reaction, improve coordination, and eliminate impulsive behavior and hyperactivity.

  • Movements that retrain the core and psoas muscles improve both physical and emotional stability. The psoas muscle is linked to the emotional centers of the brain and holds residue from trauma. As it is carefully lengthened and relaxed, emotions are released and healing from trauma can take place.

  • Rhythmic shaking and tapping stimulates nerve pathways and the flow of lymph throughout the system, to clean and open neural networks, release toxins, and remove blockages.

  • The cerebellum, the part of the brain that processes movement, is directly connected to the parts of the brain that relate to learning. Neural pathways from the cerebellum can be traced back to areas of the brain involved in memory, attention, and spatial perception. Therefore, movement directly affects how we learn.

Whatever method is used and whatever the focus, therapeutic movement is powerful and can release trauma, heal emotions, clear the mind, improve learning, and bring us fully into ourselves.

The Benefits of Movement Therapy
are Many

 

Physical

Physically we can increase our….

  • range of movement

  • balance and stability

  • strength

  • flexibility

  • coordination

 

Mental

Mentally we can increase our…

  • mental clarity

  • awareness and alertness

  • creativity

  • academic success

 
 

Emotional

Emotionally we can increase our….

  • inner equilibrium

  • sense of security

  • confidence

  • self-esteem and self image

  • happiness and satisfaction with life

 

Overall

We will notice a reduction in….

  • anxiety attacks

  • traumatic memories

  • irritability

  • fears and phobias

  • tension and stress

  • anger and frustration

 

Precautions

 

Certain movement therapies that involve intensive manipulation or stretching of the deeper layers of body tissue are not recommended for persons who have recently undergone surgery or suffered severe emotional or physical injury. Those who are recovering from emotional abuse or receiving treatment for any post-traumatic syndrome or dissociative disorder should consult their therapist before beginning movement therapy. While movement therapy is often recommended as part of a treatment plan for these disorders, it can also trigger flashbacks or dissociative episodes. It is always best to consult with a knowledgeable physician, physical therapist, or mental health therapist before including movement therapy in your therapeutic program.

 
 

The views expressed in this article belong solely to S. Christina Boyd based on 30 years of clinical experience as a movement therapist. If you would like further reading, please explore the source and related information provided.

 
S. Christina Boyd
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