Each individual differs in terms of which kind of psychotherapy works for them. Dance movement therapy is a specialized field of traditional psychotherapy. This kind of therapy is still essentially new because not a lot of people outside of the usual psychotherapy and alternative healing industries know about them. When it comes to this type of therapy, you will not be seeing a lot of resources about this kind of therapy from books to websites. Usually, websites and books will only talk about the dance movement therapists or those who are studying them. Fortunately, this article will give you everything you need to know about dance movement therapy and more.
One of the essential components in dance movement therapy is dance. Dance has long been a method of communication that is closely linked to the human mind. Even if dancing is mostly considered a spectator event or performance now, every culture and time period from across the planet recognizes its presence. Keeping this fact in mind, dance movement therapy is not all about doing dancing right or being a dancer. The ability and the desire to dance are vital components of human existence. It is plain impossible that you do things wrong when you go through dance movement therapy.
Similar to variations of dances, there are also variations when it comes to dance movement therapy sessions. Each session looks into certain factors. Some of these factors include the situations along with the levels of functionality within each individual or group. A common approach to dance movement therapy is authentic movement. The unconscious essentially dances the body and mind. This process allows censoring the ego out of the way or simply moving the ego. A waking dream state is what the person goes into. Their active imagination process will then become engaged. The imagery that arises from this state will be what the person will be following. Attention is given by the person to the quality of their movements. For the metaphors that are reflected from these factors, they begin to work with them.
There are certain participants in any dance movement therapy session. When it comes to authentic movement, it often takes place in a dyad. This requires a mover and a witness. The client will be the mover and the witness will be the other group members or the therapist. For the effectiveness of this therapy, you don't only need the movement but also the witnessing. It is possible for some movements not to be grasped by the mover. The witness also has no grasp over the feelings present in each session. Clients are more capable of understanding what happened to them during the movement if they take the time to reflect back on what was witnessed and what was experienced. Clients feel their visibility when they take on this approach. Authentic movement is often effective for people who are highly functional.