“The mind that opens to a new idea never comes back to its original size.”
_Albert Einstein
To dance is to improve balance, coordination and especially flexibility in our bodies. Movement improves muscle tone and strength, builds up bone structures and helps generally with physical well-being. The good news is that this also translates into our mental health. The mind-body connections ensures that the relationship between our physical and mental health means that one influences the other.
The idea of flexibility is intriguing. We have all seen dancers doing amazing movements, stretching their limbs, and amazing us with their effortless dance. All this is available to everyone, not just trained dancers. Each time we enter the dance and explore new movements we gently introduce a new range of experiences to the body. When we reach a little, stretch a little, give way a little, our body becomes more flexible. Flexibility is a product of letting go, releasing and trusting the body. Something everyone who dances knows.
This physical letting go is translated into mental agility. When we dance, we become more creative. As we experience an ever-wider range of movement, we find that our brains connect to divergent thinking – the essence of creativity. Divergent thinking is only possible when we also have a flexible mind, letting go, releasing and trusting ourselves. This is the essence of an elastic mind. It can stretch, explore, and still maintain a secure base. Physical flexibility translates into mental flexibility and as much as we open to a wider range of physical experiences, so do we deepen our mental experience of life. Dance opens up life.
_Christos Daskalakos
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