Different Families Of Meditation
Not all meditation is created equal. Some meditation disciplines are better for you than others, and there are hotly contended-for opinions concerning which meditative families are ultimately most effective. Some think the best meditation involves totally clearing your mind. Others believe this is bad. Some vie for alternating between the two; but they’re a minority indeed.
This writing concerns “active” meditation; or meditation wherein your mind is engaged. Either you’re deeply meditating on a specific concept for long periods of time, or you’re meditating on a procedural movement, or you’re doing both at the same time — as the dancer whose mind is beyond her body. As a matter of fact, dance provides some especially notable advantages in meditation, and these will be explored here.
1. Dancing Meditatively Facilitates Positive Dissociation
Have you ever heard of MKUItra? This is sometimes called the “Monarch” program, as it is a system of programming human beings such that they “flower” from a normal “caterpillar” to a dissociated “butterfly”. The CIA mastered Monarch programming in the middle of the 20th century, before human rights violations became glaringly apparent, and they were forced to stop abusing people.
Still, some notable discoveries were made; chief among them the benefits of properly managed dissociation. You’ve likely dissociated yourself. While the royalty of yesteryear believe this trait exists only in “blue blood” individuals, the truth is a little different: anyone can dissociate who practices at it; but you have to be careful or you may lose control.
Basically, if you’ve ever jogged on a treadmill without headphones in for a long and grueling time, you’ve likely dissociated. At some point, your mind focused elsewhere beyond the pain of exertion, and you “found your stride”, as they say. This is more easily done with music. During this time, you likely thought about things, and ran over certain things again and again in your mind.
Well, with dancing, you’re doing something very similar; but with greater necessary skill, because some choreography is involved. Running through choreographed moves multiple times until you’ve perfected them, while thinking about things meditatively, is a great way to positively dissociate and maximize your time in the dance studio.
2. Dancing Hones Body And Mind Simultaneously
Because dancing requires complex steps, and some level of dissociation for the purpose of bettering physique, your mind is more engaged in this form of physical activity than it would be in something like jogging, or playing a sport. The best way to stay healthy, and honed enough to do all the steps in a given dance, is to diet and exercise properly. That said, dieting and exercise don’t stretch your mind; meditating can.
So if you meditate while you dance, ultimately this benefits mind and body at the same time, and to a greater positive effectiveness than what is seen with most other physical meditation strategies like Yoga, which requires less thought and more will.
3. Artistic Components Involved With Dancing Foster Creativity
Other meditative arenas where active meditation is pursued aren’t quite so creative as dance. Music is, but it’s not so physical. Music can put others in a meditative state; it’s one reason those running weddings are so careful to pick the right music. But music also puts the player in a bit of a meditative state.
You can play on a guitar or keyboard for hours, losing yourself in the rhythm, harmony, and melody of what you play—this is very good meditation; but it is unlikely to be as physically positive for you as dance.
Meditation which facilitates creativity is key, because the more you meditate in this vein, the more creative you become, and so the more deeply you can think on specific issues you’re trying to solve. It’s an upward spiral of positivity from either angle which dance facilitates very well.
4. Dancing Is A Marketable Skill
If you’re meditating while doing something that requires increasing levels of skill, like dance, then while you achieve solutions to issues you’ve been trying to think your way through, you additionally gain a skill set that can be used elsewhere.
The more you dance, the more you can teach dance; or even perform in a professional capacity. Just ensure you have everything that makes your dance better such as costumes and related dance accoutrements and also, have backups in your dance bag for emergencies.
Finding Meditative Balance
There are many ways to meditate, and there are many ways to create in an artistic way. When your meditation marries the mind and the body, a synchronous result facilitating increased positivity all around is achieved, maximizing the efforts of both your physical and mental self.
If you have yet to try meditating while you dance, you may find it suits you. There are multiple kinds of dance, and there is ample room for exploration in areas both physical and mental.