Creative Movement Therapy (originally just Dance Therapy) is a psychotherapeutic framework that works with the mind-body connection to use personal movement language and for the health and wellness of an individual’s physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and behavioral aspects. Dance is, in many ways, still the go-to form of movement therapy. However, studies have shown that when people practice anything involving creative thoughts expressed through movement, they begin to find an authentic and personal language to express themselves in a healing form. As people freely improvise movements, intuition comes into play - the body thinks aloud, brainstorming movements based on the individual's needs or feelings.
Creative Movement Therapy is an alternative therapy through personal body movement. It is founded on the principle that there is a relationship between motion and emotion; by exploring a more varied vocabulary of movement, people experience the possibility of becoming more securely balanced yet increasingly spontaneous and adaptable. It provides an introspective and expressive experience in which the therapeutics of creative movement, rather than a choreographed product, is of primary importance.
Creative movement is any artistic or creative outlet like playing music, painting anything, constructing anything, gardening, puzzles, drawing, dancing, writing, building model airplanes, sculpting, clay work, running, cycling, swimming, woodwork, or metalwork. Using your imagination, choose an activity that inspires or interests you. These actions incorporate and transmit creative thoughts and goals from the mind to the hands or feet and onto some focused project or ‘canvas.’ In other words, when we are activating these elements of the mind and body, we are moving away from our troubles, issues, and unhealthy coping skills. We are displacing them with therapeutic endeavors. As meditation does, these new habits form new and healthy neuropathways, essentially evaporating or at least diluting many of our symptoms and challenges.
If a client can benefit from this complementary therapy, we can discuss the options and assess how it might help.