Shaking off the Stress

Getting Out of the Head and Into the Body

Showing up for school with no shoes on. Having all your teeth fall out. Trying to run but moving in slow motion. Do you have a recurring nightmare you have had since childhood?

I have always had a super vivid dream life, and last week I had another that reminded me of the stress of school days!  In the dream, I was taking my big National Board of Health and Wellness Coaches exam. Every time I looked at the page in front of me, the words began to move and jumble, making it impossible to finish reading a question. This sound of an absurdly loud ticking of a clock in my mind let me know I was going to run out of time intensifying my sense of panic. 

The dream felt so real that when I woke up, my first instinct was to try and get right back to sleep just to finish the test. Then I had to remind myself: Kathleen, you FINISHED this test three weeks ago! I may have been officially done with the exam, but the stress of preparing and sitting for it was clearly still lingering in my mind. 

Stress can feel sticky! It’s why we might not even realize our shoulders have been tense all day long or why it might take us a day or two into holiday to actually be able to fully exhale!  But as Taylor Swift would say, when we have stress that feels like it is clinging to us, we all deserve moments of reprieve to literally 🎤🎵“Shake it off, shake it off!”

Our August theme of Shake and Shine really speaks to the way dance can serve as the ultimate tool to shake off stress and leave us shining. We know dance has a ton of benefits for the physical body, but the mental benefits simply cannot be overlooked.

One of the things I love most about it is how it brings me out of my racing mind and into my body. Getting lost in the music takes me to a place where I can let go of thoughts and words, focusing entirely on feeling. And of course, the endorphins that come from movement are like a direct dose of joy.

I was recently reading a multidisciplinary review on dance and stress regulation, and the researchers highlighted exactly why this works. The mix of music, rhythm, social connection, self-expression, and movement all team up to actively reduce our stress levels. Dance truly hits so many feel-good areas at once!

It might not mean that the stress dreams will never come back, but dance gives our days small, beautiful glimmers of relief through joy, movement, connection, and sweat.

What is your favorite stress-busting tool? Does hitting the dance floor help lower your stress levels?

Come shake it off and shine with me this week! Check out the schedule below to join a class here in Taipei or to move with me online from anywhere in the world.

Keep moving!

xx,

Katie