How dance can help with your mental health

Our lives are so busy now, so it’s important to find the right activities to keep our mind active and healthy.

If you are anything like me, you want to be present with your children, make the most of your family time and think about how you can work your job around them. Keep on top of the house work, manage the weekly routine and activities, the list is endless.

Then there’s the famous ‘me time’ phrase, that only becomes apparent once you’ve had children. All of this seemed a lot easier to do the first time around, but throw in a few more little people and welcome the juggle struggle!

For me, dancing and swimming is where it’s always been, both for my mental and physical well being. However, for now I don’t have much time, space or energy. Luckily, being on baby number number 3, I know it’s just temporary, but I wish I understood this with my first child.

Dancing at home got me out of depression during lockdown 2020 and helps me through grief since losing my dad suddenly, early 2021.

Dancing kept me physically fit during my 3 pregnancies and gave me a focus, to get myself back into shape after the birth.

Dancing continues to keep my mind stimulated, my body energised and my soul lifted, more now than ever before.

It was during my early 20’s that I realised I am at my lowest when I’m not dancing. The times that stand out the most were in between University holidays and seasonal entertainment contracts. I recognised the same emotions again when I had my first child in 2017.

So when the pandemic hit us in 2020, stopping all the things we love to do the most for our social, physical and mental well being, I knew I needed to work out a way to keep dancing (and swimming).

And that was to dance at home and swim in the sea.

People laugh and think I’m mad because I am passionate and determined to teach. But what they don’t always realise is that it actually helps me too.  The social interaction, fitness aspect and also that little bit of income still coming in.

How I dealt with the changes that came with the pandemic was;

  • The continuation of teaching all my classes on Zoom.
  • Dancing through pregnancy.
  • Dancing around the house with family.
  • Singing in the close every Sunday for 6 weeks to my neighbours. This went way out of my comfort zone as we streamed it all live on Youtube.
  • Running hula hoop workshops on the beach in maximum groups of 30 following the social distancing guidelines, of course.
Instagram tips

The benefits of dance

  1. Joining a Zumba class or being part of a flashmob, for example can help battle loneliness, depression and gives that sense of closeness.
  2. Group fitness can lower anxiety and build relationships
  3. Physical exercise increases endorphines which releases the happy hormone.
  4. Moving to music in a rhythmic way gives your mind something else to focus on, away from life’s stresses.
  5. Learning new skills and creating fun, physical activities are positive for your mind as well as your body.
  6. Weekly classes becoming party of a routine can give you that sense of achievement.
  7. Movement therapy helps with body confidence as you dance with expression and feeling.

My husband supported all of my decisions, as it affected him too. Especially agreeing to let me teach him to dance. 

Our Strictly inspired challenge went viral.

Each Saturday night we would watch ITV’s Strictly. My husband would chose his favourite couples’ routine and then on Sunday night I would teach it to him live on my Facebook page. The public would interact and tune in each week, which was one of the highlights for me during lockdown.

Almost a year later, when the world had stuck their middle finger up at 2020, ‘2021 will be better’, ‘2021 the year of everything’!

But what happened to us was even worse as 3 weeks later my wonderful daddy suddenly passed away. I have never lost anyone close to me before.  On top of other losses I had experienced over the last few years, I had to find a way to cope with my grief…so I continued to teach Zumba online and began swimming in the sea.

I knew dancing was the best therapy for me. The only frustrating thing was that my 2nd baby was due in 3 months. So as my pregnancy ended, so did the dancing. But luckily, like I mentioned above, I knew it was only temporary. September 2021 the world regained normality and it only seemed right to get SK Dance back up and running.

Until baby number 3 arrived anyway!

Facebook video

3 Steps to mental wellbeing

  1. The NHS website advises connecting with people and sharing positive experiences and emotional support is great for your mental wellbeing.  What better way to experience this socially, than through dance. 
  2. Being physically active can improve your mood and raise your self esteem. I remember going back to gym classes after maternity definitely helped prepare me for going back to teaching.
  3. The ability to master a new skill or achieve a goal may give you confidence and feeling of self worth. So joining a local dance or dance fitness class could be beneficial, both physically and mentally.

Recommended external links;

5 steps to mental wellbeing – nhs.uk

Short film trailer about local sea swimmers- ‘Just Add Water’ made by Kristian Coburn

Dance Tutorials on SK Dance Facebook page

Sarah Simmonds Sings on Youtube

Zumba.com to find a class near you

Relevant internal links;

Zumba with Sarah

The benefits of hula hooping – ‘Do you struggle to keep it up?’

The benefits of dancing with your partner (coming soon)

Sarah

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