Mental health is a universal struggle. It includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices. Mental health coping is vital at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. Coping can be done through physical exercise, an example being dancing. 

 Through mental health, there are different ways of coping, yet not all of them are healthy. Some get us through the turmoil, and some do not. Coping refers to conscious strategies used to reduce unpleasant emotions. Coping strategies can be cognitions or behaviors and can be individual or social. As depressive symptoms are common, “Depression and Anxiety: Exercise Eases Symptoms,” reads, “The scientific reason why dance can act as a stress reliever stems from the idea that when the body feels good, the mind does too. Any type of physical activity releases the neurotransmitter, endorphins, which serve to alleviate stress” (Exercise Eases Symptoms.) This allows for the understanding of how neurotransmitters can be associated with mental health. Neurotransmitters are chemicals within the brain that help communicate messages throughout the body. Endorphins are the body’s natural painkiller to reduce stress and improve the mind's perception of the world. Dancing releases both neurotransmitters and endorphins, this allows for stress to be relieved and mental health to flourish. “Free Moving Dance Has Healing Benefits for Mental Health” reads, “Humans have used dance for purposes of expression, social bonding, and spiritual emotional healing since prehistoric times. The term “conscious dance” is increasingly used to describe a category of dance practices involving free-form movement usually to music as well as self-reflection or meditation” (Free Moving Dance.) This conveys the understanding that dancing has healed emotions for centuries. The way you feel the music through your body, you feel it in your bloodstream, like the song is just taking you with it. You are the song and the movements are your thoughts. It is beautiful how whatever you are feeling can be expressed without words. Which finding the words are challenging to find in the moment. Instead of words there is the use of facial expressions, your body, your hands, your breath, etc. Express it all through dancing.

 One of the main points of dancing is to tell the story of what you are dancing to. It does not matter what you may be feeling, you can still channel all those emotions and make it your masterpiece. Dance can be your coping mechanism. Dance all of your emotions. Even if you cannot find a way to word how you're feeling, just dance it all away. You can have those moments of peace while dancing and nothing has to matter. It is just that moment. It is you, the music, the stage, and you are the owner. Own your dancing, own the stage, and that will give you everything you need. 

For me, dance is my main purpose in life. It has helped me tremendously throughout my life ever since I moved from Venezuela, my home country. I have danced as long as I can remember. And I started again in my freshman year of high school, which was was also the start of many mental health struggles. I fell into depression that same year. One of my closest relatives had died and I was shattered. My way to cope was being with big groups of people to distract myself. I knew that if I was alone my thoughts and my loneliness would eat me from the inside out. When I signed up for dance class I remember feeling nothing. There were no emotions. But more into the class we started to perform. With these performances, I felt alive, calm, and strong. All my sadness had left. The only thing I felt was the music moving through my blood. The way I moved with the sounds were as if we were connected, as if my soul was shining and it had a little ballerina in the middle. It felt magical and right to be dancing on stage. When I dance my mind shifts to another place, like another dimension. All I see are light colors, a white and blue sky, and I’m dancing. I’m dancing in the sky and the clouds are watching me. As I kept dancing these feelings replaced the others, and now all I see is heaven. I feel the music in my bones as if it was hugging them. My whole body is being protected by the music and my soul is again shining with that same little ballerina in the middle. My mental health eventually got better but I still feel it every day. It's difficult for feelings to leave your mind, but you can’t let them win you over. 

Let that light in your soul take in those feelings and turn them into something better. Even though it doesn’t seem that way, things will eventually get continuously better. Believe me, I haven’t gotten there yet but I believe that it will happen. Time will do its job and everything will take its course. Believe in dance and believe in yourself. It is worth it.

Citations: 

Bhatt, Shreya. Dancing to Relieve Stress | The Essence of Dance. 5 Nov. 2015, sites.psu.edu/sbxoxo/2015/11/05/dancing-to-relieve-stress.

“Mental Benefits of Dance.” WebMD, 30 Mar. 2021, www.webmd.com/mental-health/mental-benefits-of-dance.

“‘Free Moving’ Dance Has Healing Benefits for Mental Health.” UCLA Health, www.uclahealth.org/news/free-moving-dance-has-healing-benefits-for-people-with-mental-health-concerns.