Dance/Movement Therapy: A Highly Effective, Science-Backed Alternative Therapy For Trauma
By Orit Krug | November 21st, 2022
Dance/Movement Therapy: A Highly Effective, Science-Backed Alternative Therapy For Trauma
Many people seek alternative therapy for trauma after they’ve been unsatisfied in traditional therapy for many years.
After all, the latest trauma research shows us that talk therapy is highly limited in healing trauma. This is because the Prefrontal Cortex, the part of the brain we use to talk about our issues, goes offline during trauma and highly stressful events. Hence, the importance of alternative therapy for trauma that goes beyond talking.
As you may see in the infographic above, the Amygdala and Hippocampus need to be activated and regulated effectively in order to truly heal from trauma in therapy. This is something that cannot be done simply through talking or thinking about the past or future.
In Bessel van der Kolk’s popular book, The Body Keeps The Score, he shares significant findings from brain imaging and mapping research: the Prefrontal Cortex shuts down while recalling trauma, and the amygdala becomes highly activated. This means that talking about old trauma, in order to resolve it, is usually an uphill and never-ending battle.
Many other leaders in the trauma field – Stephen Porges, Pat Ogden, Peter Levine, and more – have also done extensive neurophysiological research and brain imaging that show how trauma memories are stored non-verbally. These experts all reinforce that embodied therapies are the most effective approach to process and move past trauma.
This brings us to Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT): a science-backed embodied therapy that allows clients to heal through body-centered healing & movement.
What is Dance/Movement Therapy and how does it work as an alternative therapy for trauma?
Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) is an alternative therapy that can guide you to access and heal trauma through profound body awareness and movement techniques. Not every Dance Therapist specializes in trauma; please consider this if you decide to work with one.
In my trauma healing program, Let Love In, I take clients through an 8-month neuroscience-backed process that’s been highly effective in transforming their relationships by healing anxious attachment, abandonment fears, and more issues that stem from unresolved trauma in the body.
To help you understand how it works, I’ve outlined the 4 typical phases I bring my clients through:
Phase 1: Release Body-Stored Trauma
As I help my clients connect to their bodies in a safe and gentle way, old memories and emotions inevitably come up. Through this process, clients access stored trauma that their mind has been trying to figure out for years. All the talking in the world cannot resolve trauma stored in our non-verbal subconscious brain and body. That’s why this process works.
Phase 2: Rewire The Nervous System
As clients access old trauma, their bodies feel the fear being stirred up. Instead of disconnecting, numbing, or reacting like they usually do in their relationships, I help them stay present in their body and within our interaction. Because we do this work in the context of a safe therapeutic relationship, we work together to rewire their brain/body connection and strengthen their nervous system as they SAFELY experience new ways of being– in session FIRST.
Phase 3: Break Old Patterns
Any new behaviors and patterns that clients want to create in their relationship must be achieved in their body through movement FIRST. For instance, we can become more vulnerable through gentle, delicate movements, or we can become more assertive by practicing more forceful, strong movements. When we do this together in a SAFE way, clients create new neural and physical pathways that their body learns for the very first time. This is a deeply transformational experience that many find hard to describe.
Phase 4: Integrate Into Relationships
Because we do this work through the body and movement, my clients automatically experience shifts in themselves and their relationship immediately. I also teach specific strategies on how to communicate healthier and make subtle shifts within their body language to ensure that they’re bringing their best self to their partner, so that they can enjoy the most healthy and loving relationship together.
Client examples of Dance/Movement Therapy
To paint a clearer picture of this process, I’d love to share some client stories with you.
Client story #1 – From chronic people-pleasing to asserting her needs
From the outside, Femke seemed to “have it all” when we met in 2018. She was an up-and-coming performing artist surrounded by many people who admired her. But on the inside, she was falling apart. She was highly insecure, anxious, and unfulfilled by her relationships.
Once we began the healing work in Let Love In, Femke discovered that she had built her life based on trauma and fear. She constantly abandoned her needs to impress others just for a moment of validation and fame. This is why so many praised Femke while she felt empty on the inside.
Femke’s patterns immediately showed through the movement process. Initially, she claimed to feel fine, when in reality, her body revealed the opposite in session.
Once Femke felt safer to feel her emotions and express them in our therapeutic relationship, we dove even deeper. I guided Femke to embody more power, strength and assertiveness. Initially, her nervous system rejected this idea.
Her nervous system almost went into a Freeze response each time she began to express more power through her physical body. But with my guidance, she moved through this fear and learned, within her entire being, that it is safe to be powerful. It is safe to say no and disappoint others. This was something she’d been trying to convince herself for many years through the mind; however, through the body and movement, she finally believed it and followed through with aligned action in her relationships.
We recorded a video interview in August 2022 – about 3 years after we finished working together. In this video, you’ll see short clips of Femke moving on her own, as well as she and I moving together. This may help provide a clearer picture of how powerful this work is via body & movement.
Client story #2 – From hiding and numbing emotions, to showing up proudly in all her feelings
When Nancy joined Let Love In (LLI) in June 2021, she was terrified of being seen and judged. While all the other LLI members introduced themselves in the 1st week, Nancy continued to hide.
Finally, after 6 weeks, Nancy wrote an official introduction about herself. She said, “This is better than nothing,” admitting that she wanted to post a video of her moving like the others did, but it was too scary to move her body, and especially be seen in it.
Over the next 6 months, Nancy gradually became more comfortable connecting to her body and expressing herself through movement. Not only did she move with us in live sessions, she also posted very vulnerable movement videos of herself moving through grief and pain. It was clear that Nancy was finally able to be with difficult emotions instead of impulsively reacting, numbing, or escaping from them.
Nancy also showed up in joy, play, and celebration – the “positive” emotions that she never felt safe to show growing up, or even in her adult life. We witnessed Nancy embody blissful states of being. We witnessed her feeling proud of her progress and healing.
Lastly, Nancy broke old patterns and learned new behaviors via movement, which dramatically strengthened her relationship skills. She says her favorite new pattern is being able to express anger and be assertive in a healthy way instead of yelling and overreacting. Nancy continues to share just how much this has improved the relationship with herself, her partner, and her children.
Nancy stands strong in her renewed sense of power, freedom, and self-confidence. Her new way of being is palpable from how she speaks about herself and her growth… and how she moves through it, which you can see in the clips of her dancing by clicking on this video.
Client story #3 – From escaping her marriage to appreciating the love right in front of her
My client Corrie used to have thoughts of leaving her husband every single day. She had been through decades of talk therapy and other alternative approaches trying to resolve this.
She would consistently come home from work and flip out at her husband and daughter. Her baselines was snappy and frustrated. And she blamed this on the relationship.
She felt intense urges to run away, which was her Flight response hijacking her body and emotions. The threat of being in her relationship felt so real, like stumbling upon a bear in the wild. She truly felt she needed to escape. Fast.
While she spent all those years feeling like damaged goods, she didn’t realize how much her nervous system was controlling & intensifying her fear of being in her marriage.
Once we helped her release her trauma through her BODY, she said all of her relationship doubts & anxiety dissipated. She finally felt calm and rooted, not only in her relationship, but inside her skin as well (check out the video to see / hear how movement helped her).
Corrie went from thinking she was in the wrong relationship DAILY to becoming so much closer with her husband and daughter.
For the first time, she enjoyed her life with them and even felt excited about their future together. She finally noticed all the ways he shows how much he loves and appreciates her. She finally felt loved.
Can Dance/Movement Therapy work for you as an alternative therapy for trauma?
My unique, scientific-backed process via Dance Therapy has helped many people finally heal from past trauma and transform their relationship (even after decades of trying in other therapies).
Neurophyisologically-speaking, they were not any more capable of healing than you are right now… but they were ready.
Therefore, the big question shouldn’t be, “Will this work for me?”
The question needs to be, “Am I ready for it?”
Because as a human being, you ARE 100% capable of healing in a way that truly lasts. But you need the right methodology.
Sign up for my online course (ranges from free to $20 USD) to begin a unique, body-based learning experience that will teach you:
- Science-backed education about how trauma is stored in your body and nervous system. You’ll gain an understanding why it has NOT been your fault you haven’t healed yet from past trauma.
- Gentle, guided body-based movement that is necessary for integrated healing. This is crucial if you want your mind’s intentions to match your body’s behaviors in relationships.
- An embodied approach to healing that has helped hundreds of clients break unhealthy relationship patterns and let in healthy, lasting love.
