The Wellness Within Approaches Series: What is Dance/Movement Therapy?

Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) is a holistic, body-based form of psychotherapy that uses movement as a pathway toward healing. The American Dance Therapy Association defines DMT as “the psychotherapeutic use of dance, movement, body awareness, and embodied communication to foster healing and well-being”. 

Put simply, DMT is therapy that includes the body.

You don’t need to be a dancer (or even have a sense of rhythm) to benefit from DMT because there’s no performing or technique involved. It’s an experiential process about awareness, expression, and connection.

Because DMT is an embodied experience, it can be hard to fully understand just by reading about it. But if you’re curious, keep reading anyway to start envisioning what DMT can look like…

The Mind–Body Connection

A fundamental principle of DMT is that the mind, body, and spirit are interconnected. What happens in the body affects the mind, and what happens in the mind affects the body. Our bodies communicate through nonverbal language (ex. posture, breathing patterns, muscle tension) and often reflect our inner emotional life. 

Many people today feel disconnected from their bodies. Stress, trauma, fast-paced living, and social pressures can lead us to rely heavily on thinking while ignoring physical sensations. Over time, this disconnection can leave us feeling numb, anxious, overwhelmed, or unsure of what we’re feeling at all.

For many individuals who have experienced trauma specifically, disconnecting from the body is often a survival strategy. But later, that same disconnection can make it difficult to feel safe, present, or trusting.

Dance/movement therapy provides a way to re-approach the body gently and safely rebuild the bridge between mind and body. By becoming more aware of movement and bodily sensations, clients begin to notice habitual patterns such as holding their breath when anxious, tightening their shoulders when stressed, or shrinking their posture when feeling small. Importantly, these sensations are always happening, whether we’re consciously aware of them or not. But when we learn to bring awareness to them without judgment, they become valuable information. 

The awareness of a habitual pattern provides us with the choice to begin to shift it. This process can help restore a sense of wholeness: an experience of being integrated with rather than separated from our bodies.

A Space for Play, Creativity, and Joy

Therapy can be hard work, but sometimes therapy can be playful too! As we grow older, many of us lose touch with playful movement (maybe we’re self-conscious or worry about looking “silly"). 

Dance/movement therapy offers a space where there is no “wrong” way to move. It’s a space for curiosity and experimentation where clients are given permission to explore creativity, spontaneity, and expression in a supportive, nonjudgmental environment.

This sense of play can be deeply healing. When we allow ourselves to move freely and creatively, we may access parts of ourselves that may have been pushed away (often for protective reasons). Many people reconnect with joy, vitality, and authenticity through this process.

What a Session Might Look Like

Every session looks different based on clients’ goals, needs, and comfort level. Generally speaking however, sessions may include: gentle grounding, mindfulness, and tailored breathwork, guided awareness of bodily sensations, movement explorations, mirroring or attuned relational movement, expressive movement (the core component of dance), prop exploration, and reflection or verbal processing. 

DMT can be especially supportive for people who feel disconnected from their bodies, have experienced trauma, feel stuck in their talk therapy process, experience anxiety or chronic stress, or want a more holistic approach to therapy. If you’re curious about reconnecting with your body, rebuilding trust in yourself, and exploring new ways of expressing your inner world, dance/movement therapy may be a supportive approach for you. 

Try It Out for Yourself

In DMT, movement can be large and expressive or small and subtle, one is not “better” than the other.  If it feels accessible to you right now, maybe start noticing your breath in this moment. Is it quick or slow? Deep or shallow? Where in your body are you feeling your breath move your body the most? Take a few rounds of breath noticing how each breath is different from the last. No need to change anything yet or make meaning out of what you’re noticing. What is it like to just be in the awareness of the breath? Maybe that’s enough for now and you can release your awareness, listen to your body. Or if it's comfortable, stay with it and notice if maybe something wants to shift? Maybe your body wants to deepen and slow the breath? Maybe you want to bring a gentle touch to the place where you’re feeling your breath? Maybe there’s a movement impulse there to gently shift your posture? Take as long as feels good to be in the awareness of your bodily sensations, then gently shift out of it when you’re ready. 

Our therapist Auriane Vacher, R-DMT, MA is trained in this somatic approach, check out her profile here.

This blog post is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional mental health treatment, diagnosis, or consultation. Reading this content does not establish a therapist-client relationship. If you are experiencing distress or need support, please reach out to our practice or another licensed mental health professional.

Cover Photo by Aditya Saxena on Unsplash