DRAGON TAO BLOGS are articles and exploratory writings delving into ancient Eastern systems and techniques that are unique to mind, body and soul practices such as Chinese Qigong, Thai Fon Jeung, Tai Chi, Kung Fu, Yoga, and Meditation. With articles being both educational and instructional the reader will gain insight into these systems and themselves through personal practice.
I remember vividly Jirung Founder, Kru Luenchay, yelling at me to forget all patterns, conditioning and be free as we danced ecstatically during our eDetox therapy sessions. I am now more aware with a deeper understanding of what he was trying to get me to do. He was trying to get my rational and conscious mind to release the ideas it was holding concerning what should come next and how it should look. Upon my return to the United States, I was blessed to merge with an amazing Ecstatic Dace community call Rhythm Sanctuary, and after months of dancing, I now am able to not think and just let the music dance me. I surrender to the vibration and frequency and let the inner me shine its divine light through movement and uninhibited self-expression.
I then came upon the article, Use It or Lose It: Dancing Makes You Smarter by Richard Powers, and was very inspired to see how the mind flourishes and continually rewires itself when challenged by new pathways of synaptic connection. The mind is organic and vibrant when it is forced to work by learning, processing, identifying or dismissing that which doesn't resonate. The author further explains how by utilizing dance and its open and expansive channels, we can establish preventative measures to counteract the effects of aging and wear of time.
Concerning disorders such as dementia and Alzheimer's Disease. When brain cells die and synapses weaken with aging, our nouns go first, like names of people, because there's only one neural pathway connecting to that stored information. If the single neural connection to that name fades, we lose access to it. The Albert Einstein College of Medicine study shows that we need to keep as many of those paths active as we can, while also generating new paths, to maintain the complexity of our neuronal synapses.â€
Dancing tested the highest of all forms of cognitive rewiring with a 76% positive improvement in performance and memory. These results are based off of higher frequency of participation with hopes of dancing 3-4 times per week. In yoga we need to keep our body flexible and pliable like bamboo, in Tao Chi we move like water with grace and intention and in meditation, we go inward for serenity and peace. So in the same fashion, we can blend all passions and inspirations into dance and personal reflection of self through movement.
Indeed I know now what it means to be free free from confining conditioning, free from self-judgment and insecurities. I am alive with energy and divine essence.
- Brian Seraiah Wood
11/17/12
For Full Article - Use It or Lose It: Dancing Makes You Smarter
http://socialdance.stanford.edu/syllabi/smarter.htm?mid=5752429