Why I love Surfing

1. Movement.

Not a big surprise from a future dance / movement therapist, right?! The movement of the waves, the movement of paddling and pushing my body up on the board to stand, and the process of letting the ocean's energy move me through the water is like nothing else. It's a dance on water and an improvisational act. Each day the conditions are different, each wave is different, and each surf spot is different. I never know if the water will be crowded, what sea life and creatures will show up (or how they will behave), what the exact water temperature will be, or if I'll be able to catch a wave at all.

2. Ocean/Water.

My mother would take my sister and me to the beach when we were fighting a lot as children, saying in recent years that it was to "chill us out." It worked. And still does. Like a mother rocking her baby to sleep, the lapping of waves on the shore is a tranquil sound, and calm waves can create a rocking and holding quality of movement that is nourishing to my body and my mind. I still go to the ocean to clear my head, and I always feel better.
Water is healing. There's nothing revolutionary about that, the ancient Romans knew to take baths to cleanse, and Scandinavians still partake in dipping their bodies in freezing cold water temperatures after sweating profusely in saunas. Of course, we can't forget about Turkish baths or the cleansing rituals of the Japanese or Mikvot in Jewish culture.

3. Confronting the Unknown.

Waves can be very big and very scary. Many people die in the ocean. Many times while paddling out, I feel my body being aggressively pushed and pulled in a way that is totally out of my physical control. When the bigger sets come through, I find myself duck diving or pushing through the white water (for the smaller waves), hoping to not get rocked or too pummeled. I like to be in control in dark, cold, and wild waters. But I also love the feeling of confidence and joy I get when I confront these unknown conditions and fears. These are rare occasions when I am actually proud of myself.

4. Connecting to Nature.

Fresh air and exercise are a great combination, and to get both of while in the ocean is pure delight. Sunshine doesn't hurt, either. To quote a friend,

"There is something so tranquil and revitalizing about being in a body of water that connects all across the world…"

And it's no wonder that I find surfing, like dance, therapeutic. Like dance and movement on the earth and land, it's improvisational, healing, nourishing, and connecting. Growing up near the ocean, I've seen how surfers can become happily addicted to surfing in the ocean, their calm demeanors shining like a halo around their heads.

Since I am interested in alternative therapies, I did a little research and found:

The Jimmy Miller Foundation in Southern California uses Ocean Therapy to work with mentally ill children, and the Paskowitz family's Surfers Healing teaches children with Autism to surf.

The Most Talented Chroeographer EVER...

...is Wayne McGregor.

I had the opportunity to intern for McGregor's dance company, Random, while I was studying abroad in London during college. I was living a dancer's dream there, commuting by Tube to Sadler's Wells Theatre by day, where Random is the resident company, and taking classes by night at Pineapple Dance Studio in the quaint Covent Garden. I was amazed with McGregor's talent then, and continue to be consumed with wonderment with every project he takes part in, which most recently was for the opening ceremonies of the World Swimming Championships in Rome:



McGregor's style, one that I believe competes to being the most unique and artistic of our time, is to use dance as a way embrace, question, and challenge aspects of being human. This perspective on dance as an organic art form along with a voluminous confidence (in personality and in the work) is one of the most appealing aspects, to me, about McGregor's work. I can't get enough of this guy. I want to drink him in, in ridiculous hope that some residue of his gold (which everything he puts his mind to turns into) will pool up in my gut, constructing a temple of genius there, so that I may become an enlightened (or golden), McGregorite. One blogger describes seeing his work for the first time in Proprius, a dance including London school kids age 8-14:

Wayne’s movement style is very familiar to me – a way of doing trust falls, of lifting and carrying other dancers, of turning people using your heels, of balancing in a way that’s just not quite standard in modern dance – a way I find far more intimate and involved than most modern dance, and certainly ballet – that totally says, “This is something Wayne McGregor created.” It’s a language that is as clearly itself as Chinese or Japanese – I would never mistake it for Korean just because it was in a different context. And it’s difficult, and it’s, I think, not something people wrap their heads around easily – it doesn’t really have a basis in the “language of dance” that people outside of modern dance aficionados have in their heads (think of ballroom dancing or club dancing or even how people dance in musicals – it’s not modern dance at all).

I agree that his work is a recognizable language, and would argue that it is modern dance, possibly postmodern. A world in which movement is art and life informs the dance.

Years ago when I was the intern, I remember much of McGregor's choreography was influenced and inspired by computer software programs that bend the body, on screen, in impossible and unthinkable ways. McGregor's recipe for choreography also adds quality dancers with strong, very thin and flexible bodies, music and sounds by Scanner, and a splash of artistic lighting. The result is genius.

Proven: Dance Combats Dementia

For hundreds of years dance manuals and other writings have lauded the health benefits of dancing, usually as physical exercise. More recently we've seen research on further health benefits of dancing, such as stress reduction and increased serotonin level, with its sense of well-being.

Then most recently we've heard of another benefit: Frequent dancing apparently makes us smarter. A major study added to the growing evidence that stimulating one's mind can ward off Alzheimer's disease and other dementia, much as physical exercise can keep the body fit.

You've probably heard about the New England Journal of Medicine report on the effects of recreational activities on mental acuity in aging. Here it is in a nutshell.

The 21-year study of senior citizens, 75 and older, was led by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, funded by the National Institute on Aging, and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Their method for objectively measuring mental acuity in aging was to monitor rates of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease.

The study wanted to see if any physical or cognitive recreational activities influenced mental acuity. They discovered that some activities had a significant beneficial effect. Other activities had none.

They studied cognitive activities such as reading books, writing for pleasure, doing crossword puzzles, playing cards and playing musical instruments. And they studied physical activities like playing tennis or golf, swimming, bicycling, dancing, walking for exercise and doing housework.

One of the surprises of the study was that almost none of the physical activities appeared to offer any protection against dementia. There can be cardiovascular benefits of course, but the focus of this study was the mind. There was one important exception: the only physical activity to offer protection against dementia was frequent dancing.

Reading - 35% reduced risk of dementia

Bicycling and swimming - 0%

People who played the hardest gained the most: For example, seniors who did crossword puzzles four days a week had a 47% lower risk of dementia than those who did the puzzles once a week.

Playing golf - 0%

Dancing frequently - 76%.
That was the greatest risk reduction of any activity studied, cognitive or physical.


Quoting Dr. Joseph Coyle, a Harvard Medical School psychiatrist who wrote an accompanying commentary:
"The cerebral cortex and hippocampus, which are critical to these activities, are remarkably plastic, and they rewire themselves based upon their use."

And from from the study itself, Dr. Katzman proposed these persons are more resistant to the effects of dementia as a result of having greater cognitive reserve and increased complexity of neuronal synapses. Like education, participation in some leisure activities lowers the risk of dementia by improving cognitive reserve.

Read more of Richard Powers' article here.

Tips on How to Mentally Boost your Self Esteem

Every once in a while, I realize that I bombard myself with an onslaught of harsh, critical, and negative thoughts. "Why haven't you finished your degree yet?!" or "If you looked like that, you'd be so much happier." If I don't feel good about myself or have confidence in my abilities, many other pieces in my life's puzzle are unable to thrive. With a little kindness, understanding, and self love, I am able to be comfortable and confident in the person I am.

In the hospital, I work with many depressed patients and eating disorder patients who could benefit from a little boost in their self esteem and self image. As a dance therapy student and intern, it is important that I be healthy in these ways so that I am able to help others on their path to wellness.

Here are a list of 7 things you can do to mindfully boost self-esteem according to PsychCentral:

Write it down - In working with erroneous negative self-judgments, it is a great idea to actually write them down. Writing them down on paper separates them from the emotion and also creates a pause so you can reflect on the meaning of whether this judgment is even accurate or not. We also can come to a place where we don’t have to ruminate about it because we already have it down.

Ask the question - Is this just a well worn habit of my mind to think this way? Do the facts of the situation support this? Are there alternative thoughts here?
Question your mood - Be aware of how you are feeling. Ask yourself, if I were feeling well right now, would I see this the same way? This gets at the heart of thoughts being just transient mental events and not facts. This helps the thought not be quite as sticky.

Question the source - Where did I originally get this message? Sometimes we can look back to our earliest relationships or traumas and notice that where having this thought and attitude helped us cope as children, it is an old coping habit that is no longer effective or helpful right now. Gaining this perspective can support us in letting go of it.

Make a list of what you like about yourself - This may be a difficult one, but after each thought you write down, take a moment with it and notice what it feels like to even write it down. Expand this list by taking anothe perspective. Ask what your friends would say about you? If you have difficulty with this, ask them in person, by phone, email or text.

Create a file - Therese Borchard writes about how her therapist suggested she create a self-esteem file. Each time people say something positive about you, put it in the file. Make it a practice to look at this file daily. To add some mindfulness to it, notice your thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations that arise while writing in the file and also while re-reading it.

Lovingkindness - Many people wish they were well, happy, healthy, free from fear, free from the torment of that inner critic. So add to this list what you wish for yourself and say it like this, “May I be healthy, may I be happy, may I be free from fear, may I be free from my harsh inner critic.” After reading the list over each day, pause, and then intentionally repeat these words and aspirations of lovingkindness to yourself.

Know that this is a practice in loving yourself. Allow yourself to settle into whatever arises for you in this process. When you wander off and don’t stick to this, that is perfectly fine. As soon as you notice that you’ve wandered from the path, you are present and can now invite yourself to start it up again.

Calling all Alternate Route Students!

Have you registered as an alternate route student with the American Dance Therapy Association?

I spent this past weekend in Claremont, California, for the first half of a course on Dance / Movement Therapy with Children and Adolescents.

Some of us, myself included, were meeting for our first course in dance therapy (see earlier blog posts regarding low enrollment in the Northern California classes). We alternate route students were reminded to email the ADTA AND send in a hard copy declaration of beginning the process of becoming Dance Therapist Registered (DTR). The ADTA is in the process of modifying and changing DTR requirements, so if you get your letter to them now (and soon) you will most likely not be responsible for the changes they make in the future.

Here is some helpful information:

Email the ADTA office: info@adta.org (you may need to ask for a specific name of who to send your email and letter to.)

The ADTA national office address to send the hard copy of your letter:
10632 Little Patuxent Parkway
Suite 108
Columbia, MD 21044-3263
Fax: (410) 997-4048
Telephone: (410) 997-4040


If you have questions about being credentialed as a dance therapist, contact Gabrielle Kaufman, head of the credentialing committee at dmt@leventhal.com .

To email CMER instructor Janet Lester, ADTR, PsyD: janetlester@earthlink.com .

Remember to also join the ADTA as a student here! You will get 50% off membership as a student member.

Enjoy the dance!