Ballet as Meditation

 A key element in keeping your body healthy is exercising.  A key element in keeping your mind healthy is meditation and mindfulness.  New research is showing that ballet barre exercises may boost mental clarity and wisdom, in addition to physical health.

Check out the full article on "Ballet as a form of Meditation" for more inspiration.

Some key quotes from the article:

• "The mind-body connection and awareness required to do ballet is intense — both in technique and in learning movements and choreography. In order to achieve levels of proficiency, a dancer has to be able to think about very tiny areas of their body while at the same time maintaining balance, poise, and flowing through the movements. Requiring myself to focus so intently on my body and how it moves and appears is often mentally exhausting and frustrating, but in a way it’s simultaneously clarifying and relaxing."
  
  
• "Ballet requires so much of my focus. It’s a great way to forget about things for an hour or so. The technical attention is challenging, but also meditative in a way I haven’t been able to achieve by other means.”
  
  
• "You won’t ever look like that 17-year-old YouTube ballerina you saw. But that’s not the point. The idea is to do something good for your body, that opens your mind."
  
  
• "The other benefit of [ballet fitness classes], is that it becomes "a community where people build the social, emotional experience together. You bond because you’re going through similar things, you form a ‘language’ as a ways of interacting with one another.”... this “community of practice” is what ultimately connects to stress-release and wisdom."