Use Ballet Posture to Improve Your Mood

We already know that studying ballet can help improve your mental health, by engaging and connecting your brain and your body together in creative movement and self expression.  But did you know that, simply by fostering better posture, ballet can help improve your mood?

Check out this video, from Emma McAdam, at Therapy in a Nutshell, where she talks about using a lifted posture, and holding ourselves with confidence and respect, to positively influence our emotions.  If that kind of posture sounds familiar, it's because that's what you do in ballet class!

So the next time you're feeling negative emotions (e.g. sad, anxious, overwhelmed, defeated, worried, unconfident, etc.), take a deep breath, activate your ballet posture and see how it helps instantly improve your mood.

• Plant your feet feet firmly on the ground.
• Lift your torso out of your hips.
• Pull up through your spine and back.
• Relax your shoulders down and back.
• Extend your neck.
• Slightly lift your chin.
• Now go conquer whatever is bringing you down.  You've got this!!!