10 Ways to Practice Body Kindness with Dance Students
Ever wish you had concrete ways to help your students develop a healthy body image?
Ever wish you knew how to respond when your students said things like, “I hate my body"?
Do you cringe when you overhear students talking about the latest fad diet and how much weight they plan to lose trying it out?
Me too, me too, and me too. That’s what Different Drummer is all about, really. I knew that dancers and dance teachers needed these kinds of resources, because we deal with these types of situations all. the. time. My own experiences are proof enough that dancers have poor body image, unrealistic body expectations, and are rarely taught healthy ways of eating, viewing, or being in their bodies, but there’s data that confirms this as well.
92% of teen girls would like to change something about the way they look, with body weight ranking the highest.
Source: Dove Campaign
Learning about body kindness has changed the way I approach dance education, my relationships with my students, and my relationship with myself. Hands down, it’s been the most helpful tool for me in my mission to raise the next generation of dancers to be happier and healthier in their dance lives.
And now that we’re in the move of love, it seemed like the perfect time to spread the word about the concept of body kindness. I've created a brand new resource to help dance teachers understand body kindness and show them easy, practical ways to use it in their dance classrooms. My Body Kind Valentine Workbook has 10 pages of easy, practical ways you can help your dancers befriend their bodies, boost their confidence, and instill lifelong wellness skills.
Here’s a preview of the Workbook, and 3 ways to practice body kindness with your dancers.
1. Focus on their feelings, not their words
Our hearts can break when we hear our students saying not nice things about themselves, or others. Our instinct is to want to jump in and “fix” everything, or to redirect those negative thoughts with happier, positive ones. That’s a normal reaction, but a more helpful strategy is to realize that the feelings behind the words are important clues as to what dancers are worried about, and seeking support about. Instead of responding with a “don’t say that about yourself - you’re beautiful!” when a student says something like, “I’m ugly”, or “I’m fat”, focus on the feelings those words are communicating. Encourage curiosity around the feelings, and help dancers to identify specifically, what they're feeling. Once the feeling is identified, we can usually trace it back to something that happened, or another feeling, and then start to develop a healthy response. Ask them what would make them feel better / stronger / more confident, etc. and then find a way to support them as they take action.
2. Meditate
I love starting or ending dance class with a meditation, and most of the time, my students love it too. Meditation not only strengthens our mindfulness and awareness (which are key components in recognizing emotions or judgments, and not getting caught up in them), but it also strengthens our mind-body connections. Isn’t it ironic that dancers can be so in tune with their bodies, knowing what exact muscles are sore, or need to be engaged more, but often can’t recognize when their bodies are asking for rest, or identify what food sounds best to them when they’re hungry? Meditation can help with that. My favorite type of meditation to do with dancers is a body scan, where we relax the body, focus on our breathing, and bring attention to all areas of the body. We can focus on relaxing those parts of the body, we can thank them for all they do for us, or just listen to what various parts of the body are trying to communicate. Meditation is a simple, but super effective practice for dancers.
3, Normalize bad days
An important element of body kindness, and body neutrality is realizing that there will be days where it feels hard to be in your body. But that’s ok, because our bodies don’t define who we are, or how valuable we are, or how worthy of love and praise we are. Plus, when we normalize bad days, we give ourselves a bit more grace and are able to empathize better not only with others, but with ourselves as well. It’s not always going to be sunshine and rainbows, and that’s ok. Learning coping skills to deal with the hard times is what makes us resilient, and more powerful, because we realize our own strength, beauty, and capabilities, even when we don’t feel good about our lives, bodies, or situations.
Want to learn more about the rest of the 10 ways you can practice body kindness with your dance students? Click here to purchase the Workbook! Right now it’s only $15!
And in case you missed last week’s blog, check this post out. I’m hosting a Body Kind Valentine Week over on Instagram! Each day from Feb 14-18 at 12pm EST, I’ll be doing an Instagram live with a free training or interview with dance experts to dive further into the subject of body kindness and dance education.
I hope you enjoy these tools as you start your own body kind journey!