Dancers live in a world filled with leaps and turns, so how does yoga fit in? While you’re not going to see dancers doing a downward facing dog at the barre, more and more are choosing yoga to improve their physical and mental well being. Here are some of the main reasons why:
Yoga helps you love and accept your body. Dancers often have a love-hate relationship with their bodies. Many think if you don’t have a thin body, you’ll never be good enough. As a result, they sometimes ignore their natural body weight and resort to unhealthy habits. Yoga teaches practitioners that you don’t have to be a particular height, weight or shape because it’s designed for everyone. Through yoga, dancers learn to love and accept their bodies more every day.
Yoga connects you with your body. Since yoga is considered a non-competitive sport, it helps dancers listen to their bodies. When practicing yoga, dancers start to get more connected to their breathing, feelings and sensations. The more a dancer is connected to their mind, body and spirit, the more they respect their physical bodies. When a dancer connects how they feel with a movement rather than just catering to technique, it really opens doors to their dance development.
Yoga improves flexibility and strength. Dancers are already flexible and strong, so why would they need yoga? Believe it or not, yoga and dance, especially ballet, have more similarities than you realize. Both are about elongating and aligning the body and emphasize the importance of symmetry, balance and strength. Some of yoga’s traditional standing poses like Standing Bow/Standing Dancer or Standing Head to Knee target muscles used for developees. Other yoga poses like Downward Dog and Plank are beneficial for dancers when partnering because it requires upper arm strength. Even the most flexible dancers have tight spots!
All in all, yoga is the perfect cross training method for dancers because it helps them tune out self criticism, increase mind and body awareness, develop greater flexibility and strength, and become less prone to injury. Basically, it frees them to work on what matters most – dancing!
This time of year, we could all use a little more Namaste. Which is why Impact is now offering yoga classes at our Countryside location on Mondays, 6:15-7:00 pm (Ages 8-11) and 7:45-8:45 pm (Ages 12 & Up). To register, click here or call 708-354-JUMP.
