If you are near Boston, you should definitely stop by the Boston Intergenerational Dance Advocates dances http://www.bidadance.org/. They teach an intro lesson and then every dance has an introductory runthrough. People there are enthusiastic about welcoming newcomers.
If you're not near Boston, Contra dance is found all over the US. (Also in London! email me.) You can find a local dance by putting your zip code into http://www.trycontra.com/
You know how there's the runners high? Well free form dancing, ecstatic dance, dance church, festival dancing, you get really high. It's like meditation, insights come unbidden, you get unbounded outlook. It's a great way to sort yourself out, feel really great about being alive, and rediscover your inner spirituality. Honestly, for $10-$15/dance you'll get really high, if you let yourself go and get into the flow state. Try going to the morning ones, don't eat & drink only water, do some stretching at the beginning. Yes the whole thing seems super silly from the outside, a bunch of hippie folks gyrating to music, but man oh man it's profound if you get into the vibe(and if the vibes are high quality, like so called dance churches can be, and you know cause everyone else there are fellow psychonauts riding the bodies internal DMT highway). The great thing about the brain getting high w/o drugs? It's probably fabulously healthy for it. Think about it, super powerful brain drugs come out in a show of force and give you uplifted profound feelings. That sure seems like just the ticket to health, comparable to taking the mental garbage out.
You know how there's the runners high? Well free form dancing, ecstatic dance, dance church, festival dancing, you get really high. It's like meditation, insights come unbidden, you get unbounded outlook. It's a great way to sort yourself out, feel really great about being alive, and rediscover your inner spirituality. Honestly, for $10-$15/dance you'll get really high, if you let yourself go and get into the flow st…
That’s because of endorphine release at a certain point when engaging in activities like dancing or running.
Endorphins (endo-, produced by the body, -phine, morphine) have identical effects to these of morphine — they just don’t eventually cause withdrawal effects.
This is 100% anecdotal, but a number of swing dance legends have lived to very old age. Frankie Manning, founder of Lindy Hop, died at 94. Norma Miller, the Queen of Swing, is 97 and still alive. This is a video of Frankie at 92 ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENrqFFU4P5E
must be the absolutely killer music they are dancing to
You know how there's the runners high? Well free form dancing, ecstatic dance, dance church, festival dancing, you get really high. It's like meditation, insights come unbidden, you get unbounded outlook. It's a great way to sort yourself out, feel really great about being alive, and rediscover your inner spirituality. Honestly, for $10-$15/dance you'll get really high, if you let yourself go and get into the flow st…
Meditation has nothing to do with getting high or being in a flow state where self-awareness is lost due to complete self-absorption.
"Dancing or Fitness Sport? The Effects of Two Training Programs on Hippocampal Plasticity and Balance Abilities in Healthy Seniors" Front. Hum. Neurosci., 15 June 2017 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00305
"Dancing or Fitness Sport? The Effects of Two Training Programs on Hippocampal Plasticity and Balance Abilities in Healthy Seniors" Front. Hum. Neurosci., 15 June 2017 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00305