Grounding in dance movement therapy for people with persistent physical complaints, 2025, Silva et al

Hutan

Hutan

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Authors: Fernanda Silva, Ditty Dokta, Rosemarie Samaritter
Rotterdam, Netherlands


Abstract
This article studies grounding in Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) for people with persistent physical complaints (PPC). Existing literature identifies the potential of grounding for PPC. This article is based on an embedded case-study research of a 7-week DMT community programme. Six body-focused interviews with two participants and participant-observation notes were analysed through thematic and movement observation analysis.

The participants identified agency, free dance, (re)connection between body-parts and raised awareness as helping themes; and the use of breath and verbal reflection as hindering themes. The literature indicates agency, free dance and raised awareness as beneficial for people with PPC. Even though the participants did not highlight grounding as helping or hindering, they used grounding when expressing agency, free dance and (re)connection between body-parts.

Suggestions for future research and practice include noting voluntary grounding actions of participants and their effects.


Keywords:

Link: Paywall
Journal of Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy
 
tornandfrayed said:
what does grounding mean?
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I can't see this paper. but, the AI response to the question is

Grounding in Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) is a core principle using physical movement to connect clients to their bodies, emotions, and present reality, fostering stability, self-awareness and emotional regulation, especially for trauma, anxiety, or dissociation, through exercises like weight shifts, rhythmic footwork, connecting to gravity, and sensory awareness to anchor the self and release tension. It helps individuals move from being "in their heads" to embodied presence by rooting them to the earth and releasing energy, promoting a sense of safety and integration.

So, when applied to people with ME/CFS as a therapy, it is a naive, troublesome and gaslighting concept.
 
I know people that were taught grounding for anxiety.

It meant to focus on things around you that you could observe with your senses, and say them out loud.

I think it was 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch and so on.

It’s just trying to distract yourself.
 
If I were offered this BS as a professional dancer, I would have left the studio. I absolutely hate when dance is used as “therapy” in this way. Yes, dancing and movement can be beneficial to some degree for connecting body and mind, whether you have a disease or not. That is true of any sport, really, but these people place far too much importance on dance as a therapeutic tool. This study obviously tells us nothing, and I do not think anyone will be properly helped by this hippie nonsense anyway.
 
About grounding:

I can't access the paper, so I don't know what these authors mean by grounding. I learned grounding from a couple of meditation teachers (from my bed, via books and recordings). Thought I'd share how they used it.

Grounding was about literally feeling your physical connection with the earth. If you were standing, this would be the connection between your feet and the floor/ground. When sitting, this would be the connection between your feet and the floor/ground, and the connection between your bum and the chair. When lying, as I am, grounding is feeling the connection between your body and the bed beneath you.

They emphasise letting your weight sink fully into whatever it is you're on - bed or whatever. Giving in to gravity. And feeling how stable the bed/floor/ground is. (Ideally don't do it during an earthquake.)

One of the teachers went beyond the physical and got you to imagine letting concerns/worries flow down into the earth, and stability flow from the earth back up into you.

It was not about distraction, but about moving your attention to your body and what was supporting it.

I quite like grounding, as I learned it. I find letting weight sink down/giving in to gravity helpful for pain, as you let go of muscle tension you didn't know you had.

But you certainly don't have to dance to ground. I've only ever done it in bed, when walking to loo and sitting to wash my hands or shower.

And it does nothing for ME/CFS.
 
Hutan said:
I can't see this paper. but, the AI response to the question is

Grounding in Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) is a core principle using physical movement to connect clients to their bodies, emotions, and present reality, fostering stability, self-awareness and emotional regulation, especially for trauma, anxiety, or dissociation, through exercises like weight shifts, rhythmic footwork, connecting to gravity, and sensory awareness to anchor the self and release tension. It helps individuals move from being "in their heads" to embodied presence by rooting them to the earth and releasing energy, promoting a sense of safety and integration.

So, when applied to people with ME/CFS as a therapy, it is a naive, troublesome and gaslighting concept.
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It’s a paper on how they won’t understand the illness

And I don’t know whether it’s because they’ve come across people very different to me and/or they haven’t heard them because they’ve given off the ‘not interested in the truth’ vibe we all get coerced with

When I was younger and not severe and not in a crash I could dance fine - the idea we need old peoples home dance sessions whether in the before or after of this is just stupidity and not hearing people ie wilful de-existing what we live

But I used to when I was younger be able to go on a night out dancing, just like I wasn’t ‘unfit’ compared to fit healthy people but very ill afterwards.

And people are happy to be bigots assuming it’s indulging in a hangover ie the bad behaviour presumption from someone who before that was never that personality type and acted just as should have been lauded , but at least that was accepted (misbehaved when young and took days to recover) compared to if I’d been honest and believed at being ill.

I needed it because I was so haunted and destroyed by intimate violators charading as if they are medical just because they ally themselves and parrot one line one cause assumption (and tell you who you are even when it’s so wrong) it’s hard to describe the level of makes your insides wrench up level of damage they do without equating it to things people would call inappropriate even though in future I hope it won’t be to talk in such a way.

But the important thing was feeling ‘free’

So I struggle with an earnest organised ‘this should be done this way and we will watch’ not being the opposite .

I look back now much iller and wonder how I was able to stand that loud music for so long but I think it was good quality sound , expected and my body just can’t resist a good dance

But yep the payback is huge. Which is why I’m unsure on the signaling theory stuff - I was actually destroying my body and exhausted. But doing it was vital because I was locked in a nightmare of misguided interfering suffocating to the point you can’t exist not nice underneath it because they don’t get what humans need to exist people. But also I guess escaping my body by getting that holiday where I could be me for that time even if later it was related to the payback

And at least the ‘not organised’ escape was like the John hamm video meme at the moment. And I think turning up to something that probably ‘gets one going’ and having loud music and lots of caffeine etc is the classic way me/cfs can work but then you pay for having eked it out afterwards. Some occasions I did collapse if I was too tired and had scraped out though (often when it was eg a birthday rather than an evening I could turn down)

But now many years on I’m very physically injured as well as much worse day to day burden that means music is short and as it’s more likely to come as an intrusion from someone else’s noise I take ages to recover from I rarely can give myself that privilege nevermind try and dance which wouldn’t be the same and I certainly am personally not wanting someone choosing the music and teaching me steps in a church hall.
 
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Grigor said:
If I were offered this BS as a professional dancer, I would have left the studio. I absolutely hate when dance is used as “therapy” in this way. Yes, dancing and movement can be beneficial to some degree for connecting body and mind, whether you have a disease or not. That is true of any sport, really, but these people place far too much importance on dance as a therapeutic tool. This study obviously tells us nothing, and I do not think anyone will be properly helped by this hippie nonsense anyway.
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To any well people out there they need to imagine how awful ‘organised fun’ is

And I know they all relate apart from the one in every friendship group that like to do the organising type of person who likes it for a different reason,

People feel controlled and all are trying to do the British thing of politely ignoring that situation whilst also having to ignore it’s normally very low budget vs what if someone had just planned a night out or trip to x would be. And trying not to cringe whilst looking enthusiastic to not displease the organiser.

Why being ill to start with , nevermind if you have something that those without power then get some message they now have been given power over you due to being allowed to weaponise fake labels and flights pretending it’s positive , means you should be forced to now endure a life of this type of nightmare on steroids I don’t know,

I remember at school our class who weren’t singers being dragged off to entertain old people in a retirement home years ago and how little thought went into that. Why would they want a bunch of kids they don’t know aren’t interested in and can’t sing and haven’t rehearsed singing crap sings they probably never liked so they were forced to clap and watch I don’t know.

There are certain things about certain parts of society that are a farce and seem a bait and switch of who is getting what out of it and why do we all politely applaud them trampling everyone dragged in apparently under the guise of ‘helping’ I’ve never understood not getting called out. Particularly by comedians.
 
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