Is your marriage in trouble? Are you finding it difficult to connect with your partner? Has your relationship become boring?
Research suggests marriage counseling has become very common nowadays. It’s so common that about 44 percent of couples go to marriage counseling even before they have tied the knot. And of course, couple’s therapy is the way to go if you want to reignite the sparkle in your relationship. Thankfully, there are many types of couple therapy.
Is your relationship existing but not exciting?
When you live together for years, either in a marriage or a long-term relationship, it’s only normal for you and your significant other to finish each other’s sentences. Have you experienced that before?
If not that, you sure must be able to imitate your better half’s walk or laugh. It wouldn’t be a surprise if you can imitate your partner’s reaction to spotting a spider, that too with ultimate perfection.
Strong relationships often lead to knowing each other just like we know our own selves.
Yet there are times and circumstances that lead to an occasional disconnect in couples. It may seem that the magic is gone. The spark can become elusive. And that’s when a relationship exists but is not exciting anymore. It can happen to any couple. And it’s ok, as long as you are willing to put the effort that is required to keep the excitement in the marriage alive.
What is a healthy marriage?
A relationship that is perfect on its own is a myth. Relationships and marriages are hard work. Any fulfilling and long-term relationship is not complete by just finding the ONE. There should be co-operation between two passionate and highly motivated individuals who are willing to work together and thus figure out every situation holding each other’s hands.
Trust should be at the root of the relationship. If the couple makes an effort to keep the marriage interesting, that’s what would be a healthy relationship. If the couple handles the difficulties tactfully, that’s what would be a healthy relationship. And finally, if you two can appreciate each other’s every single deed regardless of how insignificant or little it is, that’s when it would be a healthy relationship.
If that’s how your relationship looks like, that’s when the flames of love will never burn out and your love can truly live happily ever after.
Love is a constant process
Love is a constant process where you have to tune in, connect, and sometimes, miss and misread cues, and then find each other over and again in a loop.
Let’s just say, love is a dance where you meet and part, and find each other again. Minute to minute and day to day.
Maybe that’s why it’s safe to say that marriage is a dance and thus dance therapy is one of the best options to rekindle the spark in a marriage.
Dance therapy as a couple therapy
A research based on ‘partner dancing’ as a couple’s therapy found out that dance as a therapy brought couples closer to each other. Through partner dances, couples learned a lot about their relationship.
Recognizing this form of marriage counseling among others led many couples to learn partner dances like Tango, Bachata, etc. Dance could bring the magic and spark back for so many couples during the research. So it’s safe to say that couple dances as a couple therapy may be able to help every couple out there.
Speaking of ‘romance of dance’, we cannot leave the show ‘Dancing with the Stars’ out of the conversation. The overall intimacy that these TV couples share with each other could lead anyone to think that the lesson of the show is that dance brings couples close.
There is a reason they say:
Couples who sweat together, stay together.
Experts always highlight the fact that any long-term relationship can sustain and couples can always rekindle the spark by discovering activities of interest and ways to bond with their partner.
Let’s explore the reasons even experts recommend partner dancing as an activity that can be an excellent form of therapy for married couples who are trying to keep their relationship as fresh and as exciting as it was in the beginning.
7 Reasons Experts Say Dance Therapy is the New Couple’s Therapy
1. Dance is a marriage refresher
If you’re searching for activities that can rekindle the spark in your relationship, there are 100% chances that there is boredom in your relationship. It’s just normal. For what it’s worth, boredom is considered one of the most common relationship killers.
After a long-term relationship, nine or eight years later, it’s easy to let boredom enter your married life. Between work and responsibilities at home, it is very natural to get into a boring routine. But if you are stuck in a rut, it’s recommended that you infuse something new in the relationship. While planning a date with a movie night that features a dinner later might be very regular, taking a Bachata dance course together, on the other hand, would come as a surprise.
Dance is a marriage refresher because it helps you break out of the routine of regular dates.
Dance is also known to help to eliminate the dangerous boredom that drives the wedge between couples because you never know what to expect as you take a dance class together. Sure your body must move, but you also get a chance to focus fully on your partner, and with the changing beats and their moving feet, you will be constantly challenged to think of the next step together. There will be no boredom while learning dance.
Dance makes your heart beat faster, your palms sweat, and the beat of the music lifts your spirit.
Regardless of your relationship being on the rocks or not, experiencing all of this with your significant other will give you the chance to fall in love all over again.
Even therapists fully endorse dance as a form of therapy as some of them have even experienced it on their own. They say, “Dance is a flirtatious, sexy, fun and exciting activity. It can bring some of that honeymoon stage energy back to the relationship.”
2. It brings your sensual side out
Partner dancing sure exercises your body and mind, but it also can help you get in touch with your sensual side. Further, this could be both on a personal level and as a couple.
From Salsa, Waltz, Tango, to the most social dance of 2020 and the coming years, Bachata, dancing is not only an activity that breaks the monotony and helps you maintain your mental and physical activity. It is now an activity that can improve or even create intimacy.
When are you booking your online dance course?
Let’s use Bachata dancing as an example, as it happens to be me and my boyfriend’s favorite form of dance. Bachata dancing is the act of two people moving in harmony to a rhythm. Just like being intimate, if you can’t find the rhythm in the dance it just feels off. Also, just like being intimate, dancing too requires that one person assume the dominant role and forces the follower to trust his/her partner.
Both dance and intimacy are mutual cooperation and teamwork. Dance will not only increase your endurance but also help you discover a new sense of sensuality. Not to forget that you will also experience an increase of endorphins — chemicals produced by the body to relieve stress and pain.
3. Dance releases oxytocin
Dance creates a physical connection. The contact causes the release of hormones like oxytocin. This hormone, also known as ‘love hormone’, helps you feel love and connection with your partner.
Through dance, you have to coordinate with your partner and use your body language in a way, that you’ll feel emotionally attached too.
4. Dance enhances non-verbal proximity
While every couple has their own dynamic, at the same time, do not think that your dynamic is only between you and your partner. The dynamic between couples is no secret to the world. It’s visible.
In fact, body language is one of the biggest indicators of your relationship. How you hold each other, your physical closeness, and your verbal communication, all are signals of how you are feeling with your partner at a moment.
Dancing together is like telling a story together non-verbally.
To make sure you come across as a couple that shares a warm dynamic with amazing connection, dancing together is highly recommended. Dance forces couples to depend on non-verbal communication. You ultimately have to lead while telling a story together non-verbally.
5. Dance makes you laugh together
As we have already discussed, any couple that has been in a long-term relationship can have a positive change in intimacy between them because of dance. Now if you or your partner lack coordination or one is taking longer to master the art of dance at first, you’ll end up laughing with each other.
Laughter is the best therapy.
Just like your relationship, an online dance course is a work in process that will make you enjoy the laughs that come with the journey. You will learn to laugh at the imperfect situations and that will become a part of your successful marriage in general too.
Experts also add that when a couple engages in a physical activity like dance, they feel more satisfied with their relationship and more in love with each other.
6. Dance brings your childhood back
Do you remember how fun it was to dance around as a kid? Dancing as a kid would mean dancing freely and just moving your body around music. Kids do not care about what people think of them. Dance recreates those care-free moments of your childhood and then also turns it a notch up while accompanying it with some sensual moves that can help you have fun with your partner and bring your inner child out in the front.
7. Dance improves your overall well-being
While you are in a long-term relationship, you also are an independent individual. They say no relationship can be successful if there’s no self-love.
Self-love is the best gift you can give to your partner.
By opting for a dance course together, you won’t only improve your relationship and intimacy but also improve your overall well-being. You’ll have a better posture, you’ll be able to strengthen your eye contact, which all contributes to a mentally and physically healthy individual. You’ll be more confident in yourself.
If all of this individual progress also comes along with a boost in intimacy between you and your spouse, isn’t that something that you and the love of your life deserve?
For the record, any good marriage counselor would recommend dance as a couple therapy!
Over to you!
Now that even experts recommend dance as a couple therapy for the obvious reasons, be ready to experience the newness of dance.
It’s time to focus on and rejuvenate your relationship in the best way possible.
