Dance is one of the most widely performed art styles in the world. Even when most people were social distancing themselves, many found ways to come together to dance. As reported in National Geographic, dances that were usually held during rituals, celebrations, and sports have now moved online, with virtual dance parties cropping up via online platforms like Instagram, YouTube, or Zoom. Not only is dance sought after for its traditional and social sense, but it can also improve a person’s mental and physical health. Read on to find out how dance benefits the mind and body: Dancing keeps your mind and body engaged Dancing is very similar to yoga; it’s a great way to keep your mind engaged while exercising your body. This form of exercise can be especially beneficial for older adults who may be prone to mental decline, such as dementia. A worldwide systematic study led by Nanjing Medical University found that older adults, with mild cognitive impairment, who have gone through dance interventions improved their general cognition, rote memory, recall, and attention. Although dancing doesn’t stop dementia-related symptoms, it can help afflicted adults slow down signs of mental aging. It’s important to note that dancers of all ages must be prepared for exercise. Dancing isn’t necessarily easy and there’s always a risk of getting injured. Aside from proper stretching and hydration, it’s necessary to wear the proper attire when engaging in strenuous activities like dance. For girls and women, we recommend our Ballet Rosa waistband leggings which offer a plush elastic waistband and stretchable material, allowing you to take on challenging dance steps without hindering your movement. Dancing helps improve mental health Much like how movement is essential for building up our muscles, movement is just as important for improving our brain health and overall wellness. A feature by Maryville University on the psychology of exercise highlights the mental benefits associated with dancing. For one, this physical activity allows individuals to temporarily escape their situation. When you let loose through your moves, you release mood-boosting chemicals, which help decrease symptoms of depression and anxiety. For older adults, dancing can even trigger happier, positive memories from a younger age. Remembering all those joyful times can spark happiness in everyday life as well. This is why dancing will boost your mood, making you more optimistic and calmer, which may encourage you to engage in other positive activities. Dancing builds confidence and self-esteem There are many opportunities to get creative through dance. When you’re first starting out, you may have a hard time, but as you practice, you start to improve as you learn more steps. Learning, remembering, and executing choreography is not easy, but being able to master these moves gives you a sense of achievement and will boost your self-esteem. This can drive you to dance more complicated steps and even create your own choreography. As shared in our post on “How Can Dance Benefit Your Life”, dance is a great form of self-expression that helps you tell a story, express emotions, and connect with yourself and others. Sometimes the greatest dance ideas may happen anywhere but the dance studio, so having comfortable footwear, like our Bloch lightweight sneakers, will allow you do dance in any setting. Through hard work, you can build the confidence to show off your own style. Dancing isn’t a magic bullet to improve everything related to your mind and body, but it does have numerous benefits. Aside from enjoyment, dancing is a great way to enhance your mental health, keep your mind and body engaged, and build your confidence. With these perks and the bonus of social bonding, you are sure to enjoy life and dancing to the fullest. Article written by Riva James and exclusively submitted to DanceWear Corner
Every year the cycle begins again. Wanting to better ourselves, we make all sorts of resolutions...or is it intentions? Plans? Goals? It’s hard to know because these terms are often used interchangeably. The question is: are they the same thing? What exactly are resolutions, intentions, plans, and goals? A quick google search will reveal that there’s little consensus out there. People agree that they’re important, but disagree on what these terms actually mean. Definitions often overlap or even contradict each other. I believe that this may...
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Hey guys, Masha here from Masha Plans. With 2021 quickly approaching it’s time to think about setting your goals and evaluating your life, and that’s exactly what we will be talking about today. One of my favorite techniques to figure out where I am and set my goals is level 10 life. WHAT IS LEVEL 10 LIFE This is a technique that came from Hal Elrod’s book My Miracle Morning. The idea is pretty simple. You measure your success in 10 areas of your life and according to that you then build up your goals to create a level 10 in all your areas. A quick note here - it’s kind of impossible to have 10 on all the areas all the time, so when you start thinking of a few areas you want to build up a bit and start from there. Instead of doing 10 for all the areas try to make them all equally good. I really love this technique because I know I can end up putting too much time and effort into just one area and totally forget about others. When this happens, your other areas usually go down and whether you know why or now you’ll end up not being that happy. So this is an amazing way to remind yourself to think wider, to think about your life as a whole, not just one area. LEVEL 10 LIFE AREAS What are the areas we are talking about here? Well, here are the original areas as they were presented in the My Miracle Morning book: Friends and Family With the pandemic and general business of life, it’s pretty easy to forget about human contact, and put your relationships at the back. But you really shouldn’t do that. Contact with your friends and family is very important for general happiness and mental health. So evaluate how you’re doing on this front and set goals to be more mindful and contact more with the loved ones. Personal development This is about growing as a person, about mental growth, about building yourself into the best version you can be. I found that this is also an area I usually struggle with. But honestly, I probably struggle in most of the areas, apart from my career. Spirituality This can absolutely be about religion, but it doesn’t have to. This area is about finding your inner peace, whether it is praying or meditation. This is about learning to be kind to yourself and the world around you. Finances Money can’t buy happiness but it surely can make you more comfortable, so it’s definitely an area you want to work on. It’s important to think long term, to consider investments, savings. Financial stability really is so important for your happiness, wouldn’t you say? Career When you have to go to a job you hate every working day - this chips away so much from your happiness. And think about how much time you spend at the office, do you really want to keep spending that much time on something you hate? Think of what you’d like to do instead and set goals on how you can improve your working situation. This obviously isn’t going to happen in one day, it took me about 2-3years to fix my situation, but as long as you’ll keep at it you’ll see the result and your levels going up. Fun and Recreation These two are just as important as any other area. If you don’t have a good rest and reboot your brain you won’t be good for anything, so be sure to keep this area up as well as all the others. Giving or Contribution This might not seem to have anything to do with your personal happiness, but it actually does. The act of giving and helping people actually does help you to feel happier and more fulfilled. It doesn’t have to be anything too complicated either, if you don’t have any money to donate, simply donate your time to a local shelter or a charity organization. Physical Environment Dark cluttered space will keep you down, while a bright organized will help you feel lighter and more motivated. It seems like not much, but it’s actually very important, so take a moment to evaluate the environment around you and think about how you can improve it. Heath and Fitness This is kind of the obvious one - you should do your best to keep your physical shape. When you’re healthy you’re happy and can spend the time on some more fun things. So take a look at what you’re doing for your health and figure out what you can do better or more of. SUPPLIES Before we get into setting up level 10 life in your Bullet Journal let me tell you what I used. First is my Archer and Olive square journal, which I love so much and it’s absolutely perfect for such a spread. Then I also used some of my acrylograph pens. If you want to buy anything from Archer and Olive be sure to use code MASHA10 that will give you 10% off your order. LEVEL 10 LIFE SPREAD Here is how you set up a level 10 life spread in your Bullet Journal. On one side, you create a wheel with all the areas and use it to evaluate your life. On the opposite side, you write the name of an area and set a goal or two on how you can improve it. Pretty simple! But I know circles aren’t that easy to draw, so here are a few more ways you can create this wheel. Square Level 10 Chart This way is much easier to set up and it still looks pretty nice and easy to understand. Level 10 Life Chart You can also create a chart instead of a circle. I love how professional the charts look and you can play around and design them very differently. Level 10 Life Mandala Mandalas are so calm and wonderful to draw, so you can implement this practice into your level 10 life chart as well. You can create a full mandala and just color the parts for evaluation, or just create as many layers as levels you have in each area. Creative Level 10 Life Think of the theme you have currently in your Bullet Journal and I bet you can use that to create your level 10 life spread. If it’s florals - use little flowers with 10 pedals to keep track of your life levels. And of course, for a boba tea theme you can draw boba cups and add as many boba balls as the levels you achieve in the area.. PLAN WITH ME Want to see me setting up all those different level 10 life pages? Check out the video below! If you decide to create a level 10 life spread in your Bullet Journal, be sure to tag me @mashaplans and @archerandolive on Instagram, we would love to see your creations. Keep Bullet Journaling and Don’t Be A Blob!
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Francesca Sgrò - @Bujo_with_Fran “Writing things down in a calm and focused manner, knowing all the steps required for specific tasks or jobs, leaving forgetfulness at the doorstep because now you have everything you need to remember (or at least most of it) only in one place. All of these things improved my cognitive functions, eased stress, and got me close to meditation and mindfulness than anything else.” Joy Sanderson - @mybulletjournaljoy
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