Read time: 2 mins
I recently read a very moving article about how joining a dance class changed the life of a man diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
In his early 50s, in his words he’d “believed there was still time for romance, adventure, reinvention.”
Suddenly, with the diagnosis, he felt trapped. His future destroyed.
What partner would want him now?
Subtle changes
It was joining the class that, he says, set him free. “Once I stepped into the studio, something shifted.”
Dance “invites movement, encourages balance and demands rhythm. Week by week, I noticed subtle changes. My steps became more confident, my posture lifted and the freezing that sometimes trapped me began to loosen its grip.
“But the real transformation wasn’t physical. Dance changed how I viewed the disease itself. Instead of seeing Parkinson’s solely as something that was taking ability away, I began to see what was still possible.
“In the studio, surrounded by music and other dancers, I rediscovered a sense of joy and agency.”
Free up our bodies
In our isolated society, how often do we get the chance to work with others, free up our bodies and our minds?
It doesn’t have to be dance. It could be sport, yoga, qigong… or indeed Aikido.
Everything he describes, I’ve seen on the mat, from beginners to black belts. For that hour and a half we are “not a diagnosis” we are part of something greater.
Choose movement. Whether in the dance studio or in the dojo. Or both.