Our bodies are in constant motion. Regardless of the purpose, the need to express ourselves through movement is inescapable. Although movement can vary based on culture, background, location, or religion, we all still move for a reason.
In its simplest form, movement can help our bodies in a host of positive ways. Not only can basic movement (like walking) lower your risk of heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s, it can also boost mental health, improve sleep, and aid in digestion.
In addition to basic movement, our bodies move in different ways for different reasons. We communicate with movement, we express our emotions, and we move to survive.
Movement to Communicate: Body Language
We can learn a lot about each other based on our body language, as it’s known to be a better means of communication than spoken language. The way we express ourselves through gestures and body language varies by culture, but still informs our interactions with each other. For example, eye contact in Western culture is considered a sign of confidence and trust, but certain Asian cultures consider this embarrassing or impolite. Not making eye contact can be a sign of respect.
The way we greet each other can vary as well, from Western formal handshakes to the Polynesian honi greeting. The term “haole” in Hawaiian refers to outsiders, those that do not greet others with the honi greeting, touching noses and inhaling each other’s breath. “Haole” translates loosely to “without breath,” but also semantically can mean “no soul or spirit,” whereas greeting someone in Western culture too familiarly can be uncomfortable and awkward.
Movement as Expression
Across all cultures, dancing can signal a joyous occasion: dancing at weddings, celebrating the birth of a child, receiving good news, acknowledging a holiday or rite of passage. But dancing can also be an expression of sorrow or mourning. In some parts of the world, a mourning dance is part of a ritual to welcome the deceased to the next life, or to remember their presence. The Malagasy people of Madagascar visit the crypts of their loved ones every 2 to 7 years to dance and tell stories with the departed.
Movement expressions can help celebrate our successes and alleviate our grieving, and also help express our fears and worries. Moving through a yoga practice offers a way to work through daily stressors while gaining strength, stamina, and agility. Yoga can alleviate mental health problems, providing a framework of mindfulness that aims to transform our intense inner focus to a global awareness.
Movement to Exist
Food is a universal necessity. Globally, we prepare our food according to our culture, family traditions, and religion. In our house, we season our food with kitchen dancing. It always seems to make the food taste better when it’s made with love and music.
For those who are tied closely to the land, farming, harvesting, and preparing meals are essential for survival. The traditional Creole folk songs of Haiti (for example, “Papa Simbi Voye’m Cherche Dleau” (Papa Simbi Sent Me to Find Water) illustrate stories of daily life through song and dance. Movement as part of daily survival becomes embedded in a region’s artistic expressions, telling stories of rituals and routines of that specific culture’s way of life.
Movement matters. The way we move through our lives communicates how we feel, how we take care of ourselves, and how we ultimately survive. Although some of our body language and daily movement rituals vary greatly by region, culture, preference, and religion, our collective need to move is universal.
Author: Sarah Ronau