The more you express an emotion the stronger it gets
Darwin spoke of emotions in humans and animals. He proposed that emotions evolved and were adapted over time, coming to be in the process of adaptation. The more you express an emotion the stronger it gets, so when you propose expressions of anger you will be reinforcing it. Expressing anger can generate a feeling of catharsis and liberation. “I got rid of this anger. How wonderful! I’m free!” But that doesn’t last long. In reality anger is being reinforced. That’s why Biodanza doesn’t have dances to express anger. But it has dances of transmutation, personal power and other dances that use this yang energy. Accumulated anger can be seen in the body. The body reveals it all.
So what do we do in Biodanza?
We liberate anger through dances of expression, dances in which through integrative movements of power and potency expressed from the guts, you tap into the same energy but in a constructive way, and use your strength and potency to transform this energy of anger into action and creativity.
Feel the painful emotions and carry on dancing - they will shift
Some people seem to walk with a dark cloud above their heads day after day. Some feel very sad and start to cry during a dance in Biodanza. They need to carry on dancing instead of drowning in their tears. Otherwise they’ll just be reinforcing their feelings of depression. They need to feel the pain, the suffering, and carry on dancing. Emotions are fleeting. They last seconds or minutes and then they pass. In Biodanza we don't reinforce negative emotions. If you feel real sadness please express it and then let it go. Then you have an encounter with someone who looks at you with tenderness and you receive love, attention and the smiles of your friends, and your pattern begins to change. If you had an angry character you begin to change, if you had a depressive character you begin to change, and you become happier. The defences structure the body, the level of corporal representation. If I have to be strong I put my chest up. This is the armour. The repetition of patterns creates a character. So for anger, for suffering, for hatred, let’s do a dance of strength.
Let’s dance! And when the emotions come, experience them and let them go. Afterwards other emotions will come, like friendship, tenderness and a sense of solidarity.