Many nights I dream I am dancing. Sometimes there is an audience, sometimes there is a stage but always, always there is ultimate freedom. I leap without the hindrance of gravity and spin with the balance of Baryshnikov. Once out of my slumber my gracefulness takes a dramatic stumble, however the sense of exhilaration and inhibition when I dance while awake is no more subdued than when asleep. The music pulses into my body filling my veins, my muscles, my soul and it pours back out through my movements. No longer does it matter that my boss irritated me today, that bills are waiting to be paid, that life is pounding on my door demanding attention like a spoiled child. All gone are the world’s imperfections and my imperfections and in place there is complete peace. I move with no plan, no agenda yet every step is there for me placing me in harmony with the earth beneath me and the air around me. Placing me finally in harmony with myself even if only for a short while.

Now by this point you might be thinking me a “hippie” type what with all the earth and air talkhowever I must challenge you on this. Do you remember rocking out to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” with your buddies in the car? Show me someone who didn’t feel unbridled excitement while head-banging to the last guitar solo and I’ll show you someone who’s never heard of Queen. How about at your cousin’s wedding when “that song” starts to play and everyone screams and runs to the dance floor. Tell me there isn’t sheer happiness as you flail about grinning ear to ear. You are connected with the moment, with yourself and with those around you.

Dancing, while present all around us in many forms and places, I do not believe gets its just dues when it comes to mental well being. We’ve got the physical covered – barring taking up residence in a third world country you can find a Jazzercise class almost anywhere. You can “Sweat to the Oldies” or you can prepare for a career in pole-dancing with Carmen Electra. Yep, we’ve got the physical covered…check, check and check. But what about stress-relief? Anger management? Depression? Granted most of us are not at liberty to just bust a move when tensions at the office get high. Chances are that might lead you to much bigger problems than what you started with. But how about an outlet for negative energy on a regular basis that keeps the stress, the anger, the depression from building up in the first place?

Let’s take it back a few