Interactions of Dual Training and Practice in Dance/Movement Therapy and Yoga: An Interview Study

Amy Nicole Borskey

doi:10.17918/etd-2947

The purpose of this study is to investigate the growing instance of therapists trained in both dance/movement therapy (DMT) and yoga and to provide information about the integration of DMT and yoga and practitioners' perceptions of how this may affect their practices. This study may provide the foundation for other studies to investigate a comprehensive treatment approach combining DMT and yoga. The research of this study included interviewing nine DMTs that are also trained in yoga about their uses of the modalities in their work with patients and yoga students. Grounded theory methods were used to analyze the data. Anecdotally, there exists a population of DMTs who are also trained in yoga. A study conducted for a master's thesis by Jill Comins (2007) showed that three-fourths of the DMT respondents to a questionnaire identified other body-oriented practices as influential to their work. Yoga was recognized by 62% of these respondents. This figure is astonishing considering what little effort has been made to study and document the connection between these two modalities and the practitioner's employment and training in both disciplines. It may be valuable to know how possessing knowledge in both disciplines affects their practices and methods of conducting therapy. Since both D/MT and yoga are mind-body approaches that demonstrate positive psychotherapeutic benefits for patients being treated with them simultaneously, this ixmay be the impetus for so many DMTs to receive training in yoga as well. It seems likely that dually trained DMT/Yoga practitioners would possess information and insight as to how this dual training has influenced both their practices and their patients' therapeutic experiences. The major findings of this study highlight the use of DMT and yoga together in the practice of both DMT and yoga. The researcher found that the two modalities complement each other in practice and outlined the ways in which this theory is operative. All of the nine participants interviewed reported that their dual training indeed has had an impact in the way they experience their DMT or yoga practices, or both in some cases. They also hypothesized about how they feel their patients/students experience treatment/class because of their dual training. The specific areas in which the two modalities complement each other are, briefly, as follows: both address the fact that emotions are dealt with in practice; they address the issue of knowing the body/body awareness, observation skills, and anatomy; DMT speaks to the issue of verbalizing the emotional process; and yoga provides a method of self-care for the therapist as well as a way to bring more people to the movement experience.

Interactions of Dual Training and Practice in Dance/Movement Therapy and Yoga: An Interview Study

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Interactions of Dual Training and Practice in Dance/Movement Therapy and Yoga: An Interview Study

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