Oh body swayed to music, oh brightening glance.
How can we know the dancer from the dance?
William Butler Yeats, “Among School Children”

Looking for the perfect exercise? You may want to add a pair of dancing shoes to your collection of athletic gear. In his new book, UltraLongevity: the Seven-Step Program for a Younger, Healthier You, Canyon Ranch Medical Director Mark Liponis, M.D., entitles his chapter on exercise and movement simply, “Dance.” Dr. Liponis explains that he’s defining dance broadly as rhythmic movement, in part to get the attention of people who think of physical activity as a grim business involving dumbbells and suffering.

But he goes on to show that rhythmic movement is in fact the most beneficial kind: One study, for example, found that swimmers and rowers – both of whom practice a profoundly rhythmic form of exercise – had healthier immune systems than equally fit athletes, such as soccer players, whose sports are less informed by rhythm. Scientists have several theories about why this should be – one is that movement plus rhythm tends to create an anxiety-reducing meditative state. (Think of a baby being rocked, or a small child self-comforting by sitting and rocking himself.)  As Dr. Liponis points out, it stands to reason. Our bodies and our lives are ordered by rhythms great and small, so rhythm both feels great and does us good.

What the body wants
With the addition of music, rhythmic movement becomes dance, one of the most widely enjoyed forms of movement known to man.

“The body is made to move, and it loves to move to music,” says Christina Lopez, fitness manager at Canyon Ranch in Tucson and creator of the Ranch’s wildly popular event, Gotta Dance!

Lopez, who’s been studying dance since age 4 and teaching it since she was 13, should know. She’s brought her infectious, high-spirited love of dance to thousands of classes over the years. Like Liponis, she’s not strict about defining dance.

“You see kids out running around, playing, and they’re dancing all the time, just feeling the joy of movement,” she says. “It’s wonderful in, say, a World Beat class, where we have live drumming, to watch people let go and feel that again.”

“Dancing makes people happy. The body naturally wants to move to the beat, and when you allow your body to lose itself in movement, it’s such a joyful, renewing thing.”

Not surprisingly, dance classes are among the Ranch’s most popular offerings, and they range from Belly Dance to Funk Aerobics, with inventive new classes emerging by popular demand. Dance at the Ranch has moved into the water, for example, with Aqua Boogie and Fluid Flexibility – both of which are done to ever-changing themed soundtracks – and into the realm of mind and spirit with Spirit Dance, which combines elements of Eastern marital arts practice, yoga and other body-mind practices. Also new and moving to the beat: Rhythmic Stretch, in which the process of stretching goes beyond a series of static holds and becomes a fluid, rhythmic process.

Lopez even dances on the stationary bike.

“Indoor Cycling? I’m dancing to the music. The sheer pleasure of moving to music is the single biggest reason group fitness classes are so popular,” she says. “Life is just better with a soundtrack.”

Dance to your favorite beat
Even if you haven’t danced since your high school prom, moving to the music may be in your future. Dance is an enjoyable, endlessly varied form of physical activity with strong mind-body and social components; if you like it, you’re likely to stick with it.
Here are some ways Dr. Liponis suggests for getting started:

• Take a ballroom dancing class with a partner. This is low-impact, indoor exercise that develops balance, agility and mind-body coordination. And who doesn’t want to feel like Fred Astaire?
• Study beginning tap or belly dance, or sign up for a jazz class. As Dr. Liponis points out, if you register for a class, you have a regular appointment with fitness.
• Make a commitment to learn a strenuous dance form. There are impassioned folk and contra dance groups in nearly every community that hold regular events and welcome new members; country swing, tango and salsa are going strong in clubs in every city. Most give lessons to beginners. You can find them online or in your newspaper’s events section.

Become a social dancer, take classes, dance around your living room, dance with your kids – just dance! It’s a gift for your body and spirit, and it’s a whole lot of fun.

Mind mapping … to some it may sound like the title of a Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster, but in reality this simple life-enhancement tool is a highly effective way of tapping into hidden creativity, unlocking inner potential and finding solutions to everyday problems.

Eileen Lawlor, behavioral therapist at Canyon Ranch in Lenox, says that mind mapping, first developed in the 1970s and begins by simply writing down a central idea or focal word on a sheet of paper and drawing a circle around it.

Branching out

From that point, a branch with a related word is drawn, sub-branches with new words related to the previous word are then added and so on – until finally you have returned to your original thought. Then you start all over again with another series of branches and sub-branches until the theme has been exhausted.

In the end you wind up with a shape that appears somewhat similar to a child’s rendering of a sun, with a central thought surrounded by associated thoughts radiating outward.

“It is an amazingly versatile tool,” Lawlor says. “Mind mapping is probably the best way to capture what founder Tony Buzan calls brain bursts, where we have rapid bursts of ideas. It is like having creative fireworks going off in your head.”

The next step is interpreting what the map means. During this phase people often experience either clarity about their subject, direction on how to take action, or what Lawlor describes as “A-ha! The answer!”

Creative thinking

“I have seen mind mapping work for people with a wide spectrum of issues that ranged from raising difficult teenagers, to finding a purpose after retirement, to simply becoming more creative,” Lawlor says. “A writer once came to me and said, ‘You know, every branch could be a chapter in my next book.’”

Because of the large number of associations produced, these mind maps tend to be very creative, often revealing new ideas and possibilities. Many items in a map can be used to start another map.

And, because mind maps are a way of representing thoughts with symbols rather than extraneous words, the mind forms associations almost instantaneously, allowing you to write your ideas quickly.

Give it a go
While the most successful way to develop a mind map is with the help of a trained professional, here are a few basic guidelines to try on your own:

• Where to begin. The first step in mind mapping is to decide on a focal word (a central idea or thought) you wish to analyze. Write it down in the center of the paper. If you use the paper horizontally, you will have maximum space for jotting down other ideas as they expand from the center.
• No editing. Spontaneity is crucial to successful mapping. The concept of mind mapping is to think creatively and non-linearly. There will be plenty of time for modifying the information later, but at this stage it is important to get every possibility into the mind map. Sometimes it is one of those obscure possibilities that becomes the key to your knowledge of a topic.
• Upper case. When writing your ideas and associations try to use uppercase lettering to enhance the readability of your map.
Leave room for more

Mind maps should always be flexible and dynamic. By leaving space you can add to it over time. You may also wish to highlight key areas, add information or point out questions.

Your finished mind map gives insights and wisdom that might surprise you. It can be a great help as you set goals, make changes and plan for your most fulfilling future.

Pets instinctively understand the spa lifestyle. While their human companions overcrowd the day with tasks, incubating stress and anxiety, pets know what it takes to stay happy, healthy and relaxed:

• Be curious about the world around you
• Take time to play every day
• Live in the moment
• Run to greet your loved ones when they come home
• Take naps and stretch often
• Eat with enthusiasm, savoring every bite
• Relish affection, getting back rubs whenever you can
• Find the joy in ordinary things
• Forgive quickly, never holding grudges
• When you’re happy, show it
• Look forward to getting exercise and going outside

When it comes to balancing mind, body and spirit, pets may be wiser than we think. They’re accepting and not judgmental, and they know how to unwind – even when times get tough. A suddenly stressed cat will puff up, spit and look scary; but take away the stress, and the furry fireball purrs, curls up and takes a snooze – an important recovery period that allows her to restore energy and build up some reserve for the next item of stress that comes along. People, on the other hand, tend to accumulate stress and hold onto it for the rest of the day, without allowing ourselves the benefit of recovery time.

Pets know when it’s okay to take your time. They rarely run unless they need to get somewhere or want to play. So take a lesson from your four-legged friend. You’ll accomplish more and feel better.

Speed and stress are close companions. Shake them off and turn to the companions who understand best how to find the joy in each and every moment. You couldn’t have a better teacher.