Liturgical dancers come in all beautiful sizes. At some point liturgical Dance should motivate dancers to strive for physical fitness once the realization of how physically demanding.
In my earlier post, Liturgical Dance and Fitness, I urged liturgical dancers to take care of their health by making small changes and following the dietary law. Making small changes in your physical habits can greatly augment your health and stamina during dance ministry times. Many of you may or may not have heard about the 10,000 steps per day challenge. It is an effort to keep Americans moving in order to decrease the obesity rate. As we all know obesity leads to sickness and death; unfortunately, many in the body of Christ have become a part of these statistics.
In my earlier post, Liturgical Dance and Fitness, I urged liturgical dancers to take care of their health by making small changes and following the dietary law. Making small changes in your physical habits can greatly augment your health and stamina during dance ministry times. Many of you may or may not have heard about the 10,000 steps per day challenge. It is an effort to keep Americans moving in order to decrease the obesity rate. As we all know obesity leads to sickness and death; unfortunately, many in the body of Christ have become a part of these statistics.
Ideas on Adding More Steps in your Daily Routines
One does not have to result to extreme measures to become physically fit. By adding more steps in your day you can become better prepared for the physical demands of dance ministry. Here are some ideas to get you up and moving.
Add more steps to your day. Adding more steps to your day can help you maintain physical fitness throughout the week, when you are not in dance rehearsal. I am talking about walking. You can incorporate more walking into your day by
- Parking your car further from entrances to the shopping mall, grocery store, and your job
- Taking walks after dinner
- Taking a lap or two around your favorite mall before you begin shopping
- Taking the stairs at work instead of the elevator
- Making time to walk during your lunch break
- Taking long walks with your loved ones
To see how many steps you actually take in a day you should purchase a pedometer. You should have a daily goal of 10,000 steps per day; however, that may not be as easy as it seems. Since 10,000 steps is a very large number begin small and work your way up. Walking 10,000 steps per day is equivalent to walking 5 miles. Most people walk between 900 and 3,000 steps per day which is roughly 1 mile. You should strive to take more steps in your day by adding more walking routines. Start off with 3,000 steps and increase a little each day until you reach your goal of 10,000. Remember, every step in your day counts towards your health goals.
Add more dance steps to your day. Dancing more will count towards your goal of 10,000 steps. Adding more dancing in your day to your favorite praise and worship song will not only lift your spirit, but give you a great workout as well. You can do this by practicing the choreography from praise dance rehearsal, or making up choreography to a praise and worship song that you may enjoy. I have done this many times and have found myself working on choreography for an hour or more. You can greatly increase more steps to your day just by dancing.
Add more steps to your day by joining a dance class.Learning about different styles of dance is fun, can increase your repertoire of dance movement for liturgical dance, and can be used as another tool for healthy living. I personally have a background in ballet, modern, African dance, and jazz dancing that I incorporate into my liturgical dance choreography. With each new dance that you take a new way of exploring movement is open to you. You will have greater expression, freedom, and confidence as you praise dance. Dance steps can go a long way as you work toward reaching your goal of 10,000 steps per day.
Following these simple steps will help you to maintain physical fitness even after praise dance rehearsal is over.
©2012 Katina Davenport all rights reserved
This post first appeared on Dancing In The Spirit, Foundation Of Liturgical Da, please read the originial post: here
