Stressing on art

“Eventually,in college,I not only learnt Bharatnatyam but also went on to master Kathak and Odissi. I went on to teach these dance forms to students,whilst simultaneously pursuing a career in psychology. It was here that the idea for the book was born,” adds Shrivastava.

The book Stress Management and Dance deals with idea of using various dance forms either actively or passively as a means to relieve stress. “Stress is synonymous with the fast paced lifestyles that we lead nowadays. While studying psychology,I came across the fact that dance was actually a very good stress buster and that since both psychology and dance are intricately related with affairs of the body,mind and soul,I decided to actually undertake research to prove that dance could indeed be used to alleviate stress,” she says.

“The book is divided into three parts; the first part deals with the causes of stress and the types of stress. The second with the techniques to reduce it and the third with a totally new concept called Stress Reducing Dance or SRD,” adds Shrivastava.

Elaborating on SRD,she says,“I actually believe this art form is for people who cannot take out time for actually dancing. It’s a form where a person can reduce his or her stress levels by watching dance performances. In order to scientifically prove this I gave my students a questionnaire,which they filled and duly submitted. A year after having danced professionally,they filled the questionnaire again,which showed significantly lower levels of work or emotion-related stress in their lives. The research was carried out across a diverse span of age groups,with the three groups being teenagers,youth and adults. The results have been included in the book.”

“In addition,it also deals with techniques to relax the mind and the body. If one wants to relax,meditation is perfect,if relaxation of the body is in question,then yoga and fine arts could be a good diverting factor. But when one wishes to relax his body,mind and soul,then dance is an apt form of therapy for them,” she says.

“The book is meant for people of all-age groups and can be used as a research journal for academicians. In addition,I would like to point out that I will now be working full-time on my research regarding SRD. I have only touched upon it in this book; my next book will be accordingly based on SRD,” she adds with a flourish.