Meditation and Tango Are More Similar Than You Think

Researchers measuring the brain activity of tango dancers suggest tango dancing might lead to the same mental states as those who meditate. 

The study authors noted that tango dancers rely on internal focus and attention much the same way mindfulness meditation practitioners do during meditation. In other words, tango dancers might be able to enter into a flow state researchers have described in the brains of experienced meditators.

Tracy's tango shoes

Read “The Tango Lesson” from Mindful magazine.

“Some describe tango as more martial art than dance. It’s not a kick-up-your-heels, let-yourself-go-completely kind of good time,” writes Tracy Picha, freelance writer and former editor of Mindful. “Because concentration is the name of the game when you’re trying to sense in another body the most subtle shifts in energy and weight and timing and angles, and every move or phrase is dictated but the order of them improvised.”

[08/07/14 edited 08/08/14]