Young adults and college-aged people are the age group that encounters the most stress because this age group is trying to grasp what they want to do for the rest of their lives. They will go to college to figure out what they want to pursue, go to college to graduate school, or go straight into their careers for the rest of their lives. Choosing a life pathway right out of high school can be very stressful. College comes with so much change, from where you live to the amount of coursework, and it is a very demanding atmosphere. The central principle of free-flowing dance is to release energy, which is a great way to relinquish stress, especially for young adults. Free-flowing dance is a very loosely defined concept and can be grouped with free-flowing movement, but the objective of free-flow is to release energy through unrestrained movements. This paper will explore what stress is, what causes stress, the concept of free- flowing dance, and how it decreases stress.

For my senior undergraduate thesis, I created a self-exploration project to understand stress management. The Alexander Technique, created by F.M. Alexander, is an educational “hands-on” awareness practice that has spurred variations since its inception (Gelb, 2003). Primal AlexanderTM (PATM), a variation of the Alexander technique developed by Mio Morales, is taught on online platforms, chiefly Zoom and other equivalent video communication. PATM shares with the traditional teachings of the Alexander Technique that learning the practice has many benefits – one of these benefits being effective internal stress management. After being introduced to Primal AlexanderTM by Faculty Honors Advisor Robert Kaplan of Arizona State University, I began researching stress management while also practicing Primal AlexanderTM. Considering that nearly half of U.S adults report that stress has a negative effect on their health, it is fair to assume that properly managing stress in individuals continues to be a major obstacle in healthcare (SingleCare, 2022). My personal afflictions that were a result of stress were beginning to affect my mental, emotional, and physical states of health. Learning PATM inspired my support for clinical application of the practice as a stress management technique as I recognized changes within my body that suggested effective, internal stress management.