Mindful Embodied Movement: Study Protocol for a 12-Week Modern Dance-Mindfulness Intervention and Mixed-Methods Randomized Controlled Trial in Recreational Adult Dancers

Recreational dance offers significant psychological well-being potential. However, traditional instruction emphasizes technique while limiting attention to nervous system development and embodied meaning-making. Despite empirical support for polyvagal theory, motor learning science, somatic education, and phenomenology, their systematic integration into unified structures is not clearly established in recreational dance contexts. This protocol integrates nervous system regulation, motor learning, and creative expression within structured Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) modern dance syllabus for recreational adults. It presents a 12-week integrated dance-mindfulness intervention addressing this gap through a three-phase structure grounded in neuroscience and embodied pedagogy. The intervention comprises eight standardized components delivered weekly. The randomized controlled trial evaluates intervention effects using the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21), the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS), and the Leisure Involvement Scale (LIS). Qualitative assessment via semi-structured phenomenological interviews (Weeks 8 and 12) and weekly journaling captures somatic awareness, nervous system resilience, technical confidence, creative expression, relational and social belonging, and embodied meaning-making. Intervention participants are expected to show significantly greater improvements compared to controls. Results will establish evidence-based practice standards for recreational dance and demonstrate neuroscience integration's efficacy for psychological wellbeing and embodied meaning-making.