The (Empathetic) Reason Gaga always tells fans to “Put Your Hands Up”

[BlackLight 382]

It might come as no shock to you that some of us little monsters, just like our favorite artist Lady Gaga have experienced trauma and emotional pain in our lives. The kind of pain that for some of us, requires a great deal of therapy and rehabilitation that can take the human body years to recover from. Personally speaking, after years of alcohol abuse and an addiction to hard drugs and cigarettes (I’m now 2 years and four months sober from alcohol and drugs, and have not smoked one cigarette in 2024) the turmoil this can cause manifests in the body in ways that are unpredictable. 
 

So how does this segway into my title? It’s a short story about my recovery and breathing, and how literally not having enough air in my lungs was taking the life out of me (literally and emotionally). 
 

When I first became sober I really knew nothing about the science or the mechanics of the human body. I had drenched my body pain in a garden salad of enabling weeds and potions and pills for so long my mental state became a fluttering noise in the back of my head and I sometimes found myself looking for a new baseline that felt comfortable. I knew nothing about where I was going and what that could even mean, so I was having a hard time regulating my emotions. It felt like I was dancing in the shadows. (See what I did there.) But for real, SERIOUSLY, it was wild how I thought I was such an intelligent, sophisticated, interesting young queer person whilst sucking a cigarette and sipping a craft cocktail for years and suddenly I could no longer rely on that. 
 

I needed to breathe again. 
 

It was then that I sought out help at a place called Recovery Works in Ohio where they had an interesting recovery program that focused on dual-diagnosis care. You would go to regular AA/NA meetings in the evening with the contrast of having mental health focused care during the day (group, one on ones, and physical therapy). It was in physical therapy it was where I discovered that Gaga must have at least read up on what the addict goes through. The line from Born This Way, “God makes no mistakes” is something that comes from the AA Big book written in the 1930s. 
 

In physical therapy, my counselor spoke to us one day about calming techniques for anxiety. And the main one she kept referring to is putting your hands above your head. I kind of thought it was silly at first, but I even remembered when I was in track in high school my coach saying to hold your arms above your head after running extremely hard because it speeds up your body’s ability to regulate and calm itself down by maximizing how much your lungs are open. My therapist verified for me this was a technique long used by monks all the way to modern physical therapists for people who have chronic anxiety and depression. Simply….air. (I can imagine Gaga appreciated Ariana saying “just keep breathing and breathing…”
 

It’s funny how when you get a little older you realize that all of the things you thought you needed were really just symptoms of your own self destruction. And the things that really lift you (air beneath your feet) already exist within your body. 
 

I think Gaga knows this. I think Gaga has known this for a long time. And although it might seem silly how much she says “put your hands up”….I believe it is in direct correlation with what she has learned since the ARTPOP era when she first said this in a song, that this is an easy, free, inclusive way to help her body and mind sync up. Maybe she isn’t just screaming it as a full in statement or a way to make the crowd look wild…perhaps it is another one of her mantras because it allows us to be free. We can dance harder, laugh longer, feel bigger with our hands up because we can breathe easier in the crowd. Perhaps even beyond this, it helps her while on stage remind herself to just open up, breathe, and think “upward”. Perhaps it is her reminding herself through the pain that “it’s gonna be okay.” 
 

I could be completely wrong, but in my recovery it was a unique coincidence I noticed and furthered my relationship with my love of Gaga. She might not be perfect, but I think she is the closest I see as someone who actually does things for her fans and audience that are small but life changing. And I think “put your hands up” over and over again might be one of those tiny sequins at a time. 
 

I know this sounds strange but I thought I would lose interest in Gaga when I got sober. The opposite happened. I saw her become even more magical and mysterious. As just a human that cares. 
 

cheers (well….sober cheers)  

Edited May 26 by BlackLight
Grammar

[Magic Mike 2,474]

  thanks.