Embodied Essence | Somatic Movement

Currently teaching in Hoekwil, South Africa.

Description

When my journey as a dancer began at the age of four, at first, I wasn’t attracted to ballet per se; I was attracted to beauty and it was hard work to be ‘perfectly’ beautiful and graceful at the same time. My toes ached and I was criticized for having knees that didn’t have a good enough ‘turn-out’ and arms that wouldn’t obey correct form. I was stuck in a loop of perfectionism imposed on me by someone else and which eventually became an unhealthy self-imposed perfectionism.

Then, one day, more than 20 years later, I had a truly miraculous experience; a moment I will always remember so clearly. I was dancing to drums on a beach in California, and for the first time in my life, after years of training and performing on professional stages all over the world, I began to channel my own movement – moving from inside myself – instead of choreography informing my dance, now spirit was informing the movement.

And so began the true experience of embodiment and deconstructing perfectionism. A journey from the mind into the body. Freedom of expression. Dancing inside of music, inspired by tones of light and shade; allowing the impulse of life-force to move through me – my essence, my spirit; intuitively influencing my own rhythm and flow.

Not long after that, following an improvised performance, I was asked if I would teach ‘my style’ to someone who longed to move the way I moved. I developed a teaching method to start facilitating intuitive experiences; guiding women and men to access their own dance and creating a space in which to integrate mind, body, and spirit. The teaching method was called SUDÉ™ (Sacred Uninhibited Dance Expression).

Since then I have taught all over the world and along the way acquired certifications in various healing modalities such as Theta Healing, massage, Reiki, yoga, clairvoyant reading, & herbology which have all informed what I practice and teach. I also worked with the Institute of Indigenous Arts and The Tamalpa Institute in California where I deepened my knowledge of ceremony and ritual and refined my somatic practice.

Through my dance practice, I have discovered a potent way of accessing my subconscious, working through the layers of myself, and tapping into the power and grace of my essence.

Over the last 10 years, I have cultivated and integrated my passions of writing and dance with my experience in the creative and healing arts to teach a variety of unique embodiment and sensory practices that guide women in the direction of their innate wisdom, creativity, power, sensuality, and healing.
I’m so inspired by each woman that I work with and as much as I am a guide, they too are my guide. It always works both ways in a beautiful exchange of energies where the learning, opening, and wisdom flow both ways.

The term somatic is derived from the Latin word soma, meaning “the living body.”

Somatic movement is an experience that accesses the intelligence of our body and the subtle conversation of our subconscious in order to actualize our potential and support a deep inner process of healing and wholeness. I weave the somatic movement experience together with other modalities such as creative visualization, art, and writing practices that help to bring clarity and expansion to the individual so that they can recognize their patterns, strengths, true desires, and more easily tap into their body’s intelligence and learn how to hear the messages their bodies are conveying through sensations and feelings, impulses and images.

Of course, movement also facilitates access to more ease, grace, and efficiency within the muscles and joints of the body. Movement has the capacity to make the experience of self, conscious within the body. This felt sense of self, also known as embodiment, leads to an experience of being comfortable in one’s own skin and therefore able to move through the world more fluidly and confidently. Ultimately these embodiment practices bring about self-awareness, help one to cultivate better boundaries, and emotional regulation, a stronger nervous system, an ability to be more empathic, more present, enhance intuition, and a feeling of being both authentic, grounded, and connected to oneself, others and the environment.

At the heart of my life and work is a love for the natural world and a curiosity about the true nature of the self. All of my endeavors and passions stem from a desire to create beauty and communicate the pure essence of truth, within and without. I am captivated by the intricate layers of nature, music, our bodies, and minds, as well as the subconscious drivers of our expressive selves.

My mission, through the intuitively crafted and rich yet simple practices I offer, is to bring awareness to our true nature in order to thoroughly express ourselves and therefore heal and thrive.

Please contact me for scheduled classes and locations.

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“The purpose of life is not to transcend the body but to embody the transcendent.”
-Dalai Lama