Latest / Soul Salon with Ayandastood / 86: Dance your way to Freedom Ft. Tamara Josephine

Transcript

86: Dance your way to Freedom Ft. Tamara Josephine · Soul Salon with Ayandastood

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  There is so much wisdom and poetry and magic in our bodies.
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  And the queen by my side is here to guide us
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  and support us in tapping deeper into dance
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  and movement and spirit and all the wisdom
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  that she can frame far more wisely than I ever could.
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  So I am so grateful and blessed and honored to invite
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  tomorrow.
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  Welcome to the Soul Salon.
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  We're so happy to have you.
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  Thank you so much for having me.
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  And thank you so much.
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  I'm so glad to be here.
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  I'm so grateful to have you, your wisdom,
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  the way that you speak about dance movement,
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  all of the wisdom you bring.
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  I'm just so grateful that we get to learn from you
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  and through you.
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  Have a look.
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  Oh, yes.
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  A cozy chat.
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  So the first question I would love to ask you
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  since this is the Soul Salon is, what does the soul mean to you?
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  What a beautiful question to start with.
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  Oh, it's a big one as well.
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  The soul to me is the expression of consciousness
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  that is here and existing in this human plane.
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  The soul is infinite.
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  The soul is, it can't be contained really by words,
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  or even this vessel.
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  And it's an expression of consciousness
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  that informs how we shape and live in this world
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  and also many other worlds to me and other dimensions.
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  And so right now in this human expression,
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  that's what I would say the soul is.
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  This beautiful, chaotic, messy, perfectly imperfect,
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  all-knowing expression of energy that is us.
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  And I feel like when we return back to our soul
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  and we really sit in the seat of who we are in our soul,
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  there's this home come in and there's this knowing, you know?
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  Because often we're all up here and we're all in here,
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  but the soul knows, and the soul knows.
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  Wow, there was so much richness and resonance.
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  And every word you said, an expression of consciousness,
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  this vessel, this home coming, the infinite,
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  the ability to not actually capture it in words.
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  I just have chills listening to you express that
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  because that was literally a poem that was so beautiful
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  and stunning and I love that was dim so, so much.
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  And so for you and your soul, what do you feel like
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  you came here to express or embody,
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  why did your soul come to earth?
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  Do you think sometimes I'm like, I don't want to,
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  I'm not coming back, it's the best way.
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  Like I'm like, because you know, you know what?
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  It's so interesting because this year I feel for many of us,
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  it has been that energy of like, why?
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  There's been this really deep unearthing
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  and deep wanting for me, wanting to really
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  understand like what is the exact mission
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  and not from a place of perfection,
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  but from a place of like looking at my gifts,
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  looking at my abilities, looking at these natural things
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  that I have that I've always possessed,
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  that we all possess, we all have our own divine, beautiful gifts,
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  being able to look at them and be like,
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  how can I be a service while I'm here?
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  How can I be of love and a joy and abundance?
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  So for me, it's interesting because I,
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  although I, you know, advocate and promote dance so much
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  and I've always loved dance,
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  there was a resistance to teaching it.
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  And there's always resistance in the path, right?
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  So for me, I really truly feel that my reason for being
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  and my journey here and purpose is to help people reconnect
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  to their bodies, reconnect to the truth of whatever
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  that is for them and allow themselves to express
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  not only in their minds and through their voice,
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  but also in their body and remove these layers
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  of limiting beliefs or of confinement
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  or of structure that they've given themselves
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  because I've been on that journey myself.
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  So allowing people to lead from their bodies with love
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  and acceptance, I feel is my purpose,
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  reconnecting people back to their vitality
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  because when you are happy, when you are connected,
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  that is when you're most creative.
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  You're in your best point of receiving,
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  experiencing the world, you know?
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  And we're missing that in, I mean, we've been missing that
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  for a while, I think, as a collective, like that joy.
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  And knowing also that joy can exist alongside,
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  there can be multiple truths that exist at once.
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  Joy can exist amongst confusion and sadness,
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  you know, as we know, like, we don't have to be one thing.
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  So helping people to realise that you don't have to be one thing
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  and you can express and meet different parts of yourself
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  and explore and be messy with it and be expressive
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  and it hasn't got a look a certain way.
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  So in the long short round about why I feel
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  that is my purpose to help people with that, with that joy.
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  I feel like, you know when there's a table
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  and there's just a feast, and you don't know where to start.
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  Like you are like, this is more food than I could ever actually eat.
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  That was scrumptious.
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  I'm jealous of everyone watching
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  because I'm like, I want to take notes.
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  You said, reconnecting people.
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  You're just dropping gems so casually,
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  reconnecting people to their vitality.
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  Ooh, the collective reading of this why that we're all returning to
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  and this joy and holding that duality
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  and holding the paradox that we can be witnessing
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  and experiencing deep trauma as a collective
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  and also we can make room for joy.
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  We can make room for dance.
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  And I love what you said that the resistance is always in the path
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  that we are here to follow and embody.
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  That's just like, there's so much.
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  I honestly, I'm like, I want to write down every word you just said.
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  This is such a gift.
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  Wow, there was just so much magic and juiciness there.
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  Thank you so much for your generosity.
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  I'd love to go deeper into that, you know,
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  this path that you have been on as a dance teacher,
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  a celebrant.
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  Who are you in your own words?
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  If you could give us more of an insight into your world,
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  into your work, how you bring this wisdom into the collective
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  and we are so grateful to be learning from you.
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  Oh, so my, you know what's so interesting with dance?
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  It's always been there.
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  And it's like, you know that thing of hidden in plain sight.
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  And we dance from, I think I genuinely
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  think I came dancing at the room.
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  Like I didn't see my, my, my, like, my mom.
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  So I was like, you were always dancing from when you're little.
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  And even now, like, I don't live with my mom.
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  So when I go and visit her, I'm always
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  planting around like her home.
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  And she's like, you haven't changed.
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  Like you were doing that when you were like this big.
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  And she's always like, oh, yeah, what, what a joy is to see that.
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  And my mom's a big influence in my work as well.
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  So to backtrack and always dancing when I was in secondary school,
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  I really enjoyed primary school secondary school
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  was a bit of a challenge for me.
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  And like many of us, you know, we all have our baggage.
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  We all have our traumas and things that we've experienced.
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  But I didn't really settle that well into secondary school
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  when I look back on it.
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  And there were moments where I was bullied.
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  And so blessed in a child me, like little me,
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  but that was my resilience.
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  That was my healing.
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  So I remember I'd like have a bit of an uncomfortable time at school.
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  And then I'd come home and I'd dance.
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  And then I'd wake up before school
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  and I'd dance in the morning.
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  And so I'd like have this ritual that I didn't even know I was doing.
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  It's such a young age, like 13, 14, where I just put on,
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  I was a bachelorette girl, I'll school dance hall hip-hop.
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  And I just put it on and I just danced my little heart away.
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  And it gave me the energy that I needed to sustain myself while I was at school.
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  And then from there, I just was like, let me continue.
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  So I studied from secondary to six formal college, as some were calling it.
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  And then I went on to do a degree in dance.
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  So dance was this like center of gravity.
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  Like it was like a point of gravity for me that really grounded me.
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  And I was like, you know, why not do what I love?
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  Why not continue that?
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  So when I finished university, I explored different paths,
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  you know, different jobs were in education.
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  And all of these things, and I was training on the side,
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  but I just kept returning to dance.
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  And then I'd like to take it to the park and I'd like to dance outside.
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  And I'd like to dance in the earth.
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  And then in 2017, I, under 2016, 17,
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  I embarked on my wellness journey and let's say my spiritual awakening, you know.
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  And I was noticing the link of how dance became a prayer for me.
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  Yeah, like I would meditate, but then I would also be in this meditative state
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  while I was dancing.
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  And I was like, there's something here that is more than just fun.
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  There's something here that is fueling the spirit.
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  There's something here that is connecting and grounding the spirit.
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  And then I started to think about how I could fuse well-being and movement together.
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  And although that obviously, it's like a byproducts, right, movement helps your well-being,
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  but I hadn't really seen it being done in the sense of, let's intentionally use this,
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  you know, back it back in the day.
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  And so, yeah, then I started to create spaces
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  alongside being a well-being lead for an educational institute.
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  And I started doing my retreats with women and body-man retreats on the side and infusing.
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  I remember that it's so interesting because I remember the day I was like, I want to do this.
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  And I sat down at the edge of my bed and it was literally like this stream, like this download.
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  I didn't, I didn't even have to, oh, well, shut up.
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  It just came and it was like, do this.
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  I like to use blindfolds in like my work when I work with people with movement.
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  It was like, use blindfolds.
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  It was like, the instruction was so clear, and this is before I had, you know?
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  So there was no, there was no like kind of like, let me try and get a stimuli.
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  It was just like, it came through and I was like, when it comes to you, so clearly,
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  it's that obedience as well.
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  And then eventually I moved on from my work within education
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  and then I decided to just go all in and continue to help people.
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  And now I'm looking at helping more, especially coming from a lot of different corporate spaces,
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  helping people in corporate as well.
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  Because we need that vitality when we're working, you know?
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  We need that connection when we're working.
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  And so now I do my own, my own workshops, my own retreats,
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  along with helping corporate people, corporate companies,
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  forward thinking organisations that want to create more for their wellbeing initiatives
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  that want to keep people engaged and enjoying themselves.
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  And yeah, like that's where I am now.
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  And then the celebrancy was such a kind of segue.
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  I was at a friend's wedding and I was like, something just was like, I can do this
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  and I would love to do this because I love, not only like, it's cliche, I love love,
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  but really being able to embody love,
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  being in walking embodiment of love as you move through the world
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  and extend it to everything, not just human beings,
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  not just animals, like even the plant that is in her own, she is shining behind you.
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  Like being able to see that and feel that
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  and then bring it into a space where it's so important.
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  So that's a new journey that I'm embarking on.
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  And seeing how I can get creative with that and bring more vitality to people's
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  special, beautiful, one of the most beautiful days of their life, you know,
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  it's supposed to be memorable, so yeah.
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  Oh, my word. I am just in awe of, oh, like it's oozing.
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  There's so much that you have to, that you are sharing with us.
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  And right from trace, thank you for tracing that line from childhood
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  and how dance was your sanctuary, your safe place amidst the trauma of childhood,
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  like of bullying and childhood wounding and little you just,
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  I'm sending so much love to her and to all our inner children.
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  I just want to hold so much love for that part of you.
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  And the love you created in your body to hold her
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  and to refuse to dim her magic and her movement
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  and the way that you started off by saying that your mom said that you,
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  you think, or you think you came out of the word dancing that you just have
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  these incredible lines that really stick with me.
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  That's such a magic.
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  And I know a lot of dancers listening to this will resonate with that.
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  And that fact that you've kept that because I know a lot of the dance
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  community can be so exclusive, especially for black women.
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  So I have one of my dearest soul sisters, friends.
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  She has experienced that reclamation of coming home to dance and returning to that space.
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  But the the trauma of all of that as well of exclusion and anti-blackness
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  and colonialism and all these things.
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  And with that, I feel like you're what you said about dance being meditative.
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  And we were always, you know, we had we lived spirituality.
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  We had spirituality and there has been such there was in that colonial process,
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  such a robbing of that understanding of the body as there's home for spirit to move through and in.
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  So that really just touched me.
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  And then what you said about sitting on the edge of your bed and just channeling
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  the guidance of like the clarity you said of,
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  this is what you're going to do, the blindfolds.
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  And I'm sure that unlocks so much for your students.
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  And also just the multifaceted way that you're sharing your light,
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  like the different aspects of your work.
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  And then being a celebrant and being such a love devotee,
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  it's just magical how you are channeling your purpose and answering that question of why,
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  you know, why is my soul here and leading with so much creativity.
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  I'm so curious.
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  There's so many places that we could we could go.
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  But with this journey of expressing the consciousness through your soul,
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  what do you think you've tapped into as like one of the biggest,
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  you mentioned limiting beliefs that we are holding in our bodies that when,
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  when you work with people, how, what do you see as one of the biggest sort of myths
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  or limiting beliefs holding them back?
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  Oh, beautiful question.
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  A huge one, comparison, comparison.
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  And they're exactly what you said, like with your friend, the touch points dance is such a gift,
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  but from an industry perspective.
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  And also, I think the expectation that society has undance, it's like,
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  only if you're this good, only if your body looks this way,
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  only if you move this way, there's all of these boxes.
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  And I think within every industry, there are boxes, right?
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  And it's our responsibility and duty to completely tear down those boxes.
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  Absolutely, because for me, it was the same growing up.
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  I didn't really see anyone that looked like me that was really successful in the dance industry.
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  And that did have an effect on my own, like again, comparison and my own self-esteem.
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  When I work with people, it is the comparison.
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  I can't do that.
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  It's always looking at what you can't do over what you can do.
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  Like, yeah, but I'm committed to this because I can't do this.
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  And it's like, but I'm not asking you to do what I'm doing.
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  I'm asking you to find the expression within yourself and understand what that looks like for you.
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  Because I really do believe that we all have different energetic signatures
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  that come out in our movement.
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  And so the more that you explore, it's kind of like that saying,
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  you have to fail first.
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  The more that you explore, you're like, okay, that's not quite me.
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  That's not me.
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  My thing, and it's quite ironic because I'm also prices.
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  But my movement is very fluid.
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  It's very watery.
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  I get that.
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  People are like, your movement is so fluid.
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  And that's my energetic signature.
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  But I try to get people to really hone in like, what's yours?
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  What does that feel like?
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  Is it more strong?
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  Is it more firm?
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  Is it very clean?
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  Is it lines?
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  Like, what does your expression look like?
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  And how does it feel?
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  Do you like to move between every facet and form of movement?
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  Like, how do you like to express yourself?
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  And then using the move, like the music as the stimuli,
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  so that you have this kind of like the bodies like the base and like the altar,
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  you know, and then you've got the music conducting it.
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  And it like comes together as this like beautiful prayer.
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  So it's like comparison, what else do I notice?
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  A lack of trust.
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  Trust in the body, trust in what it can do.
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  And also this like wanting to shrink.
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  And especially when it's around different movements.
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  And I collaborate with amazing, beautiful, small business owners,
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  but I collaborate with an amazing friend on an event called Networkin.
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  So clever.
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  Love an incredible name.
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  You know, love it.
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  She's an absolute gem.
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  And we do networking business events,
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  but, or should I say, and we make it fun and we dance.
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  So I lead a work workshop within the business networking event.
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  And also just pointing to the wisdom that our body has.
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  Because everyone's up here, but no one's here.
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  And then what happens when we're not here is that this is shouting.
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  We're not listening.
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  And then by the time we are listening, it's too late.
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  Because we're sick or we're run down or we're burnt out.
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  And I've been a product of that myself.
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  So it's a lived experience for me too.
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  And this is the thing.
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  So how can we learn to trust our body more?
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  Instead of trying to control it.
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  And also know that in certain movements,
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  it's going to support us in different ways, you know?
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  So I always say to people, my forces, curiosity.
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  Be curious about your movement.
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  Be curious about yourself.
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  Like, get curious.
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  Or what would happen if I sometimes, I mean, I love my sis that I live with.
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  And we're so on the same wavelength.
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  I'll walk in and I'll just do a little.
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  And she's like, oh, where did that come from?
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  I'm like, I don't know.
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  And she's like, I love that.
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  Do you know what I mean?
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  Like, allowing yourself to just express, so be curious.
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  Be compassionate, you know?
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  Like, have that compassion for yourself and others.
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  And really have patience and grace with yourself.
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  Be creative.
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  Do you know what I mean?
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  Like, get creative with how you move.
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  And then also do it in community.
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  You know, coming into Unity.
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  I always say, community is community unity.
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  And yeah, just because we are, we're like,
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  we're all aligned when we're in community.
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  We have the shared vision and goal.
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  So it doesn't matter where it is.
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  It could be in a business network and space.
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  If you're all doing the same movement,
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  you're actually having a lived experience in that moment.
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  It's the same with any, any kind of space.
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  If your goal is to be connected to your body
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  or to figure out something using your body,
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  it's like the shared goal and vision that you have
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  and you're going towards the same place.
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  So use that creativity or get into communities where you're like,
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  I really like this type of music.
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  Ooh, what style of dance?
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  Or I might go to an event where I can see people dance and move.
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  That might encourage me to move more, you know?
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  Or it can start in your room.
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  It can start in your room, like starting your room.
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  Starting your kitchen.
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  Start where feels safe and then start to expand.
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  You are a choreographer of language.
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  Oh, I love language of movement.
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  Like your form of expression, it just really does something to me.
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  I'm obsessed.
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  Wow, the coming into unity was that what it was.
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  Wow, unity, that's incredible.
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  So curiosity, I love that.
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  I love what you said.
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  What would happen if I?
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  Yeah, like, let me try.
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  Let me try.
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  Yeah, I would happen if I love it.
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  And then there was compassion.
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  I love that because we can be so hard in ourselves.
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  That takes us to the comparison.
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  So we can optimize comparison into self-compression
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  into honoring our own, what I love what you said.
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  Being present to what is here, what can I do?
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  What do I want to express?
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  And then instead of what can I not do, what she can do,
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  I'll never be able to do that.
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  And the comparison that can live in the body, I think,
• 21:58
  that in this culture that we have in, I think,
• 22:01
  that's so incredible.
• 22:02
  The creativity, we love that in the salsa line.
• 22:04
  I love that so much.
• 22:06
  There is so much.
• 22:06
  Even like, what does it mean to dance?
• 22:08
  What does it mean to, there's so much to the moments
• 22:12
  we get to dance, being more creative about that.
• 22:15
  And then the community and kinship that we are here to come
• 22:19
  together, move together.
• 22:20
  I think that's so juicy and magical.
• 22:22
  And what you said earlier about how we all express
• 22:27
  a unique, energetic signature, I say it incredible.
• 22:31
  It's amazing.
• 22:33
  I'm learning so much.
• 22:35
  I love your wisdom.
• 22:36
  I'm like, wow, can I just, you know, some people,
• 22:39
  I feel like consciousness is like a home.
• 22:41
  And when you walk into some places, you're like, oh, yeah.
• 22:45
  I love it here.
• 22:46
  Yeah.
• 22:46
  Can I stand by you?
• 22:48
  I love it.
• 22:48
  I love the books on the wall.
• 22:50
  I love the paint.
• 22:51
  I love it.
• 22:52
  I feel so nourished and enriched by everything
• 22:55
  you're sharing and how you're sharing it.
• 22:56
  So thank you so, so much.
• 22:58
  I'm like, pinging, thank you.
• 23:00
  This is magical.
• 23:02
  I love that so much.
• 23:03
  OK, beautiful.
• 23:04
  So there was those, those, oh.
• 23:05
  And then you talked about shrinking.
• 23:07
  Let's go there because that is so real.
• 23:09
  You can see it on an embodied level, right?
• 23:11
  Can you, like, tell us more about how we can take up
• 23:15
  more space, literally, and not, you know,
• 23:19
  feel this shrinking?
• 23:20
  Even the way we use our phones, we're always trying to, like,
• 23:23
  yeah, it's very, yeah, what's it called?
• 23:25
  I think it's called Foneck or something like that.
• 23:27
  Oh, yeah, I think that's what it is.
• 23:29
  What it is, it's the shrinking.
• 23:31
  And OK, I'll give you a few really beautiful exercises,
• 23:34
  but I like to, I see my interaction with the world
• 23:39
  as like play.
• 23:40
  When you see things more as play, it takes the pressure off
• 23:45
  and it takes the expectation of the outcome off
• 23:48
  because you're just playing.
• 23:49
  Yes.
• 23:50
  So it's fine, like, it's fine.
• 23:51
  Unless you're very, very, what's the word I'm looking for?
• 23:56
  Competitive.
• 23:57
  You might have some issues.
• 23:59
  But one thing that I really love to do,
• 24:03
  and it sounds so, it sounds so small,
• 24:06
  but yet it's so powerful that aren't of allowing,
• 24:10
  like, allowing yourself.
• 24:12
  So for me, I'm a music babe, obviously,
• 24:16
  but like, if I hear a song and I'm out in public
• 24:20
  and I'm listening to my music, I allow myself to move.
• 24:25
  Instead of keeping it like, OK, like, this is the most I can do
• 24:29
  because I'm in public, and it's not acceptable
• 24:32
  for me to be expressive in public.
• 24:34
  When I see people and they're singing to the top of their,
• 24:37
  I'm like, freedom, freedom, because you are using your free will
• 24:43
  to the max right now, and you're just expressing yourself
• 24:46
  and being at peace with people maybe perceiving you
• 24:48
  in a certain way.
• 24:49
  So that is the first thing.
• 24:50
  When you're listening to a song, if you feel like you want
• 24:53
  to get a foot involved and tap your foot,
• 24:55
  if you feel like you want to kind of,
• 24:56
  I'm a bit of a hand girl sometimes.
• 24:58
  I'm like, I'm like, you know, the little music County,
• 25:00
  I'm like, you know, I'm giving a little show down,
• 25:02
  people are like, I'm like, you know,
• 25:06
  or sometimes I'll like sing and I'm like,
• 25:08
  I don't know, like, a little mind.
• 25:09
  Yes.
• 25:10
  So that's like a great one for allowing yourself
• 25:12
  to be seen and taken at more space.
• 25:14
  Yes.
• 25:15
  And another one, and now this is a bit controversial.
• 25:19
  Take us there.
• 25:20
  But I noticed, I don't know with, in British culture,
• 25:25
  I'm going to say British culture because I feel like it is
• 25:27
  or etiquette, let's say, we apologize a lot.
• 25:30
  I don't know whether you like...
• 25:31
  I don't know how they're African, too,
• 25:32
  but it's colonial.
• 25:33
  Yes.
• 25:34
  And so, especially as a black woman,
• 25:37
  I found I apologize a lot, when it's not me.
• 25:40
  So even if you're in public and you're in,
• 25:42
  and you're walking and maybe like,
• 25:44
  you slightly getting someone's path
• 25:46
  or they're in your path, I was noticing that,
• 25:48
  I was like, oh, sorry, sorry.
• 25:50
  And I was like, but why am I saying sorry?
• 25:53
  There's no need for me to say sorry.
• 25:58
  There's no need.
• 25:59
  So, not from a place of, I'm going to stand in you,
• 26:03
  but just from a place of, okay, we're just two humans walking
• 26:06
  and we've just ended up in each other's path.
• 26:10
  Or instead of if someone bumps into me,
• 26:12
  me being like, oh, I'm so sorry,
• 26:15
  I just hold the line and like, give someone a smile,
• 26:18
  but I don't need to be so apologetic for something
• 26:21
  that I'm not doing, you know?
• 26:23
  So that's a really beautiful one
• 26:25
  for just allowing yourself to be like,
• 26:26
  I don't need to apologize for being in this space.
• 26:29
  I'm just here and I have a right to be here
• 26:31
  like everyone else, you know?
• 26:35
  And one more, I would say with your movement.
• 26:41
  Now, I always say start at home
• 26:43
  because it feels like the safest place.
• 26:46
  But if you start at home and there's a move that you like to do
• 26:50
  that you notice that you keep returning back to,
• 26:52
  kind of call that like your motif,
• 26:55
  taking it from your home into like a public space,
• 27:00
  whether that's at a party or something like that
• 27:02
  and actually intentionally leaning into the movement
• 27:07
  that you were using at home that made you feel comfortable
• 27:11
  but taking it into a space
• 27:12
  where it's completely new and different.
• 27:14
  That just allows you to take up space a little bit more
• 27:18
  because even when I see, I can normally tell by the way
• 27:22
  that someone holds their body and themselves
• 27:25
  potentially how they move
• 27:27
  before I even start working with them
• 27:30
  because a lot of the time people,
• 27:33
  and I love obviously I love my dancers, you know?
• 27:36
  But you like got it unlocked, like you like,
• 27:39
  you're not cool, you're open to expressing and exploring
• 27:41
  but I really love working with people
• 27:44
  that are building this new and juicy relationship with themselves.
• 27:47
  And so a lot of people that I work with,
• 27:50
  it's like you're rigid
• 27:53
  but not as in, you're just as in,
• 27:55
  you're rigid in different areas of your life
• 27:58
  and it's translating to your movement.
• 28:01
  Do you know what I mean?
• 28:02
  I do.
• 28:03
  So it's like, oh, or again, you're shrinking.
• 28:07
  Where are you shrinking in other areas of your life?
• 28:12
  Because dances like a mirror.
• 28:15
  That's why I love it so much
• 28:17
  because it shows us, you know?
• 28:20
  And often because people think it has to be so performative,
• 28:24
  they're getting the, again, intentionality.
• 28:28
  Why are you dancing?
• 28:32
  Why are you dancing?
• 28:34
  If you're dancing because you want to be professional dancers
• 28:36
  and you need to train, that's completely different.
• 28:39
  But there are, there are whole traumas
• 28:40
  within the dancing industry as well
• 28:41
  because again, how you look,
• 28:43
  you're not good enough, thisworthiness.
• 28:45
  But if you're simply dancing for recreation,
• 28:48
  recreationally and for self-connection and community,
• 28:51
  you don't need to be carrying all these expectations
• 28:54
  of like, oh, it has to look like,
• 28:56
  it doesn't have to look like anything.
• 28:58
  It gets to look the way you want it to.
• 29:01
  And that's where people get confused
• 29:03
  because they're like, oh, you know,
• 29:05
  or if I'm teaching a piece of choreography,
• 29:07
  oh, I couldn't get it.
• 29:09
  It's not divided in conquer.
• 29:10
  It's okay.
• 29:11
  It's okay if you didn't get it
• 29:13
  because the aim of the session is joy.
• 29:17
  If the aim of the session was slay the movement
• 29:19
  and get on stage and give me a five, six, seven, eight,
• 29:21
  it would be a different story.
• 29:23
  But it's not.
• 29:24
  And so I think with anyone introducing themselves
• 29:28
  to movement, not the worst,
• 29:31
  but I don't think it's very supportive
• 29:33
  to look at people who have been dancing for years
• 29:36
  and just find a nice piece of music.
• 29:39
  Put it on, start to explore and start there instead of being like,
• 29:43
  I want to learn this move and that move and that move
• 29:45
  because again, within the dance industry,
• 29:47
  what happens is when, also when you're training,
• 29:50
  you are obviously taught specific movements and choreography,
• 29:54
  but then a lot of dancers can't freestyle.
• 29:57
  They really struggle.
• 29:58
  I'm not gonna say, can't, they challenge their struggle
• 30:01
  because I can, but it's again, it's a mental.
• 30:04
  And so it's like, I remember one woman that I worked with
• 30:10
  blindfold, she had to take it off
• 30:11
  because the element of control, she was like,
• 30:13
  I need to see, I need to see.
• 30:15
  And it's like, there's, you need to trust, not see.
• 30:18
  You know?
• 30:20
  Yeah, it's so interesting.
• 30:22
  Wow, ooh, ooh, ooh.
• 30:27
  There was so much magic there.
• 30:29
  I think this idea of releasing control
• 30:32
  and the dance is a mirror, let's start there.
• 30:34
  That was such an incredible insight and window into
• 30:38
  like how we can all deepen our understanding of what dance is.
• 30:42
  I think that really resonates where if you feel like
• 30:45
  you're an embarrassing person,
• 30:47
  that's gonna manifest in, oh, I'm an embarrassing dancer.
• 30:51
  Or if you're like, it's not safe to be embarrassing
• 30:54
  or to cringe at myself, that's gonna manifest is,
• 30:57
  I'm gonna shrink myself because I'm afraid
• 31:00
  of showing up in that way that makes me feel ashamed
• 31:03
  because of conditioning shame.
• 31:05
  Ooh, big one.
• 31:07
  Conditioning trauma, childhood and expectations.
• 31:10
  And all of these things.
• 31:12
  So I love that, everything that you're sharing so, so much
• 31:15
  because I feel like also earlier you said
• 31:17
  that dance is a prayer.
• 31:19
  And I think that possibility, not all of us experience
• 31:23
  as like accessible to us.
• 31:25
  And that it is accessible because we all have bodies.
• 31:28
  We have a body you can use.
• 31:29
  Yes, and so what you're inviting us into
• 31:31
  with more playfulness, more allowing, you said,
• 31:34
  oh, that's such an incredible word.
• 31:36
  You know, if I am judged, can I allow that?
• 31:39
  If I want to be more playful, can I allow that?
• 31:42
  Can I be a space of allowance for myself?
• 31:45
  And I think in dance, many of us come up
• 31:47
  with the fact that we're not spaces of allowance.
• 31:50
  I think also something I'll say is,
• 31:52
  I feel like such an incredible aspect
• 31:54
  of various black cultures across the world is dance.
• 31:58
  And then, and I think that's amazing.
• 32:01
  And it's such a ancestral practice, tradition, gift,
• 32:06
  which is so beautiful and needs to be continued
• 32:09
  to be celebrated.
• 32:10
  And more spaces, I think, you know,
• 32:12
  all across the world are so important for movements
• 32:15
  and for black communities to move.
• 32:17
  And we've always done that.
• 32:18
  But then I also want to say for the awkward black girls
• 32:21
  that if you struggle with feeling confident in your movement,
• 32:26
  they can also be that additional shame of like,
• 32:28
  oh, I should be able to dance exactly.
• 32:31
  I feel that way often where I'm like,
• 32:33
  I'm coming home to the joy of dance rather than the excellence
• 32:37
  or the being able to embody certain things, you know what I mean?
• 32:41
  And trying to become a space of allowing myself
• 32:45
  to play and to try.
• 32:47
  Like, I'm South African.
• 32:48
  South Africans are incredible.
• 32:50
  Amapiano is incredible.
• 32:52
  He's been like, oh my God, like amazing.
• 32:55
  And also, like, I have a lot of shame
• 32:57
  that I cannot move the same in that way, yes, let's say.
• 33:01
  And then I'm like, oh, I don't get to dance to the song
• 33:04
  because I don't know exactly how to embody that in print.
• 33:08
  And I mean, it's truly divine expression.
• 33:10
  It's spiritual.
• 33:11
  It's cosmic.
• 33:13
  It's beautiful and bold and brilliant
• 33:16
  and also an energetic signature of a culture
• 33:18
  because it also happens both at an individual and a cultural level.
• 33:22
  And I've just, wow, I'm in awe.
• 33:24
  But then sometimes I think we let feeling
• 33:28
  on the outside of something looking into it.
• 33:30
  Stop us from even stepping a toe
• 33:33
  because we're like, if I can't dive in gracefully and be it,
• 33:36
  become one with it, I'm just don't get to do it at all.
• 33:38
  So you're really speaking to me, to many of us.
• 33:42
  And so I'm just, wow, I'm so grateful.
• 33:44
  I want to give you something.
• 33:46
  It is inherent to you.
• 33:49
  When you are speaking, it makes me a bit emotional, actually,
• 33:52
  because it is inherent to you.
• 33:55
  You already embody it because it's your of the people.
• 33:59
  Like it's your blood.
• 34:01
  It doesn't have to look.
• 34:02
  And that's the thing, like the looking, exactly what you said,
• 34:06
  the looking, you can do the movement.
• 34:09
  Cool.
• 34:10
  You can do our movement, but embody in it.
• 34:14
  It's not even about the movement.
• 34:16
  You know, like sometimes, I'll give an example.
• 34:19
  You can have two dancers that are both amazing in their own right.
• 34:24
  One is giving you backflips, tricks.
• 34:27
  This and they're amazing.
• 34:30
  One is not doing any tricks, but you can feel it here.
• 34:35
  And when you feel it here, that's what the souls resonate with.
• 34:39
  That's the resonance, that's the relating.
• 34:42
  And you'll automatically be drawn to that,
• 34:44
  but because you can feel their heart.
• 34:46
  And so to you and any other person that doesn't feel like they're good enough,
• 34:51
  it, if it is in your heart, that's all that matters.
• 34:55
  Like as long as you feel it in your heart and in your body,
• 34:58
  that is all that matters.
• 35:01
  You are more than enough and worthy and inherent to being in every space,
• 35:07
  especially that embodies and is the movement of your people and your culture.
• 35:13
  You don't have to, you know.
• 35:18
  In a child, older child, all of us received that.
• 35:21
  That was so juicy and generous.
• 35:23
  Thank you.
• 35:24
  You see that and that resonates, that's so stunning.
• 35:27
  And I've, I have felt that, you know, and what you said,
• 35:30
  where it's about them, you also are one with the music.
• 35:33
  You feel it, you feel that resonance, you feel that connection.
• 35:37
  And I really do feel that with Amapiano and with other, you know,
• 35:41
  my own cultures and countries music.
• 35:44
  And so it's beautiful.
• 35:46
  I love that you say it's inherent.
• 35:48
  There's something that you shared earlier,
• 35:49
  which I think was so magical that I want to go tap into,
• 35:52
  as you spoke about joy and public and like dancing and taking up space
• 35:56
  and as black women in British culture, you mentioned,
• 35:59
  I've also experienced the sorry, the apologizing aspect.
• 36:02
  And then when you're in white spaces shrinking even more
• 36:05
  and being told, you know, that you need to be 10 times better,
• 36:12
  whatever it is, you know, the, and that's another form of shrinking
• 36:15
  because you're shrinking your human worthiness to make mistakes.
• 36:18
  You deserve to make mistakes as a human,
• 36:20
  but as a black woman in these spaces,
• 36:22
  you often don't feel like you do have that same grace.
• 36:26
  How have you found within yourself and the freedom, you know,
• 36:30
  to, I freedom is such a powerful word,
• 36:32
  to not care about, you know, if someone sees you popping a shoulder,
• 36:37
  you're just, you're, you're, you allow it.
• 36:39
  Yeah. How have you found that?
• 36:40
  It has been such a journey and but such a beautiful gift as well
• 36:44
  because as I said, it's like the resistance.
• 36:47
  And it's also often the work that we do as humans have,
• 36:52
  we're souls having these humans experience is the work that we,
• 36:57
  if I've needed, or the medicine that we hoped would be there
• 37:00
  when we, when we needed that guidance and support.
• 37:02
  So again, I have been through the shrinking,
• 37:06
  the feelings of unworthiness and it's not to say that
• 37:09
  those feelings still don't arise, but now I have tools
• 37:12
  that ground me back in and especially with joy,
• 37:16
  people always say to me, and it's beautiful, they're like,
• 37:19
  oh, you are such a light, like your energy, your energy,
• 37:25
  energy, your soul comes with, when you have a very big,
• 37:28
  like an energetic aura and like presence,
• 37:30
  it comes with a lot of responsibility
• 37:33
  because people unconsciously have an expectation
• 37:35
  of what you must do for them.
• 37:37
  Sometimes, sometimes people, sometimes I'll gravitate
• 37:40
  into what you for what they can get instead of being able
• 37:43
  to just witness something as it is,
• 37:45
  enjoy it and move forward.
• 37:47
  And so when it comes to my joy and really allow myself
• 37:51
  to embody that, that's been hard.
• 37:54
  Like, around maybe four weeks ago, I was,
• 37:58
  I went full throttle and I can't lie.
• 38:00
  I was walking, I was singing, I was doing a back step.
• 38:03
  It was, I was doing a lot.
• 38:06
  But this gentleman walks like we were kind of walking towards each other
• 38:09
  and he was like, it was like he was confused,
• 38:13
  but borderline disgusted and didn't know what to do.
• 38:15
  Like the expression, I could see him move through these different expressions
• 38:19
  and I was like, oh, this is interesting.
• 38:22
  And remembering and expressing your joy
• 38:26
  is about being able to witness someone where they are
• 38:28
  and meet them where they are and not internalise what's coming up for them
• 38:33
  and allowing your expression to continue to move through.
• 38:36
  And even if it might feel a bit uncomfortable,
• 38:38
  it's like, okay, but I know that has nothing to actually do with me.
• 38:41
  It's when you internalise other people's expectations or projections.
• 38:45
  That's when you get in a very sticky place.
• 38:48
  And especially with me, I have alkalised and worked through shame,
• 38:54
  especially when it comes to whining and twerking, you know,
• 38:58
  cultural dances for a long time,
• 39:00
  because even when I was young, as I said,
• 39:02
  like being bullied and dancing at home,
• 39:05
  I was, I'm very young and like, I didn't know what I was listening to.
• 39:09
  I just knew that it felt good on a cellular level, you know?
• 39:13
  And I think when it comes to expressing my joy and my wellness
• 39:19
  does not look like a calm voice.
• 39:23
  And my joy, joy and wellness looks loud.
• 39:27
  It looks like a bellowing laugh.
• 39:28
  It looks like a little twerking, my sat in skirt.
• 39:31
  Like, that's what it looks like for me.
• 39:33
  And really thinking about what does joy actually look like
• 39:37
  and feel like on me, you know?
• 39:40
  And then when you can establish what that is,
• 39:42
  then you can embody that more because you're like, actually,
• 39:45
  I feel, I feel really good when I am maybe, you know,
• 39:51
  you're more introvert.
• 39:53
  I actually feel really good when I'm like drawing and I,
• 39:57
  that's then that is your joy.
• 39:59
  How can I express that a bit more, you know?
• 40:02
  It doesn't have to look like someone else,
• 40:03
  but you just have to know like, what does my joy look like?
• 40:06
  Is it very outficing?
• 40:07
  Is it actually more internal?
• 40:09
  But as long as it is true to your being,
• 40:11
  that's what matters, you know?
• 40:14
  That is a stunning invitation for all of us
• 40:17
  to journal on and reflect on.
• 40:19
  What is my highest expression of joy?
• 40:22
  What does that look like?
• 40:23
  And then where you took us earlier,
• 40:25
  if you don't yet feel comfortable bringing that to the world,
• 40:27
  can you start that expression in your room, in your safe space?
• 40:31
  And then can you create more invitations
• 40:34
  to embody that in public?
• 40:36
  And then what you said about recognizing
• 40:39
  and meeting people where they are,
• 40:40
  but not internalizing their reactions,
• 40:43
  knowing that is just how they treat themselves,
• 40:44
  how they have been treated, and how infectious your joy is.
• 40:48
  Like you're, it's such a gift.
• 40:50
  It's like an energetic gift to the collective.
• 40:51
  Like as you're moving, it's giving us all delight
• 40:54
  and like it's making, it's giving us the invitation to move
• 40:57
  and to think about, oh, yes, like we have these rigid lines
• 41:01
  of this is for movement.
• 41:02
  This is for being quite still and rigid.
• 41:05
  And I think that's so wonderful.
• 41:07
  And there's something you said in your last response
• 41:09
  that I also, something is being for me
• 41:11
  that I wanted to share when you spoke about the two dances
• 41:14
  and the one who has all the technique,
• 41:17
  but not the soul of it and the essence
• 41:18
  and the other who has it in their heart.
• 41:21
  I think that is so beautiful and such
• 41:22
  a like anti-colonial look framing of it
• 41:26
  because I do think in the more colonial understanding,
• 41:29
  it's about like studying and structure and lines
• 41:32
  and doing something that like from this, from the mind,
• 41:36
  and then coming home to like the heart of it,
• 41:38
  the essence of it, the body of, like the,
• 41:41
  the body of it as in like the soul of something,
• 41:43
  the essence of it is what I mean.
• 41:46
  And I think that like is even the idea of being intelligent,
• 41:50
  you know, like there's people who just have a deep wisdom,
• 41:54
  they know the earth, they know whatever it is,
• 41:56
  they know love, but then someone who studied love
• 42:00
  has a PhD in psychology.
• 42:02
  You know, it's like, it's quite a,
• 42:04
  we're really inheriting this, as we all know,
• 42:06
  these like deeply traumatic ways of viewing ourselves
• 42:09
  and reality, so that came up for me.
• 42:12
  I'm just in awe of this wisdom.
• 42:14
  I keep saying that because it's so beautiful
• 42:16
  and you're inviting us to very specific ways
• 42:19
  we can begin to find creativity, compassion, curiosity,
• 42:22
  community.
• 42:24
  What do you think for the person listening to this,
• 42:27
  especially someone who relates to your experience
• 42:30
  of bullying and childhood,
• 42:32
  and especially maybe around their movement,
• 42:34
  their body, the expression, what would you say to them,
• 42:37
  and what would you say to their in a child?
• 42:39
  Hmm.
• 42:44
  You are love, you know,
• 42:48
  our highest and most purest form of expression,
• 42:53
  we are love, and the world, you know, creeps in,
• 43:00
  and it can sometimes get to us,
• 43:04
  but actually remembering like that you are,
• 43:07
  that you already are,
• 43:10
  and I think that when you realize
• 43:13
  that you always have been,
• 43:15
  there's something very powerful about that,
• 43:18
  because it takes away all the external and physical restraints.
• 43:24
  You know, you can do all the outer work,
• 43:29
  you can change your body, you can change your house,
• 43:34
  you can move country.
• 43:37
  But if you don't go in and like realize
• 43:41
  that it's actually us, like we're the ones,
• 43:43
  like you're the one that's actually creating
• 43:48
  a more hostile environment for your own soul to live in.
• 43:52
  Woo!
• 43:53
  You know what I mean?
• 43:54
  You already are, love, we always have been,
• 43:56
  and that's what I've had to,
• 44:00
  and I still tell myself, because it's like,
• 44:02
  if you're measuring yourself by conditions,
• 44:06
  you will always have a standard to uphold.
• 44:08
  Why not the standard be love, you know?
• 44:13
  Why not the standard be love,
• 44:14
  and this falls into every crevice of my life
• 44:18
  and how I lead my life, because it's like,
• 44:21
  I used to think that professionalism, again,
• 44:23
  that lens, that programming,
• 44:26
  was like you're optically like your title,
• 44:30
  your status within a company, you know?
• 44:33
  How, yes, these are extensions of expression,
• 44:35
  like how specifically how you dress,
• 44:37
  and all of this was professionalism.
• 44:40
  But for me now, even when I look at professionalism,
• 44:43
  that is love, because your professionalism
• 44:45
  is your capacity to meet someone where they are,
• 44:48
  and give them the support that they need
• 44:51
  from a place of compassion and integrity, period,
• 44:55
  and serve them in the best way.
• 44:57
  That is professionalism, and being honest and heart-led.
• 45:02
  That is love, that is also expression of who we are.
• 45:04
  So, to anyone who is feeling like they're not enough,
• 45:09
  or like they're still really hooked on
• 45:12
  what happened to them in childhood,
• 45:13
  or they can't quite work through it or move past it.
• 45:16
  Remember that you are love,
• 45:18
  and even if you received conditional love in other places,
• 45:24
  you now get to choose to give yourself unconditional love.
• 45:30
  You now get to choose, and sometimes it is,
• 45:33
  I think as humans we might think so complicated.
• 45:37
  We need to do X, Y, Z, B, C, E, F, G.
• 45:41
  And it's like sometimes actually masturbate all the way,
• 45:44
  and return to that.
• 45:48
  Return to that.
• 45:49
  And I have to tell myself this as well,
• 45:53
  you're getting in your head again.
• 45:55
  Look how many thoughts we have today, thousands.
• 45:58
  So if we measured our self-worth by the thoughts,
• 46:02
  a lot of them that are not ours,
• 46:04
  a lot of them are, you know, what we're doing every day.
• 46:08
  Scrolling, we see advertisements on buses,
• 46:12
  on billboards, again constantly being programmed.
• 46:17
  So, tend to your soil, know that you are love,
• 46:21
  and now nourish your soil with that love.
• 46:24
  You know, the little things every day.
• 46:27
  And if you are,
• 46:29
  if you, okay,
• 46:32
  it's one thing to want to be in a,
• 46:34
  how can I explain this?
• 46:36
  It's one thing to want to be in a different place
• 46:42
  and actually starting to just embody that from now.
• 46:45
  And I know that it sounds like a big gap,
• 46:47
  but often when we're trying to reach for something,
• 46:50
  we're looking at the gap.
• 46:52
  I listen to this book called The Gap in the Game.
• 46:56
  Yes.
• 46:58
  Yes.
• 46:59
  So it's like, how can we look at all the beautiful things?
• 47:03
  How can we, like, just, even if it's just the smallest thing,
• 47:05
  how can we slightly just turn our focus a little bit, you know,
• 47:10
  and return to the love that you've always been?
• 47:14
  Return to the love you've always been.
• 47:17
  You've always been it.
• 47:18
  I love how you put love at the center of everything
• 47:22
  and your work as a celebrant, like all that you bring.
• 47:26
  That was so generous to the listener
• 47:28
  and to each of us to return to that knowing that we have
• 47:31
  the homecoming you mentioned at the beginning around the soul,
• 47:35
  that the soul already knows.
• 47:37
  And then we have all these systems and layers
• 47:39
  and conditioning that make that knowing at times
• 47:43
  feel less accessible, but we've all tasted moments
• 47:45
  where it really does feel like, wow, you know, I am divine,
• 47:50
  I'm love, I'm loved and I'm lovable.
• 47:52
  And I think many of us walk around with the shame
• 47:54
  that we're not those things and it's deeply painful
• 47:56
  and it's deeply by design.
• 48:00
  There's something that I wanted to ask you about,
• 48:02
  which is a lot of the people who listen to the soul salon
• 48:06
  are deeply, they deeply care about creativity
• 48:09
  and creating with soul and love and liberation.
• 48:12
  And all these topics you're talking about, anti-colonialism.
• 48:14
  And I'm really fascinated by the idea that we have this practice,
• 48:18
  you know, that many people do from the artist's way
• 48:20
  called morning pages, I'm not sure if you,
• 48:21
  like morning journaling.
• 48:23
  And I started to think as I was thinking
• 48:25
  about interviewing you, like, is there an invitation
• 48:28
  to have that in the body, like to have a morning pages
• 48:31
  but of the body?
• 48:33
  So how would you invite us to connect with our bodies daily
• 48:36
  to dawns daily, like, should we, not should,
• 48:38
  should this coming from conditioning,
• 48:39
  but is there an invitation to have a morning ritual
• 48:44
  with dawns and what would that, what could that look like?
• 48:46
  Mm hmm.
• 48:47
  I, I, I, I, I coined this, I coined this my saying
• 48:51
  when I, when I wake up, I'm like, there's innocence
• 48:54
  to your innocence.
• 48:55
  Oh, yes.
• 48:56
  There is innocence to your innocence.
• 48:58
  And so, as you said, that the, the should implies, like,
• 49:03
  well, if we're not doing it, call it kind of like body mapping.
• 49:09
  So when I first wake up, if I'm not working up
• 49:13
  by my screeching cat, who I love so much, lovey vibes.
• 49:19
  But when I first wake up, I normally take a big inhale
• 49:23
  and an exhale and say thank you
• 49:25
  because the thoughts start flooding in.
• 49:27
  But I always start in my bed, like, you can start in your bed,
• 49:30
  you don't have to stand up and I just feel
• 49:34
  into the sensations, just my chest feel tight as I'm breathing.
• 49:38
  No, okay, cool.
• 49:40
  What about my lower back, like, how am I feeling?
• 49:42
  Then I roll onto my stomach, give myself like a little stretch
• 49:47
  and intuitively, because often when it's like step by step
• 49:51
  by step, the different people need different things.
• 49:53
  So moving the ways that your body can support and serve you.
• 49:56
  So I'd say just start in your bed, even if it's just,
• 50:00
  even if it's just a head tilt, you know what I mean?
• 50:03
  Even if I, I love a good rotation, kind of like a cat cow
• 50:07
  and then I rotate in the bed, I love that in the morning.
• 50:10
  And then in terms of journaling with the body, beautiful.
• 50:14
  Oh, love.
• 50:16
  I tend to start with just simply rolling,
• 50:19
  starting from my head and rolling down
• 50:22
  and touching the floor or letting my hands dangle
• 50:26
  and kind of just like swaying and seeing how I'm feeling
• 50:29
  and then rolling back up and then rolling back down
• 50:33
  and flowing with a song that I want to inform my energy
• 50:38
  for the day.
• 50:39
  So music is medicine and so is movement.
• 50:43
  But what if we used it more intentionally?
• 50:46
  So I always say like pick a theme tune for your life.
• 50:49
  So that when you're feeling a bit, find the theme tune.
• 50:54
  When you're feeling it, you're going off track.
• 50:55
  What, but what's my theme tune?
• 50:57
  How do I connect back to that?
• 50:59
  So you can start with your theme tune
• 51:00
  or a song that you just love in.
• 51:02
  And just again, meet yourself where you're at
• 51:04
  if you feel more comfortable depending as well on ability,
• 51:07
  like starting in a chair, maybe a sway side to side,
• 51:12
  tapping in, I was touching with my heart
• 51:15
  with my womb space, you know, and just really breathing deeply.
• 51:19
  And then repetition really helps.
• 51:22
  And a lot of the time people like to do things once,
• 51:24
  but it's in the repetition that then it kind of becomes
• 51:27
  like a mantra.
• 51:28
  So whatever the movement is,
• 51:30
  staying in that movement for an extended period of time.
• 51:34
  So like it could be like a chest, like isolation,
• 51:39
  but staying in that and then trying to explore
• 51:41
  where that goes.
• 51:42
  But for five minutes, for 10 minutes,
• 51:45
  and then you're kind of like learning about your body.
• 51:47
  And you're like, oh, I didn't know a lot of people,
• 51:51
  a lot of dancers, they'll be like, oh, I liked that.
• 51:54
  Where did that, right, I'm keeping that, you know?
• 51:57
  And this is the exploration.
• 51:58
  So like the journaling can be this like repetitive
• 52:01
  of like one movement and then you might move to another movement,
• 52:04
  but start off slow and then build the energy
• 52:07
  so that you can take more momentum
• 52:10
  into other types of movement.
• 52:11
  Because if you go straight into something,
• 52:13
  it's like the body's not warm, tapping first, you know?
• 52:17
  So yeah, I would say just, yeah, give yourself a little.
• 52:20
  And maybe even write it down, add it to the journal in.
• 52:25
  So have your page.
• 52:28
  Yes, have your page.
• 52:29
  Yes, both ads.
• 52:30
  Yes, have the page.
• 52:33
  And just let it flow, write how you're feeling,
• 52:36
  maybe certain points.
• 52:37
  Because also, again, like shoulders.
• 52:39
  Ooh, what have you been carrying lately?
• 52:41
  So real.
• 52:42
  What do you need to let go of, you know?
• 52:44
  Yes.
• 52:45
  Again, still being playful with it.
• 52:46
  And I've been like, oh, I'm going to diagnose.
• 52:49
  Do you know what I mean?
• 52:50
  Getting into that.
• 52:51
  So yeah.
• 52:52
  Yes, oh, I love this.
• 52:53
  Oh my gosh, I'm excited to do this.
• 52:55
  I also, I love morning pages.
• 52:56
  So that I love the harmony of both.
• 52:59
  I think this is so juicy because it starts slow.
• 53:03
  And I love the checking in, the checking in, the body mapping,
• 53:07
  the journaling with the body, the head rolls,
• 53:10
  and like the sensuality of it.
• 53:12
  I would love to tap into your wisdom on that
• 53:14
  because it's like living sensually,
• 53:16
  this living, you know, in this alive, vital,
• 53:20
  also like sensual way.
• 53:23
  What does that mean to you?
• 53:24
  Like what is the word sensuality mean to you?
• 53:27
  Presence.
• 53:29
  Like deep presence.
• 53:32
  And when I say that, automatically people think sensuality,
• 53:35
  although that's very sexual and that the deep presence,
• 53:41
  even when you're in the shower, like for me, I'm like,
• 53:45
  instead of, you know, let me just slow down.
• 53:49
  Like let me actually feel my skin, you know,
• 53:52
  let me actually feel the presence of the water
• 53:56
  trickling down my back.
• 53:59
  Like let me, when I'm actually breathing,
• 54:01
  when I'm taking that deep inhale,
• 54:03
  let me actually feel it.
• 54:06
  Like, no, like it's the presence.
• 54:13
  That is what to me, it is to live from this sensual point of how
• 54:21
  I move through the world, even the way that you walk.
• 54:24
  Like, let me extend straight my back a little bit more,
• 54:27
  extend my energy a bit more.
• 54:30
  Let me add a little balance in my step.
• 54:32
  Like, you know, these tiny, tiny, like the micro,
• 54:35
  like the tiny details that make all the difference
• 54:38
  to how we thrive.
• 54:41
  You know, and that is sensuality deep presence
• 54:44
  and deep patience, you know, patience.
• 54:50
  Everything is so quick and so instant.
• 54:54
  And then, you know, quickly touching on that sensual,
• 54:58
  sensual side, but when you think it's patience,
• 55:02
  it's present, yeah, it's just in a different way
• 55:04
  with a different intention, you know?
• 55:08
  Even when you're connecting with a stranger,
• 55:11
  like really looking at them, like really seeing them,
• 55:14
  that's something that we don't do often.
• 55:17
  Totally averting eyes moving onto the next yes.
• 55:22
  That is gorgeous.
• 55:24
  The water on your skin, the trickling, you know,
• 55:27
  sometimes the wind is like kissing you at so alive.
• 55:31
  And it's almost the image that comes to my mind is like,
• 55:36
  if someone gives you a compliment, hopefully,
• 55:39
  you know, many of us will be like, oh, I will minimize it.
• 55:42
  Receiving it and the universe is giving you compliments.
• 55:45
  Here's this water, here's this wind on your skin.
• 55:48
  Here's this delicious avocado, you know,
• 55:51
  that you love so much and reminds you of your childhood
• 55:55
  or your mother or whatever it is.
• 55:56
  Like it's giving to you, giving, giving.
• 55:58
  And that receptivity of like, wow, thank you.
• 56:01
  I see you, I'm present with this.
• 56:03
  I can really open myself up to the magic of this
• 56:08
  experience of life.
• 56:09
  Yeah, it's so wonderful.
• 56:11
  And I think that one of the responses
• 56:14
  that maybe a listener may have is either like,
• 56:16
  I don't have time to do that.
• 56:18
  Or, you know, that these systems are designed in a way
• 56:21
  that makes that so such a privilege to be able to do.
• 56:25
  So I'm curious like how you might respond to that.
• 56:27
  And it is a privilege, it truly is.
• 56:29
  It's a huge privilege, yeah.
• 56:32
  But also we get to be the priority.
• 56:35
  And also we get to be the priority.
• 56:38
  It's both end.
• 56:39
  Yeah, you know, so I think we, I feel with everything
• 56:47
  can now people, again, it's like this perfection around it.
• 56:51
  I need to have my two hour morning routine.
• 56:54
  That's time for that.
• 56:56
  Like, no, you can literally just take three deep breaths
• 57:01
  before you get out the bed and you're good.
• 57:04
  You can just look at yourself in the mirror
• 57:06
  for an extra 10 seconds and say, I love you.
• 57:10
  You've got this today.
• 57:12
  And that's it, you know, again, like small.
• 57:15
  So if, you know, it can feel so far away.
• 57:20
  For a lot of people, so I'd say start with the smallest thing.
• 57:23
  And then also notice as well,
• 57:25
  because some things may not feel comfortable.
• 57:27
  I've worked with clients where the eye gaze
• 57:30
  in the mirror scene, one scene, the self is too much.
• 57:33
  Don't start there, start with the deep breath.
• 57:36
  Start with, oh, okay, I'm just going to play around
• 57:39
  with the music for one minute, just one minute.
• 57:42
  You have one minute or create that time, you know?
• 57:46
  We can't add on time.
• 57:48
  We have the same 24 hours, but create a space.
• 57:51
  Even, it's just flooded back memory.
• 57:55
  There'll be times when I used to work
• 57:58
  and I would go to the toilet
• 57:59
  and I'd have a little dance in the toilet, you know?
• 58:01
  Yes, yes, yes, yes.
• 58:02
  Just like a little moment.
• 58:08
  When you see the space that you have
• 58:10
  and you're like, there's a moment here.
• 58:12
  There's a moment here.
• 58:13
  Instead of doom scrolling on my phone
• 58:15
  while I'm getting from I to B,
• 58:17
  I could listen presently to a piece of music
• 58:19
  and kind of just get in my body a bit.
• 58:21
  I could like, real off in my mind.
• 58:25
  All the things that I'm grateful for,
• 58:27
  just nice things that have happened, small things.
• 58:29
  Oh, I really like the cardigan I've got on today.
• 58:31
  You know, I really like how this feels against my skin.
• 58:34
  I really like that person's hair.
• 58:35
  Like, you know, shifting your point of attention
• 58:38
  to make it something that makes you a day
• 58:41
  a little bit lighter, you know?
• 58:43
  Yes, completely.
• 58:44
  Those are such, such beautiful invitations
• 58:48
  and what you said about the doom scrolling
• 58:50
  because a lot of, you know, there's like, I don't know.
• 58:52
  Yeah, it's such a real aspect of life.
• 58:55
  And I feel like that is, you know,
• 58:58
  where there's so much aliveness
• 59:00
  that's trying to interact with us.
• 59:01
  And our phones are sort of like, to me,
• 59:03
  they're like kind of dead.
• 59:04
  Like, there's a lot of aliveness in them.
• 59:06
  There's laughter, there's community, there's kinship.
• 59:08
  But I think it's also creating new standards
• 59:10
  for how you want your life to feel of like,
• 59:13
  I want to feel good after I do this.
• 59:16
  I want to feel like, you know, this presence with life.
• 59:19
  So I think that's gorgeous and stunning.
• 59:21
  Another question I wanted to ask you was,
• 59:23
  you mentioned that dance can feel like meditative.
• 59:25
  And I think that was so magical.
• 59:27
  You mentioned that repetition can create that.
• 59:30
  Do you have any other advice for those of us
• 59:33
  who do want to tap into the more meditative aspects of dance?
• 59:36
  How would you set that ritual up or that space up
• 59:40
  for us to, to, to adventure into?
• 59:44
  Beautiful question.
• 59:45
  Now, this is why I also love movements so much
• 59:49
  because it's so subjective.
• 59:54
  And so maybe start with the details
• 59:58
  of what is important to you.
• 1:00:00
  Like, for example, I call myself like, I'm very,
• 1:00:04
  I'm going to say, like, environment is very important to me.
• 1:00:07
  So like, I will always find a space where I feel,
• 1:00:12
  it feels comfortable, it feels open,
• 1:00:14
  it feels like, I don't always have that.
• 1:00:18
  But like, when I have the choice to, I flow there.
• 1:00:24
  It might sound a little controversial.
• 1:00:26
  I would say, try firstly, music that doesn't have words.
• 1:00:33
  I say that because sometimes we can get caught up in the lyrics.
• 1:00:38
  And the lyrics are beautiful, they're a gift as well.
• 1:00:40
  But when we are sinking to that beat
• 1:00:44
  and that momentum, and it helps us if we don't have that extra,
• 1:00:54
  I'm going to say beauty because it is beauty, you know?
• 1:00:58
  But sometimes it can distract us because we're like,
• 1:01:00
  woo!
• 1:01:01
  Exactly.
• 1:01:02
  And it's like, but listen to the melody, you know?
• 1:01:06
  And especially, we all hear music differently.
• 1:01:09
  So especially, I hear music in so many different layers and ways.
• 1:01:15
  Some people really focus on the lyrics, you know?
• 1:01:18
  Some people focus on the macro beat, like, the dupe depends.
• 1:01:24
  So find a song, or maybe instrumental,
• 1:01:27
  that will help you really sitting into the rhythm.
• 1:01:30
  Because again, with music, it helps us to listen.
• 1:01:33
  Dance and music helps us to listen.
• 1:01:35
  It helps us with our listening skills.
• 1:01:38
  Understanding what's happening between the layers,
• 1:01:40
  what are you really saying?
• 1:01:42
  What is the music really saying, you know?
• 1:01:45
  Often a lot of people hear music, they don't listen to it.
• 1:01:47
  They don't really listen to it.
• 1:01:49
  It's like, yeah, okay, cool.
• 1:01:50
  What's being said, you know?
• 1:01:53
  And so I would say a beautiful way of expanding that is finding a song,
• 1:01:58
  just listening to the melody and the beat,
• 1:02:00
  and get creative, maybe use the wall, you know?
• 1:02:06
  Maybe use your hand, maybe use two hands.
• 1:02:08
  Maybe, you know, I mean, or maybe link it to a movement
• 1:02:13
  that you know well, but in a different place.
• 1:02:15
  So say if you're things yoga, or you're things stretching,
• 1:02:18
  or you're like, all your things basketball,
• 1:02:21
  or my mum used to be some professional netball player,
• 1:02:24
  or if it's netball, things that movement that you know day to day,
• 1:02:29
  movement that you use day to day that's still familiar,
• 1:02:31
  but then you make it mean something else,
• 1:02:33
  because it's always what are you making it mean?
• 1:02:36
  You know, for example, this table, it is beautiful,
• 1:02:41
  but equally it could be used to inflict harm upon someone.
• 1:02:44
  But at the moment, it's holding these beautiful records.
• 1:02:48
  You know, so what are you making it mean?
• 1:02:50
  What is the intention?
• 1:02:51
  So I would say, yeah, instrumental, maybe get creative,
• 1:02:56
  get a prop involved if you want to,
• 1:02:59
  or if you completely don't know where to start with your movement
• 1:03:02
  in terms of this meditative aspect,
• 1:03:05
  a movement that you do every day,
• 1:03:08
  and then it could be something like this.
• 1:03:11
  Save it, it's just this,
• 1:03:13
  but then maybe if you take the same thing
• 1:03:16
  into a different part of your body,
• 1:03:18
  and then you take it into your hips, you know?
• 1:03:21
  But just using the same thing,
• 1:03:22
  instead of thinking, I've got to think of another movement,
• 1:03:24
  and another movement, and I don't know what to do now,
• 1:03:27
  it could just be a circle.
• 1:03:30
  You start with a circle,
• 1:03:32
  and then how does the circle go into the hips?
• 1:03:34
  How does the circle go into the chest,
• 1:03:36
  using different shapes to explore your movement?
• 1:03:41
  That is something that I really like to do,
• 1:03:43
  and I have a more time and space,
• 1:03:45
  and I'm like, okay, I've done this practice for a while,
• 1:03:46
  I'm gonna switch it up a little bit,
• 1:03:48
  but again, always flow,
• 1:03:49
  because you're gonna need different things every day,
• 1:03:52
  and that's why I say, you know, instead of a routine,
• 1:03:55
  a practice is something that you return to,
• 1:03:58
  and that you can change and evolve
• 1:04:01
  with what's going on in your life at the time,
• 1:04:03
  like with the chapter of your life,
• 1:04:04
  that you're in with the energy that you're in,
• 1:04:06
  whereas when it becomes routine, that's been big.
• 1:04:09
  Again, it kind of gets stale, you know?
• 1:04:12
  Cause it's like, okay, I'm doing the same thing again,
• 1:04:14
  whereas you're not actually having a dialogue with your body.
• 1:04:19
  My way to dialogue with your body,
• 1:04:21
  that's so,
• 1:04:23
  resonates with me so deeply,
• 1:04:24
  what you're sharing about the circle,
• 1:04:26
  and also the wall, like I never even thought of,
• 1:04:28
  there's all these objects that are trying to support you,
• 1:04:31
  or maybe don'ts with you,
• 1:04:33
  interacting with the landscape, yes, with the landscape,
• 1:04:35
  I love that, and we've done that for centuries,
• 1:04:37
  you know, like don'ts with the earth,
• 1:04:39
  with like embodying the trees,
• 1:04:41
  like all these different things with each other,
• 1:04:43
  with the fire, like the elements.
• 1:04:45
  The elements, exactly.
• 1:04:46
  Take it back into your movement, yes.
• 1:04:48
  Yes, oh my word, that's just powerful.
• 1:04:50
  Tomorrow I'm gonna be working with the circle.
• 1:04:52
  I'm gonna create space to listen to no lyrics,
• 1:04:55
  and when I have done that, it is very powerful.
• 1:04:58
  So you're inviting me,
• 1:04:59
  I've never created a practice around it,
• 1:05:01
  where I return to it,
• 1:05:03
  and I think it could be very, very nourishing to me
• 1:05:06
  and my experience,
• 1:05:08
  and I'm so just excited and delighted.
• 1:05:12
  I think before we go to our closing ritual,
• 1:05:15
  something that is staying with me from earlier,
• 1:05:18
  there's so much you said that I just,
• 1:05:21
  I know when I re-listen to us,
• 1:05:22
  I'm gonna be like, oh, I didn't ask her about this,
• 1:05:24
  and you just dropped so many of those gems and seeds,
• 1:05:27
  yes, we accept, allow this to be more than enough,
• 1:05:31
  this to be generous,
• 1:05:32
  focusing, you really taught me that as well,
• 1:05:34
  like focus on what's present.
• 1:05:36
  You mentioned that you went through a spiritual awakening,
• 1:05:38
  and I think many of our listeners also very,
• 1:05:41
  either have gone through that or going through that,
• 1:05:43
  and are very interested in matters of the soul,
• 1:05:46
  and spirit, and also love liberation.
• 1:05:48
  So I'd love to hear just what that looked like for you.
• 1:05:51
  I know that could be a whole episode,
• 1:05:53
  but hey, I know, but your spiritual awakening,
• 1:05:57
  what does that meant for you?
• 1:05:59
  Whew, oh, oh, in the best way, despair.
• 1:06:05
  You know how it is, right?
• 1:06:07
  You know, the dark nights of the soul.
• 1:06:09
  Yes, of the soul, confusion.
• 1:06:15
  And the reason why I say this is such a gift as well is
• 1:06:18
  because we're always taught that it's like we're building,
• 1:06:22
  sometimes you are building when everything is torn down,
• 1:06:25
  and you can't see it, and that's how the awakening felt.
• 1:06:28
  It was like, well, this doesn't make sense to me anymore.
• 1:06:31
  This doesn't feel right, and then it was questioning,
• 1:06:34
  again, like questioning the narratives,
• 1:06:37
  questioning society, questioning systems,
• 1:06:42
  questioning my beliefs.
• 1:06:44
  And so it was, as much as it was like disarray,
• 1:06:49
  and you know, I love crying,
• 1:06:53
  and a lot of like, why is happening in confusion
• 1:06:56
  that so much clarity came from that?
• 1:06:59
  And that also helped me to,
• 1:07:04
  I mean, it's informed the work that I do now,
• 1:07:06
  but like, when I was really young,
• 1:07:09
  oh, you can have a conversation with my mom.
• 1:07:12
  I remember we had this huge back garden,
• 1:07:15
  and I was like, mom, can you put pavement on it?
• 1:07:17
  I don't want any grass.
• 1:07:19
  I was so disconnected, you know?
• 1:07:22
  And you see everything so much differently
• 1:07:26
  once you begin to awaken to yourself,
• 1:07:29
  the truth of who you are.
• 1:07:32
  And you know, it's not just like,
• 1:07:34
  oh, everything's hunky-dory, but like,
• 1:07:37
  you know, everything's fine now,
• 1:07:38
  because I'm awake, no.
• 1:07:39
  You know, this is where the work begins, you know?
• 1:07:42
  It's like the point of a beginning.
• 1:07:45
  But for me, it looked like a lot of time in solitude.
• 1:07:49
  It looked like healing myself through the connection to nature,
• 1:07:53
  like this call that I wasn't sure,
• 1:07:56
  but I knew I needed to answer,
• 1:07:57
  but I was like, this is different to what I've known before,
• 1:08:00
  but I'm going to lean into it,
• 1:08:02
  but having the ability to lean into it.
• 1:08:05
  I'm nourishing myself in ways
• 1:08:07
  that I never would have normally,
• 1:08:09
  because I never knew how to quiet my mind.
• 1:08:12
  I never knew how to objectively step outside of myself
• 1:08:15
  and look at, you know, my behaviors and my patterns
• 1:08:18
  or how to, you know,
• 1:08:20
  yeah, you can have compassion for someone,
• 1:08:22
  but when you have that self-awareness,
• 1:08:24
  and you can see yourself in other people
• 1:08:26
  and in other interactions,
• 1:08:28
  you have more clarity as to why the things
• 1:08:30
  may be happening in your life,
• 1:08:32
  and how you can also reclaim your sovereignty
• 1:08:38
  your sovereignty,
• 1:08:40
  and your self-governance, and your power.
• 1:08:43
  And, you know, we live in a world that wants us to feel powerless
• 1:08:48
  and we are not, we are not, you know?
• 1:08:53
  And I think it speaks to everything that has been
• 1:08:59
  and that it is currently gone,
• 1:09:00
  it speaks to the power that which we hold as human beings.
• 1:09:05
  And it doesn't have to look external.
• 1:09:09
  Your power is in how you treat the person that you don't know.
• 1:09:12
  Your power is in your ability to hold so much compassion
• 1:09:16
  and love and all these other different emotions at the same time.
• 1:09:20
  You know, you're in those small things.
• 1:09:22
  So, yeah, the soul awakening for me
• 1:09:27
  was conflicting, confusing, but such a gift
• 1:09:32
  and such a reawakening to like more of who I am
• 1:09:37
  and allowing more of me to come online
• 1:09:39
  and there's always so much that we can continuously do
• 1:09:42
  as human beings to evolve, to progress, to become better.
• 1:09:46
  And so, it's never this journey of, I'm done now.
• 1:09:49
  Oh, I'm a white now, so that, no.
• 1:09:52
  But also, it's the balance of not feeling like
• 1:09:55
  I can't certainly need to heal.
• 1:09:57
  I can't let you get to be human too
• 1:09:59
  and just enjoy your humanity
• 1:10:02
  because you can go one end of this,
• 1:10:03
  like either end of the spectrum where it's like,
• 1:10:06
  the scale, I should say, where it's like,
• 1:10:08
  oh, I have to continue and I have,
• 1:10:09
  and I have these, all these responsibilities
• 1:10:12
  and I have to alchemise all of these traumas
• 1:10:14
  and generationally and it's all on my show.
• 1:10:17
  And where does that get you?
• 1:10:19
  Take a moment to breathe
• 1:10:21
  because going back to the vitality
• 1:10:23
  when you have your happiness, when you have your vitality,
• 1:10:26
  when you have your self-connection, when you have community,
• 1:10:29
  when you have creativity,
• 1:10:31
  you also find ways to navigate things better as well.
• 1:10:34
  So, like, making sure that you have that balance
• 1:10:36
  of, like, allowing your humanity to really,
• 1:10:40
  like, this is your human experience, kind of.
• 1:10:42
  You better have that, you better have that
• 1:10:45
  and enjoy that, you know?
• 1:10:47
  Be kind to yourself, give yourself grace
• 1:10:50
  as my friend with a grace and compassion.
• 1:10:53
  Yes, yes, yes.
• 1:10:55
  Well, I think on behalf of myself
• 1:10:57
  and everyone listening or watching to this,
• 1:10:59
  we are so grateful that you held the soul awakening
• 1:11:03
  and that you allowed it into your experience
• 1:11:06
  because it has allowed you to embody and express
• 1:11:09
  and share this wisdom from such an embodied place,
• 1:11:12
  such a grounded place.
• 1:11:13
  And what you said about the dark nights of the soul
• 1:11:16
  and the despair that you've held,
• 1:11:18
  we just thank you for your, for doing this work
• 1:11:20
  because you shine so bright like you have so much to share.
• 1:11:25
  It's just like this magical garden of so many flowers.
• 1:11:28
  I just want to, like, stay with each of them.
• 1:11:31
  I know, I just want to be present to all of it.
• 1:11:35
  And you clearly have just channeled your wisdom
• 1:11:38
  into magical experiences and offerings
• 1:11:41
  for people who get to work with you.
• 1:11:43
  And I think it's just so magical to witness.
• 1:11:46
  So I've said that word multiple times,
• 1:11:48
  but so brilliant and beautiful and grounded
• 1:11:52
  and inspiring to experience you and your gift,
• 1:11:57
  like your gift of expressing your gift clearly of teaching
• 1:12:00
  and holding space for people of dancing
• 1:12:02
  and just how fluid and alive you're,
• 1:12:05
  and embodied you are, is just, it gives me absolute chills.
• 1:12:09
  And this was always, I'm just having such an incredible moment
• 1:12:12
  within myself and holding the human experience of it all
• 1:12:15
  because like to be learning from, like,
• 1:12:18
  black woman teachers, you know, thinkers,
• 1:12:22
  healers who are speaking about the metaphysical, the body,
• 1:12:26
  that it really makes, that was always my vision
• 1:12:29
  or part, a huge part of my vision.
• 1:12:30
  And so it's just like, thank you for,
• 1:12:32
  for making my dream come true in this session.
• 1:12:34
  And I often say this thing that, you know,
• 1:12:37
  we're all manifesting each other, we're manifesting, you know,
• 1:12:42
  like you dreaming of teaching is equally your students
• 1:12:46
  dreaming of being taught by you.
• 1:12:48
  And I feel like all the wisdom you've experienced and gathered
• 1:12:51
  and alchemized has turned you into this just,
• 1:12:55
  oh, I don't even know.
• 1:12:56
  Oracle, yes, and Oracle of wisdom and Oracle of expression.
• 1:13:01
  And I'm just so grateful.
• 1:13:03
  Is there anything that you, I always wanna,
• 1:13:06
  I care a lot that people feel heard.
• 1:13:08
  And so is there anything you shared that you're like,
• 1:13:09
  oh, I really wanted to, you know, go deeper into this
• 1:13:12
  or this didn't feel heard or I would love to have this
• 1:13:15
  be more seen.
• 1:13:18
  You know what, there's only one thing.
• 1:13:20
  And I would say,
• 1:13:23
  when you're connecting to your body and your movement,
• 1:13:26
  if you notice any resistance,
• 1:13:30
  maybe just journal about it,
• 1:13:32
  maybe what are you making it mean?
• 1:13:36
  And because that's something that I experienced a lot
• 1:13:38
  and especially as women,
• 1:13:41
  we again, like we compartmentalize our expression
• 1:13:44
  and we don't allow ourselves to,
• 1:13:47
  you can be everything.
• 1:13:49
  You can be the nurture, you can be sexy,
• 1:13:52
  you can be sassy, you can be angry.
• 1:13:55
  And so I just wanna leave people with not just
• 1:13:57
  with your movement as in your dance,
• 1:14:00
  your movement of life, like you are the movement, you know?
• 1:14:03
  Life is the dance and you are the movement.
• 1:14:06
  Really allow yourself any desire that is on your heart
• 1:14:10
  that is placed there.
• 1:14:12
  It's your duty and responsibility to explore it.
• 1:14:16
  And if there's resistance,
• 1:14:17
  you're probably in the right direction.
• 1:14:19
  And if it's something to do with your vessel,
• 1:14:21
  remember that your body is a portal.
• 1:14:24
  It's not a project and it's something that I, you know,
• 1:14:28
  again, like I've experienced and worked through
• 1:14:31
  and again, like it's the humanity
• 1:14:33
  of we're doing this together, but you're worthy.
• 1:14:36
  And I love you, I love you, you know?
• 1:14:39
  So yeah, explore and find out what that means.
• 1:14:43
  Don't just shy away from it if you come up against resistance
• 1:14:47
  because you have the tools and you have the power.
• 1:14:49
  And if you don't, you will find them
• 1:14:51
  because as you start to desire,
• 1:14:53
  more things will start to come into your reality
• 1:14:55
  that will meet you there where you need to be
• 1:14:57
  even listen to this podcast.
• 1:14:59
  You are here for a reason, you know?
• 1:15:01
  So trust, trust, trust yourself, trust your body,
• 1:15:05
  trust your wisdom, trust your portal.
• 1:15:08
  Trust your portal, your body is a portal, not a project.
• 1:15:12
  That reclamation from toxic beauty standards,
• 1:15:14
  from capitalism, from, you know,
• 1:15:17
  viewing your body as a vessel for productivity
• 1:15:20
  and pushing your body and sexism,
• 1:15:22
  patriarchy, anti-blackness, like anti-fatness,
• 1:15:25
  just ableism, just all of them that there is this,
• 1:15:29
  we, I mean, need huge systemic change and reimagining.
• 1:15:33
  And also that reclamation is also possible
• 1:15:36
  at some scale within each of us.
• 1:15:37
  And so thank you for that.
• 1:15:39
  That's so juicy, like trust, grace.
• 1:15:41
  You really invited us into these deeply rich, nourishing values
• 1:15:45
  of like trusting, playing, curiosity, creativity,
• 1:15:50
  compassion and grace and love, so much love,
• 1:15:53
  oozing from this conversation.
• 1:15:54
  So thank you so much for your wisdom.
• 1:15:58
  So we like to close the soul salon,
• 1:16:01
  or I'm still actually establishing the closing rituals.
• 1:16:04
  But I would love to start with some prompts,
• 1:16:06
  some sentences, a few sentences for you to close.
• 1:16:09
  And then we'd love to just get your social
• 1:16:12
  so that we can make sure that we can tap in
• 1:16:13
  and stay in touch with your divine teaching
• 1:16:16
  and hopefully attend your events and such things.
• 1:16:18
  Okay, wonderful.
• 1:16:19
  So I feel, so your invitation is to complete these sentences.
• 1:16:24
  So I feel most alive when,
• 1:16:28
  you know, I'm gonna say,
• 1:16:30
  when I'm dancing, I feel most connected
• 1:16:34
  to the most high to the universal energies.
• 1:16:38
  And yeah, I feel most alive when I'm dancing.
• 1:16:43
  The medicine the world needs is love, love, simple,
• 1:16:49
  love to see that we all are embodiments of love, you know.
• 1:16:55
  Okay, I'm even all just to be real.
• 1:16:57
  Because we have to acknowledge you all,
• 1:16:59
  but like, I believe my soul came here to reconnect people
• 1:17:10
  to their joy, vitality and to their bodies
• 1:17:12
  and find their rhythm in life.
• 1:17:18
  We can heal the planet by.
• 1:17:22
  Big question, listening, listening to Gaia,
• 1:17:29
  you know, listening to each other, really listening
• 1:17:33
  and allowing and not trying to control
• 1:17:38
  a little segue because I think it is so important.
• 1:17:42
  Yesterday, I watched Frankie's phone, and there was a sentence
• 1:17:49
  that says, I think it was God does not control
• 1:17:53
  only months to control something like that, you know.
• 1:17:57
  And so when we're listening, don't quote me verbatim,
• 1:18:01
  but it was something like that.
• 1:18:03
  And it will come up if anyone just watched it,
• 1:18:05
  really thoroughly enjoyed.
• 1:18:06
  But that listening, like, listen and allow
• 1:18:09
  because when we try to control,
• 1:18:10
  this is where the friction is coming in.
• 1:18:13
  There's this control for power, you know.
• 1:18:16
  So listen, like, we can heal the world by listening
• 1:18:19
  to one another and seeing one another, you know.
• 1:18:23
  I deeply agree, deeply, I love that response well.
• 1:18:26
  And then finally, if my inner child walk through that door,
• 1:18:30
  I would say to her, I love you, girl.
• 1:18:33
  And I'm so proud and you're doing it and you've been doing it
• 1:18:36
  and you've always been enough and continue to trust, you know.
• 1:18:45
  Love me.
• 1:18:46
  We've got it with it, like, how can we not?
• 1:18:52
  And then, you know, and also I just want to take a moment
• 1:18:56
  to thank you and your inner child because the thing is,
• 1:19:00
  if it wasn't for her, you wouldn't be here now.
• 1:19:04
  And you wouldn't be creating this beautiful platform.
• 1:19:08
  And all of your love and all of your wisdom
• 1:19:11
  from all of your life experiences pouring out
• 1:19:13
  and beautifully wrapping around other people,
• 1:19:18
  like this podcast is a cell for the soul as well.
• 1:19:21
  So I just want to, yeah, take a moment.
• 1:19:24
  Like, we have to give each other our flowers and receive them.
• 1:19:27
  But also, like, thank you.
• 1:19:29
  And you get something.
• 1:19:30
  Thank you.
• 1:19:33
  I feel so warm and I feel so seen in my inner child.
• 1:19:36
  She loves praise.
• 1:19:37
  So she's like, yeah, thank you so much.
• 1:19:40
  Thank you so much, Tamara, that is so loving and I feel
• 1:19:46
  that I feel I'm letting it seep into the soil of my being
• 1:19:49
  so it can take root.
• 1:19:51
  Thank you for seeing me and for celebrating me.
• 1:19:53
  I really feel so grateful to be sitting here with you.
• 1:19:57
  I know many people are feeling like they're like,
• 1:19:59
  I want some more.
• 1:20:00
  So how can they stay in touch with you,
• 1:20:02
  tap into your frequency or wisdom, your energy?
• 1:20:05
  Yes, oh beautiful.
• 1:20:06
  So you can find me on all social,
• 1:20:09
  I'll say all socials, the ones that I have.
• 1:20:11
  But Instagram, tomorrow Josephine,
• 1:20:15
  and tomorrowjustfin.com for my website.
• 1:20:18
  And yeah, I think that's like, by the most part,
• 1:20:21
  TikTok, same thing, tomorrow, Josephine,
• 1:20:25
  across all platforms, you know, keep it simple.
• 1:20:27
  Keep it simple tomorrow, Josephine, underscore amazing.
• 1:20:31
  And we will have the socials linked in the show notes
• 1:20:34
  so you can go tap into tomorrow's website
• 1:20:37
  and her socials and events of our friends.
• 1:20:42
  Yes, events and offerings.
• 1:20:44
  I'm now manifesting that, that sounds incredible.
• 1:20:46
  Thank you so much everyone for being with us
• 1:20:49
  in the Soul Salon.
• 1:20:50
  It has been such a magical journey.
• 1:20:53
  And I feel so grateful and so delighted
• 1:20:56
  that we all get to re-listen to this again and again
• 1:20:58
  because there were so many insights
• 1:21:01
  that I feel are deeply sitting with me.
• 1:21:03
  Don says a prayer, don says a mirror, reconnecting people
• 1:21:07
  with their vitality, you know,
• 1:21:08
  expressing ourselves in public
• 1:21:10
  and being curious with our bodies.
• 1:21:12
  There's just so much here and as a student,
• 1:21:14
  as someone who loves learning,
• 1:21:15
  the fact that I don't have a notebook here
• 1:21:17
  is costing me everything.
• 1:21:19
  I'm like, oh my God,
• 1:21:20
  maybe I need to change the show.
• 1:21:21
  Maybe I need to be a host who takes notes.
• 1:21:23
  No, you are.
• 1:21:25
  Listen, what are the new kids doing?
• 1:21:27
  Oh, there's a thing he has been doing at your,
• 1:21:30
  oh, I actually don't know.
• 1:21:30
  I'm just gonna give this because I know this one
• 1:21:32
  and I know this one.
• 1:21:33
  Oh, yes.
• 1:21:35
  Oh, thank you so much.
• 1:21:36
  Keep tapping into the Soul Salon.
• 1:21:38
  I'm sending, we are both sending you so much love,
• 1:21:41
  so much grace, compassion and kindness.
• 1:21:43
  And may we all be moving?
• 1:21:45
  Let's take maybe five minutes after this episode
• 1:21:48
  to really embody this wisdom.
• 1:21:49
  Play a song, put it on Shuffle.
• 1:21:51
  And just play.
• 1:21:53
  Yes, move like you mean it.
• 1:21:54
  Yes.
• 1:21:56
  Thank you so much.
• 1:21:57
  Everyone will see you on the next Soul Session.
• 1:21:58
  I love you.
• 1:22:00
  Bye.
• 1:22:00
  Yay.
• 1:22:02
  Yay.
• 1:22:03
  Oh my God.
• 1:22:04
  Oh my God.
• 1:22:05
  You're amazing.
• 1:22:06
  You are dreaming.
• 1:22:07
  You are so good.
• 1:22:09
  My darling, my love, my soul sibling,
• 1:22:12
  thank you for stepping into the Soul Salon.
• 1:22:15
  If you are still hearing or watching this,
• 1:22:17
  we are Soul siblings.
• 1:22:18
  We are resonating on the same frequency.
• 1:22:20
  And so something you may struggle with
• 1:22:22
  that I struggle with is the fear of being seen.
• 1:22:25
  You know that visibility is involved
• 1:22:28
  in you living your creative purpose
• 1:22:30
  and being in your power, serving the collective
• 1:22:32
  through your gifts, through your magic, through your medicine.
• 1:22:36
  In order to do that, you know you need to be more seen
• 1:22:39
  than you are allowing yourself to be right now.
• 1:22:42
  I have a gift just for you,
• 1:22:44
  heart made for us on this frequency.
• 1:22:47
  And it is a free e-book called
• 1:22:49
  The Soulful Visibility Guide.
• 1:22:52
  That is soulful visibility.
• 1:22:53
  Like we don't just want to be seen.
• 1:22:55
  We want to be felt.
• 1:22:56
  We want to be heard.
• 1:22:57
  We want to move and be moved.
• 1:22:59
  So I do have a free gift for you.
• 1:23:01
  And all you need to do is go to my website,
• 1:23:04
  Iunderstood.com.
• 1:23:06
  And there you will be able to input your email address
• 1:23:09
  and receive this directly to your inbox.
• 1:23:11
  This is such a juicy and delicious guide.
• 1:23:14
  And I change the free offering every few months.
• 1:23:17
  So you know, get it while you can.
• 1:23:19
  All the links are in the show notes.
• 1:23:21
  So thank you so much.
• 1:23:22
  I love you and I will see you on the next sole session.
• 1:23:24
  Okay, I love you.
• 1:23:26
  Bye.