For as long as I can remember, I have been taken by the idea of our visions informing our lives, becoming reality, and inspiring positive change in the world. Growing up Jewish, going to a Quaker school, and being immersed in the arts, I was encouraged in many ways to connect to a light or energy within myself that would guide me in acting with creativity and integrity as a leader. Over the years I have lived many cycles of listening within to follow my inner light and visions, but there is one pivotal moment that feels important to share with you.
As a senior in college I experienced a traumatic fall and injury to my spine. I was literally blown by a gust of wind that caught behind the door to my art studio. I fell 20 feet to the earth. At the time, I had been feeling disheartened about the purpose of my art-making and the direction of my life. I had always known that my creative pursuits fed me and helped me to grow, and that I wanted to be a healer in some way, but I’d been feeling disconnected from these truths.
Somehow, amidst the sheer shock and terror of my body hitting the earth, I heard a voice that simply said,
‘The purpose of life is being alive.’
Amazingly, this gust of wind and fall led me back to my core knowing: I live and create in order to be alive. To feel, taste, and touch life — to dance and to sing life. It also became clear in that moment that healing was indeed a huge part of my personal path and my offering to the world.
Healing and learning from this fall could be the subject of an entire book. Suffice to say, movement has been an essential ingredient to my healing. I found solace, hope, and possibility in the improvisational dance world that was already a home to me. I began to learn somatic approaches to neuromuscular release, emotional and energetic processing, and creating a life that prioritized self-care and play. I quickly regained 95% of my range of motion and strength.
I started teaching what I was learning to friends, dance students, and children and women in the communities where I worked in New Orleans after college, and we were all delighted by the results. I learned Reiki, which heightened my experience and awareness of the movement of energy that connects all life. I began to envision ways of creating personal and community transformation through honoring and nurturing the body.
I enrolled in a Masters degree program in Dance and Somatic Well-being, and became connected with a community of somatic educators developing unique ways of working with the body based on their own lived experiences. I began to see myself as a part of this community, expanding my sensed connection to my body in order to literally expand my experience of my self, the world, and my visions.
Through personal research and experience facilitating groups and individuals in a diverse range of communities, I have come to trust and know that connecting deeply to the body opens vast worlds of possibility in our healing and visioning, and that doing so has profound effects on our lives, our communities, and our world.
As my own story continues to evolve, I am so grateful to be able to hold space for your deepening awareness, thriving, and unfolding visions for the betterment of all.
