This week’s Dance First Member Insight is brought to you by Toni Berginsfounder of  JourneyDance. Dance First members are sharing their insights and inspirations during this troubled time, as well as how they are coping. Plus links to live streams and online offerings for you.

Dear Dancing Community, 

I’m Toni Bergins, Founder of JourneyDance™ an Embodied Transformations Method. It is my great honor and pleasure to write to you. If you are reading the wonderful Monday Love newsletter, you are a dancer, a seeker, a game-changer, an embodied, deeply feeling being, an advocate for change. You are probably feeling a multitude of emotions and are deeply questioning and reevaluating what matters to you.

I know many people are struggling to make sense of this intense time. But, we also know it is a necessary excavation of what so desperately needs to be transformed. So we will learn, dig deeper, and become more of who we need to be right now. We will listen and commit to becoming resilient for the long haul required to create systemic change. I know you will because Conscious Dancers do that!!

In this time of living into truths, I want to share 5 truths that this double pandemic is bringing to light for me:

#1 We ALL need to be seen.
Acknowledging our interdependence is the only way forward. Interdependence is much harder than independence because it requires a level of vulnerability and presence. We need to admit that we NEED each other. We are meant to be interdependent – to see each other, confirm, validate, love and value each other’s existence. When we share ourselves with another, we can feel the power of being seen and witnessed, and it touches us deeply.

#2 We need to be touched.
We know from studies that touch is essential to a healthy nervous system. Body to body. Skin to skin. We are made with beautiful skins and sensory bodies so we can touch and be touched, and give and receive love through a physical connection. For those of you who are alone right now, give yourself a comforting touch. Science has proven that the skin cannot distinguish between your own touch and the touch of another. If you have a partner with you or a friend with whom you feel you can have safe contact, take a few moments each day to hug, get close and feel their heartbeat. Here’s a short video on the importance of embodiment.

#3 It’s okay to be RAW.
We don’t know the future. It’s scary and challenging. But we can build a foundation of inner strength by expanding our bandwidth and embracing this emotional flow. Whether you are feeling intensely or are totally numbed out, there’s nothing to be ashamed of! If you need to numb out for a bit and not feel, that is okay. Don’t judge yourself for that. And if you are wildly expressive, LET IT OUT (in a sacred container)!! We’ve got to feel it to transform it, with compassion and empathy. You must not judge yourself as either being “over-emotional” or shut down. It’s RAW right now, and whatever you are feeling is okay….

#4 It’s okay to SLOW down.
Before this epic pause, I would fill my days with activities, appointments, coaching, teaching, work and family – pushing myself to the limit. Slowing down, I can reflect deeply. I’m more open, more available in service, presence, listening, mothering, relationship and in my teaching. I’m making myself a promise that I hope you can make to yourself. I will not go back to my old ways. Instead, I will invest my energy with careful discernment. I will put my time, love, care, concern, consideration, and passion into the next right action. Slowing down allows us to feel, reevaluate, excavate and deconstruct our own conditioning…

#5 Spiritual Bypass isn’t working anymore!
“Spiritual bypass” happens quickly when we live off productivity, achievement and beautiful Instagram-curated lives. Underneath our incredibly amazing functional selves are our wounded inner children. When big feelings sneak up on us, we are terrified. At some point, we have to put a stop to the spiritual bypass. This is done through the art of meditation, yoga, and conscious dance. Through movement, we go into a state of spaciousness and mental pause, which allows feeling to come up to be healed…

You can read more about these 5 truths here: http://journeydance.com/service/blog

As I’ve learned each of these lessons, it’s become crystal clear to me that true transformation only happens when we bring them into the body. We need to process them at a level deeper than our minds and infuse them into every cell of our being.

Through JourneyDance, we teach people how to repattern the past, create visions for a beautiful future and become fully present in the moment. While complicated feelings and painful experiences still exist, we learn to access a vibration of joy, gratitude and abundance. We transform challenges into expressions of strength. We tap into our inner guidance.

I know many of you are healers, game-changers, and teachers. The JourneyDance transformative container is a powerful tool to support profound healing, empowerment and expression. We have put a lot of intention into creating an online version of the JourneyDance Teacher Training in-person program that has trained over 850 teachers for the past 17 years.

We have retained the intimacy, energy and depth while offering this lower-cost training option in your own home. The program combines self-paced interactive online content with three experiential weekends in the Zoom studio. If you feel called to learn this work and teach it to others, join our Online JourneyDance Facilitator Training beginning June 13th, 2020.

Join us to discover your own truths, access your personal power and shift the energy on a collective level. We would love to share the Journey with you.

With love, Toni

JourneyDance Online Facilitator Training
Starts June 13th, via Zoom

JourneyDance Classes, DVDs, and Private Sessions
www.JourneyDance.com