JourneyDance™: A Path to Self Discovery Through Intuitive Movement

Episode 17.  Explore the world of JourneyDance - a transformative movement practice that fuses improvisational dance, yoga, ritual, theater, shamanism, and the inspiring rhythms of world dance. With bare feet connecting to the earth, JourneyDance is not just a dance, but a sacred ritual journey of physical and emotional transformation.

 JourneyDance is a celebration of self-expression and the liberation that comes from dancing with intention. It's a ritual journey that empowers individuals to reconnect with their inner selves, heal, and uncover their authentic selves.

Whether you're new to JourneyDance or a seasoned practitioner, this episode will inspire you to embrace the dance of self-discovery and embark on a path of empowerment and authenticity through the transformative and rhythmic world of JourneyDance.

Links:
JourneyDance
Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health

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Transcript

Lisa: 0:05

Welcome to the Happy Sweat Life Podcast. My name is Lisa Rung and today I'm going to be talking with you about JourneyDance. So I discovered JourneyDance when it showed up in my Facebook feed, as often happens when you start searching on a subject, you start getting ads about similar things. And it's actually offered somewhere near me, which I hope to do soon, but I haven't had a chance yet to try. But it got me looking at her website and checking out some YouTube videos and it was very intriguing. So I do want to start with just some testimonials that are on her website so you can kind of get a sense of what people experience when they do do journey dance. So this one person, Gary, wrote..."Through her energy, Toni allows for vitality, freedom, and security. Her positivity brings alive a higher level of spirituality and serenity. Journey Dance must be on every person's to do list". The woman named Beth said," Your blend of movement, play, spirit, body awareness slash connection, and emotion was very healing for me. In dancing with you and the group, I found my way home to myself."" And then I'll read one that's kind of long, but pretty interesting and that's by a gentleman named Roger. So he says,"I was at Kripalu, conflicted whether to do regular journey dance, or perhaps nap. Something propelled me into your space, where I stood as a self conscious, Wallflower for about a nanosecond before the beat woke me up to the joy awaiting. My body found its way to the floor, to the circle, to the rhythm of our group. A few months ago I was feeling pent up, aching to be unbound, wild, out of control, to completely lose it. I could literally feel the frustration residing. What I felt with you was the liberation my body had been seeking. As I strutted and jiggled and slid my way around the room, I felt a smile rip across my face with authentic, genuine, deep down satisfaction. I lost my self consciousness and my prevailing, daily, repetitious, acceptable, boring safety. Thank you for showing up as the wild, tribal, heartfelt, authentic expression that you are. Thank you for showing me a path to the place that my body has been seeking. Journey Dance was the highlight of my weekend, leaving me sweaty, reawakened, connected and full of spirit." So Tony describes in her origin story that she went to Kripalu, I believe it was for a retreat. And she chose, I think it was Kinetic Dance, I might be getting the name wrong, but. When she did the dance class, she found herself on the floor sobbing and realized that connecting with her body was one way to connect with her emotions. And so she continued on that journey for a number of years. And eventually she began to develop her own style called Journey Dance. So... Journey dance is a healing practice to bring people into the present moment, to bring them into the present space, to listen to their own bodies. It combines freestyle and structured movement to inspire you to get out of your head and into your body. The flow leads participants on a ritual journey, a physical and emotional transformation. It combines freestyle, improv dance, yoga, ritual, theater, and shamanism. It uses inspiring world music, and you dance barefoot. there are no mirrors, and that's so people can experience dancing in a non judgmental environment. It's a facilitated experience, so if you've listened to my podcasts on World Groove and Body Groove, it's a similar approach where you're not trying to follow an instructor to copy the moves, but instead you're, are given suggestions. Phrases to help you move deeper into your own body and to moving deeper into how you want to move your own body. I know in one of the videos she mentioned, like, feeling all the surfaces of the body, which I think is really cool. Because often we're not really aware of all the surfaces of our body. So she has various techniques to, to do that. There are six E's, qualities of journey dance. The first one is embody, which is about grounding movements, feeling contact with the floor and the earth. Experience, which is about sensual awakening. Enliven, which is about connecting with your funky, playful self and others on the floor. Explore, which is about tapping into our inner realms to tell our story and connect with our emotions. Empower, which is about liberating old cellular memories. and cleansing the body and mind with sweat and breath. And then elevate, which is about raising our vibration and embodying our heart. So it's a very holistic approach to self discovery and personal growth through movement. And if that is what you're looking for to Tap into your emotions and have a way to release them, to increase your energy, to expand your sense of who you are, then this is a really great form to, to try. She's all about celebrating being in your body and having it move. So, there's definitely an element of fun as well. So, the options for the class are, you can look on, if you look at her website, which I'll have a link to in my show notes. You can look for an in person class. she also has a couple. Online options, I think one is with her and others are with other people that have been trained. She does do workshops around at various retreat centers, as I mentioned, like Kripalu. The Omega Institute, which is in Rhinebeck, New York. The Esalon Institute, which is in Big Sur, California. The Synergy Studio, which is in San Antonio, Texas. Studio Nia, Santa Fe, which is in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Studio Samadhi, which is in Newton, Mass. she also has a DVD out that you can purchase and follow along with and also audio. And as always you can try YouTube. I did find, a 45 minute experience on YouTube And she also offers one on one coaching if you find that you really love it and want to Get deeper into it. So if you do become an instructor for JourneyDance, people have been trained in the composition of the JourneyDance experience, in the exploration of the rituals. And there's a personal growth component so that they can bring their full selves to the dance floor and to facilitating it for other people. And finally, I'll just mention that I actually have a connection to Kripalu as well. In 2001, I had the chance, Go there and do their SEVA program, which unfortunately I don't think they're offering anymore. But in exchange for working in one of the three areas to help support the community of either housekeeping, food prep or the kitchen we were given room and board and also connection with the group of people that came in with us. And access to the facilities. And so if you do get a chance to visit, it's in Western Massachusetts. It really is a beautiful and wonderful place to experience. And I will have a link to their website in the show notes as well. So, I know this is brief, but I just wanted to give you a little bit of an introduction to Journey Dance as I think it's a really wonderful dance based exercise option. And I look forward to bringing you another episode next week. Thank you so much for listening. If you do try out Journey Dance, I would love to hear from you. And if you have any questions or comments, I'd also love to hear from you. So you can email me at HappySweatLife at gmail. com. And I will have my email also in the show notes below.