My Soul Motion journey

In September 2023, I joined Soul Motion Embodied Leader dance teacher training.

I must admit, my motivation wasn’t exactly right: I decided to commit because I wanted to dance regularly in the day time while my kids were at school. Becoming a certified dance teacher was not my priority.

Sometimes, when I really want something, I can easily skip looking at the fine print. In this case, I overlooked a minor detail: I was required to accrue 150 hours in Soul Motion dance by July 2024, in order to get certified. I tried to tell myself that I didn’t care about the certification, but I can’t do things in half measures. So on top of twenty three 3 ½ hour biweekly training sessions, I’ve done a number of extra classes, including a 4-day workshop with incredible Vincent Martinez Grieco.

Well, thank goodness I don’t read the fine print! Dancing 2-3 times every week has been a real blessing. I feel so much more embodied and grounded in myself.

It wasn’t an easy ride, because when you start dancing regularly, all the dormant trauma, stored in deep pockets and crevasses of the body, wakes up and comes up to the surface. I had to meet my deep grief and suppressed rage. I remember taking a break in the middle of the class recently and walking around the Dartington Estate sobbing my heart out. No story to go with the emotion: just releasing old remnants of past hurt. In short, it’s been an incredibly healing journey so far.

I’m not new to dance. I’ve been dancing regularly since 2007. For years, I practiced five rhythm dance, which has a very distinct structure, a wave, that builds up to an ecstatic crescendo and winds down gently into stillness. It can be very cathartic and fun. I rode many waves which helped me to come out of my shell and learn to connect with others.

My Soul Motion practice is different. It feeds into what I’ve been mastering with my spiritual teachers for the last 15 years: presence, embodiment and working with the energy field of the group. It requires deep listening to yourself, others and the wider energy field, something I’ve been teaching on my retreats and Embodied Presence in Motion series.

Having my own regular practice of listening brought so much more depth to my offerings. It’s in the fabric of my being now.

I am the dance.

P.S. Come dance with me (energetically, unless you can make it to my in-person training). I still have a few places in my 3-month practitioner training online: www.gularavincent.co.uk/practitioner-training

P.P.S. Here’s our graduation pic (for a dancing crowd, we’re standing pretty still :) ). This is just the beginning for us: we're embarking on our second year of Soul Motion adventure in September.

The second photo is taken after Vincent’s workshop.

With all my love

Gulara