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My Personal Life Dance
My Personal Life Dance
I never thought that my love for dance would lead me through this path. Growing up, I always moved to whatever music I heard. All types of rhythms found a way of expression through me. Although I was quite shy, there was always some beat moving through my body. I could never be still!
My dance background began at age 3 with Ballet and Flamenco then later in my teen years I fell in love with Ballroom & Latin Dance and later learned Jazz, Contemporary, Folk dance and Hip Hop.
I've been dancing on stage since age 5 and began choreographing at 15 for my high school talent shows.
However, instead of pursuing a dance career, I chose a more "practical" business career path as an accountant and business consultant for 20 years. Life took me on the journey of being a person with responsibilities, family and a career to take care of them, so the dance went to the back burner and almost disappeared from my life altogether for almost 30 years. It was later that I would learn the purpose of that decision, however, no matter how successful I was, I always had that feeling that I was missing something, that there had to be more to life than being in a rat race. I simply was not happy, so...
In 2000, I left my corporate career to begin my coaching practice helping people undergo their business and life transitions. I've been a spiritual teacher and inspirational speaker since then while developing my accounting consulting practice too. Yet, I felt that there was more for me to do... I just had no idea what it was.
"Your misery prepares you for ministry."
In September 2009, I relocated to St. Petersburg, Florida following my lifelong dream of living in the mainland so I could travel around the nation and explore new landscapes. I only packed two suitcases, a one-way ticket and an open heart ready to start all over again thinking that it would bring me the joy that I was missing in my life. I truly believed that my life will turn around the moment I got out of that plane...Ha!
I found myself deep in confusion and more frustration of where my life was going... It was a tough transition going through the difficult times of the global depression, which at 46, left me jobless, living with relatives, broke, alone and desperate! It led me to take a deep look at my life so I can reinvent herself. That soul searching quest led me to rediscover my passion for dance through the most unconventional divine orchestration...
THE DANCE FOUND ME AGAIN...
In 2009, while teaching a class based on the book "Finding Yourself in Transition," I felt the desire to raise my teaching style to another level. I wanted to find a method that would be more experiential rather than theoretical for people to experience true deep healing while dealing with their life transitions. Times were so tough then and people were having such difficulty in their lives: loosing jobs, homes, relationships, everything, that it seemed unbearable to sustain the level of stress we had. Reading and attending classes wasn't cutting it for us anymore, wasn't giving us the answers we needed. I wanted to create a way for people to release, heal and let go while feeling uplifted and having fun. That was my goal.
That inner longing brought me to a meditation gathering. The group was led into meditation with live drum sounds and rhythms. The theme of the meditation was to ask for my purpose in life, what was mine to do. Deep in trance, I saw myself dancing and that totally took me by surprise since I hadn't danced in almost 30 years.! As the drum beats kept increasing in intensity, I felt like standing up and moving to the rhythms. I could no longer sit still!
Overcoming my concerns of "I shouldn't do this, I'm supposed to be still...meditating!", once I realized that no one else was watching, I got up and danced!
I could not believe what was going on, since meditation is supposed to be done sitting still and here I was moving and dancing to my heart's content in complete abandon.
I danced steps that I had never learned before and felt I was being led by a powerful force inside of me. I had just done my first trance dance, with no idea of what had just happened and WOW! Unbeknownst to me at the moment, I had just been shown what my life purpose is: trance dance healing. I finally got my answer, yet I had no idea what will become next...
Being a formally trained dancer, I had never heard of anything like what I had just experienced and no one could explain to me either what was going on. So I had to find out what it was cause I was certain that what I experienced was real. The intuitive insights kept coming after that night. I was given information on where to look and research until I learned what trance dance was and all the other forms of spiritual dances. I was so fascinated about my findings that I began practicing and studying everything I could find about trance dance, Zen practices, shamanic healing, worship dance, mindfulness and the therapeutic benefits of conscious movement.
I began practicing shamanic trance dance for my own healing and introduced it to my friends. I also began taking courses on different dance healing modalities. Through my own inner dance journey I experienced heart opening transformations, healed emotions and noticed deep changes in myself and my own view of life. I had found my happy life dance!
I wanted to provide these benefits to others, since there was no other spiritual dance venue in the area at that time. Word spread around as I pioneered the conscious dance movement in St. Pete and surrounding areas. I was invited to do demos of blindfolded trance dance as well as perform sacred dances at local churches, festivals and spiritual events.
At Unity of St. Petersburg I got a chance to perform a solo worship dance to live music, not choreographed and without a prior rehearsal with the band. I had to face my fears of being "too old and out of shape to be on stage" and do something I had never done before: trust the divine to lead me in the dance...
That experience and the audience's response was heart opening, liberating and still beyond words for me to explain. This was my "a-ha!" moment where I knew that this is what I was meant to do and teach others. I had to step up and do what I felt called to do, become a dance healing facilitator. My job was not to heal but to facilitate the experience for others to be healed through their dance with Spirit.
While in the process of creating a dance workshop, I received a strong insight about developing a transitions program. I was standing in the hallway at Unity of St. Petersburg and little did I knew that my intended dance class will divinely unfold into a healing program to help people navigate through their life challenges and transitions into becoming one with the divine plan for their lives.
That same year Dances of Spirit™ was launched, a trance dance practice that opens participants to an inspiring and blissful state of well being. The program was designed to shift old paradigms and release emotional memories at the cellular level. The dance leads participants through a cathartic path that unleashes their most powerful self.
On August 2011, I facilitated my first workshop and since then, I have humbly witnessed how people get over their fears, move out of their comfort zones, heal long-standing emotions and unhealthy belief patterns and leap into more creative, fulfilling and joyful lives as they learn to surrender to Spirit...
The best way for me to describe the purpose of the dance is this: the dance doesn't change what we're going through, it changes us and how we go through our life experiences. When we touch the divine, we can't help but shift our perspective of life. It heals that which is holding us back, our own misconceptions, thought patterns and fears. As we dance, we know that our divine spirit is healing us while leading us into our unique life dance. It sheds what no longer serves us and liberates an authentic version of our selves. The dance defines us, moving us into a new life with purpose.
For me, Dances of Spirit™ became my own journey of self-discovery and personal growth. In developing my own practice as dance healing facilitator and spiritual teacher, I have also healed my own relationship with God.
I strongly believe in the healing power of movement and dance and am blessed to provide venues for people to heal and liberate their spirits through dance.
As a Numerology Consultant, I advise individuals on how to handle their personal transitions, restructure and organize their lives while supporting them in their spiritual growth.
My two wonderful sons, Pedro Daniel and Pedro Juan (married to Nikki), have been my greatest inspiration to keep going, searching and growing. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, I'm happy to have found a new home in Ft Lauderdale, Florida and enjoy all the wonderful things that this great city has to offer, including my new spiritual home at Unity.