August 27, 2024

What is *your* true ESSENCE?
The answers are all in your body.

The more I embody mine, the more I find this to be true. The less fear I have re: my body, the less fear I have in my life. The more comfortable I am in (and with) my body, the more comfortable I am in life 🍯

Last month I did something (way) out of my comfort zone and signed up for a 5Rhythms dance retreat after an ad showed up on Instagram (it’s me! I’m ‘that girl’ who responds to those ads).

The retreat was close, a long weekend in Bracciano (a beautiful freshwater lake an hour north of Rome).

First and foremost: Infinite thanks and gratitude to @mariasoleingravallo and @timbarnes5rhythms who held impeccable space as a group of over 30 of us danced and laughed and cried and played together.

The retreat was a month ago. This is a collection of images from @giuliromers, memes that capture the essence of the retreat (the retreat was called “Essence”) and a little bonus picture of the black eye/not quite broken nose I got from dancing (long story). I haven’t known what to say/I’ve had too much to say. I’m *still* processing and digesting the magic that unfolded.

A picture is worth a thousand words. These dances and this group of incredible humans pulled at parts of me that I’ve been hesitant to examine until now. And yet the “work” didn’t feel like work.

Attending this retreat made me a better retreat leader, a better human, a more compassionate person. And it helped me, for the millionth time in my life, to return to the precious magic that is my body, and to trust that everybody (every *body*) can experience growth on retreat and that we thrive in community and that my goodness, we all deserve to live lives that express our truest essence.

Grazie infinite to the teachers, the space holders, and the participants. What a beautiful dance 🪩