Embody: Feel, Heal, and Transform Your Life Through Movement - Paperback

by Toni Bergins (Author)

A new paradigm for embodied healing in a unique, experiential, therapeutic process in which expressive movement, guided imagery, ritual, music, and creative expression work together.

In Embody, Toni Bergins, the founder and creator of JourneyDance, an internationally renowned dance movement program, shares with readers a powerful way to address trauma mindfully so people can confront it, heal, and grow to love themselves unconditionally, just as they are. Embody is a dynamic, conscious practice that can help people release what no longer serves them and shows them how to stop stuffing/numbing the pain and start feeling, stop over-thinking/limiting, and get moving!

Embodiment is the new buzzword in personal transformation, but, most often, it is connected to static practices like breathwork and meditation. For Toni Bergins, embodiment is best achieved through active movement, and has created a practice where people literally get out of their heads and into their bodies! Her program is a trauma-informed one that offers a new promise: leading readers through deep, personal work but making it feel like play. In this book, she turns the heaviness of processing pain and past trauma into an expressive art aligned with the most recent research. Specifically, trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk, writes in his bestselling The Body Keeps the Score, "In order to overcome trauma, people need to feel safe enough to open up their hearts and minds to others and become engaged with new possibilities. This can be done if trauma survivors are helped to confront and confess the reality of what has happened and are helped to feel safe again. In many cultures this involves communal rhythmical activities, such as dancing..." And that is Toni Bergins' mission and method: to help readers move into a new story for their lives.

Embody features Toni's prescription for a comprehensive healing journey, comprised of five core elements:

- Music, to open the doorways of impulse, imagination, creativity and healing to change mood and awareness;

- Movement, to enhance presence and confidence, and release old patterns and traumas;

- Mystical Inquiry, where imagery and creative visualization exercises are used to guide readers into an alchemic and shamanic state to investigate past hurts, and learn to trust their instincts;

- Prayers and Invocations, to raise energetic vibrations to a positive place with powerful affirmations; and

- Journaling, with writing prompts to process inner self-awareness learned on the dance floor or through any of the other Embody elements.

Author Biography

Toni Bergins, M.Ed., is an embodiment trailblazer who has taught at the premier holistic healing centers for the last 27 years. She is on permanent faculty at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, and has worked there as a movement artist, dance educator, expressive arts workshop leader, and expert in creating transformational workshops. She has led JourneyDance programs at the renowned Esalen Institute, Omega Institute, 1440 Multiversity, The New York Open Center, Pure Yoga, Blue Spirit and countless others. Since Toni first presented her workshop at the Omega Institute in 2008, JourneyDance has become a yearly event, and is the single most sought-after form taught in Omega's on-campus Movement program, employing 10-plus JourneyDance teachers each season. Toni also writes and creates video content for her website, journeydance.com.