321. HOW ONE DANCE CLASS SAVED MY LIFE: No Rules, Just Healing

By the time Toni Bergins reached grad school, her life felt like chaos. Beneath the surface, she was grappling with the lingering effects of childhood trauma, which manifested in body image struggles, disordered eating, and self-destructive behaviors. She became consumed by exercise and dieting, using alcohol as a coping mechanism. Then, one day, Toni took a dance class—unlike any other. There was no choreography, no rules. As she ran freely around the room, Toni felt like a child again. She broke down, crying, unraveling—but she had loved every moment of it. This was Toni’s introduction to embodied movement—a form of raw, primal dance that encourages women to fully inhabit their bodies and embrace every emotion. Today, embodied movement is helping countless women heal from their trauma.

Toni Bergins is the creator of JourneyDance, a form of embodied movement which is helping women transform their lives. Buy her book Embody: Feel, Heal, and Transform Your Life Through Movement here https://shorturl.at/LCZJr You can find Toni via her website https://journeydance.com/ or look her up on instagram www.instagram.com/journeydanceofficial

Key Takeaways:

1. Embodied Movement Is Transformative and Healing: This free-form, primal style of movement enables women to fully feel and process their emotions and work through trauma in a physical, embodied way.
2. How Is Trauma Showing Up For You?: Toni Bergins struggled with body image issues, disordered eating, and self-abuse, all of which were rooted in unresolved childhood trauma.
3. What Are You Doing To Cope With Underlying Trauma : Exercise obsession, dieting, and alcohol are coping mechanisms, masking the deeper emotional pain.
4. Movement Can Be a Powerful Tool for Healing: A dance class with no choreography or structure allows us to reconnect with our body and emotions.

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Tags and Categories:

Trauma, Healing Childhood Trauma, Embodied Movement, Disordered Eating, embodied movement

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