August 29, 2023 • 50 mins
Episode 10: Join me to hear Deb's incredible story of her lifelong love for dance, which intertwined with her personal wellness journey. From her study of naturopathy to igniting her passion for helping others become their best selves, Deb's journey is a testament to the transformative power of holistic wellness. Tune in as she shares how she found the missing piece that brought dance back into her life and complemented her wellness-focused business. Get ready to be inspired by Deb's embrace of the World Groove Movement and the Groove truths.
Links for Deb Powell:
Facebook: The Inside Connection Coaching
Instagram: Debra Powell
Linkedin: Debra Powell
Podcast: Finding Your Heartlight
(Check Podbean in September for her new podcast: Uplift Your Heartlight)
Youtube: Finding Your Heartlight
Other Links:
World Groove Movement
Body Groove
Contact me at happysweatlife@gmail.com for questions, suggestions, or to be put on the email list and be notified of new episodes.
Find my World Groove movement zoom class on Thursdays, under my name, at: https://theworldgroovemovement.com/virtual-search/
If you're interested in starting a podcast of your own, consider joining the SPI Community. The All Access Pass, in particular, has a step by step course for starting a podcast which absolutely was key for creating and launching my podcast. And equally important, I made connections with other fellow entrepreneurs/podcasters. If you do sign up through my affiliate link, I will receive a commission fee.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lisa (00:49):
Welcome to the Happy Sweat Life podcast.
My name is Lisa Rung and todayI'm excited to be talking to Deb
Powell.
Deb is located in Australia, butshe and I met as we were both
going through the World GroupFacilitator Training and we've
stayed in touch as part of agroup kind of supporting each
(01:09):
other to become facilitators.
And I'm so pleased today to betalking to her about her journey
and how she ended up becoming afacilitator and her journey
through dance, et cetera.
So Deb, do you want to say alittle bit about yourself
Deb (01:27):
Thanks so much, Lisa, for having me on.
It's always a pleasure toconnect with you.
I really enjoy it.
Yeah, like after we joined and,and became friends and and went
through the facilitationprogram, which was absolutely
amazing.
It's wonderful that we've beenable to stay in contact like
(01:49):
this.
When I first started, actually,going right back, my
introduction into dance was likemany, many others back when I
was young.
I love dancing.
I have a passion for dancing,which is where groove is such an
important part of my life.
But I started dancing thetraditional tap ballet.
(02:09):
I did Scottish dancing.
I did every type of dancing when
Lisa (02:13):
Oh, you did Scottish?
Deb (02:14):
About eight.
Yeah.
Lisa (02:15):
Oh, well, didn't know that.
Deb (02:17):
I don't know what prompted my mother to put me into that.
I think it was either Irish orScottish.
And for some reason I got intoScottish, although I loved
watching the Irish, but yeah, soI've tended to do it all.
And I did that for quite a fewyears until probably I was about
11 or 12.
I stopped doing the trainedstyle of dancing, but it was
(02:39):
very good, I think, just havingthat backing.
But I always loved dancing, butother things in life happen as
you're growing up and gettinginto becoming a teenager.
So I stopped for a little while.
But it certainly couldn't holdme back.
I ended up getting back intojoining a performance, a dance
(03:00):
performance group in my midteens.
And that was really wonderful tobe able to, to do that.
I did that for a couple of yearswhere we had a, had a troupe
that traveled around and, anddid dance for, you know, in the
shopping centers and at schoolsand Anywhere that that they, we
were able to, it was a, it was akids, I guess a young, young
(03:24):
adults in a sense.
a lot of them were a lot youngerthan me,
Lisa (03:28):
So were you doing different kinds of dance?
Deb (03:30):
look in that type of thing.
It was more modern style ofdancing oh, the, yeah.
Within the dance studio itself.
We were also training indifferent aspects of dance again
in, they did a lot moreacrobatics, which I didn't
actually do.
it's really interesting becausebeing trained in ballet and tap
(03:55):
and things like that, I, Icertainly wasn't very acrobatic.
I didn't think so anyway.
You can do basic stuff, but notlike some of the gymnasts.
So I mean, gymnastics and is sototally different the way that
the body is utilised and, and,and the, I guess the spring
buoyancy and my body shapedefinitely wasn't gymnastic,
(04:17):
particularly when I startedgetting into teenage years,
which is where I think I startedbecoming very self conscious of
my body shape because I, What isthe term that they would use?
I know when I was younger, itwas like well developed.
And so I was a little bit, Iguess you'd say on the plump
(04:40):
side.
And and, and I was really,really super self conscious of
that.
And that's where, as much as Ilove to dance, it's really
started playing on me with myweight.
And so I, I didn't, didn'tcontinue that for very long.
I was just really too selfconscious and it just grew and
(05:03):
grew and grew, particularly Ithink teen, being teenagers.
With me, it it started havingquite an effect on the things
that, that I was doing.
So it was a matter of jumpingout of that limelight.
My passion was still there, butI got into other things with you
(05:23):
know, friends.
You walk away from that.
In my early twenties, I guessI've always had this pulling
back into dance and it wasafter, must have been after my,
my first daughter was born inmy, I was in my twenties and I
lost a massive amount of weight.
huge amount I think throughmaybe hormones just settling yet
(05:50):
they're up in the air after youhave a child.
But I, I did lose a lot ofweight.
I wasn't eating very well.
I lost weight and, and, I foundthe opportunity of getting back
into a dance theatre group andtook the opportunity.
I went and auditioned and I wasreally fortunate enough to be
(06:10):
able to get that.
So that was a, a show that I wasdoing.
And I did quite a bit of thatfor quite a few years, which I
just loved doing a lot oftheatre performance, but always
in the the dance side of things.
So that was really wonderful.
That's while I was in Sydney.
And then in the late eighties, Iended up moving from, the city
(06:36):
into a more regional area, whichthere wasn't a lot of that
around, I was very involved infamily at that stage.
So I tended to drop out,although I was still connected.
I would get involved in musicaltheatre and and it was only
after a few years in the,regional area that I was living,
(06:58):
that I came across people withinthe musical societies.
And again we had a, a theatre,like an old time theatre group
that we, we travelled around.
And I got into a lot more ofthe, old time dance and a little
bit of ballroom y dance within,within a performance group, you
(07:22):
know, where we, we did old timetheatre like, By the light of
the silvery moon, you know, allof that old stuff.
It was great.
Loved it so much.
So it just kept my foot in thedoor of a passion that I loved.
Until after having a couple ofkids and family.
(07:43):
That really took over my lifeand work, so I didn't do it for
quite a long time.
And as you get older, going on acouple of decades later and I
just dropped out of that danceside of things because I guess
life, life takes over as itdoes.
And through my work, I wasworking actually at a restaurant
(08:05):
and I noticed my health started,it wasn't very good.
I, so I stopped doing that andbecame very involved in natural
health.
So in my health, and I startedstudying in naturopathy to just
to learn.
(08:26):
About the health side of it,which I really loved.
I really loved the ability to beable to take care of the self.
So I directed myself into thereand a personal care development
into life coaching, into healthand wellbeing and became a
health and wellbeing coach,which led me into being able to
(08:46):
connect the circle back ofintroducing the The, the
physical, the emotionalwellbeing.
And this is where I spottedGroove and the dance.
And I thought, wow, this isamazing because I still love
this dance and the way that itmade us feel it, the way that it
(09:06):
makes people feel.
And so I ended up becoming afacilitator to be able to bring
this amazing style of dance thatcan be so joyous and, and, and
do so much for our own health inthat sense, health and well
being.
And, and this is where I metyou, Lise while doing the this
(09:30):
facilitation for it.
So it was a matter of bringingin the, this dance style.
To incorporate in what I wasalready doing in helping people
with becoming the betterversions of themselves and
helping them in their health andwellbeing.
And so that's where it kind ofall, all very, very fast paced
(09:53):
ended up finding groove.
A passion of dance that I justlove to have in my life.
Lisa (10:03):
That's quite a journey.
I didn't realize all thoseelements you had in there.
So did you do body groove ondemand at all, or did you just
sign right up for being a WorldGroove facilitator?
Deb (10:17):
I thought that this, this may inhibit me not having done
Body Groove.
So the answer to that is no, Ididn't do Body Groove, but I did
watch a couple of the BodyGroove videos an idea of what it
was about.
Because the way I actually foundit was it was scrolling through
(10:37):
Facebook and it was Actually,another coach that I saw, and
she was doing, it was, it waslike a pop up class, this pop up
class, and I thought, wow, Ilove this style of dance,
because it isn't structured inthe way, So many people are
inhibited to allow themselvesand give themselves permission
(10:59):
just to enjoy movement.
And movement is so important forour, our health and our
wellbeing.
And to be able to bring that in,and I looked and I thought,
it's...
How is she doing?
Like, where is she getting thisstyle from?
So that's where I started doingsome research where I came
(11:20):
across Body Groove and that'swhere I saw one of Misty's
advertisements on thereexplaining her story.
And I thought, wow, thatcertainly does resonate in
people having health issues andthe way that it can affect us
and what prevents us fromstepping out and allowing
(11:41):
ourselves.
Selves to just be our authenticself.
And this is where I really Ilove to be able to help people
to come back and not worry aboutwhat other people are thinking
and, and know that.
You're not being judged in whatyou do, especially when you're
being you, because we are themost beautiful people.
(12:03):
Each of us has such an amazingquality inside and to allow
others to freely see that issuch an important aspect.
And I really believe Groove hasso much of that to be able to
offer.
And I noticed one of the thingsthat really helped me, and it
was certainly in the confidenceaspect, because it's, I, I,
(12:25):
Still was very self consciousabout things.
I could help others, but when itcame to helping myself, isn't it
amazing?
We can reach out and help otherpeople, but looking at yourself,
it's I certainly needed thatconfidence boost and Groove
certainly did that for mebecause it allowed me to just.
(12:50):
So while I was in that danceenvironment, in that groove
environment, I could be me, andit was okay to be me.
And this is what I loved aboutit.
And so this is where I wanted tohelp others to recognize that
it's okay It's okay to be youbecause you're a beautiful
person.
And so I'm so thankful that I, Isaw this popup class.
(13:14):
I'm so thankful that I put inthe effort to scroll through and
find Misty Tripoli and the WorldGroove Movement and, and again,
coming together and doing thefacilitation again, the
wonderful friends that I've beenable to meet and Groove has just
such a strong and.
(13:35):
Supportive community why wouldyou want to be anywhere else?
It's great.
Lisa (13:40):
It's true.
Yeah.
I think groove does do thatreally well taking people where
they're at, whatever physicalfitness level that they're at
and just saying you're welcome.
You're welcome on the dancefloor.
And, and how much that reallydoes help your mental as well as
your physical well being.
(14:02):
So was it hard to do thetraining without having done too
much of the groove itself
Deb (14:10):
I was extremely nervous when I first started and, and,
and strangely enough, eventhough we did it on Zoom, On
video, I was very, very selfconscious when I first started.
It was like, oh, you know, I, Ifeel very awkward.
I'm in my own space, in my owncomfort zone, in my home, and
(14:33):
still felt that resistance of,but it didn't take too long.
I guess I still felt it duringthe facilitation of it, but the
more you get to meet the others,the other facilitators that were
there for exactly the samereason, and listening to some of
(14:55):
their stories as well, of howthey were too feeling it, you
realize, wow, I'm actually notalone.
And so I got over that very,very quickly, the fact that I
hadn't done body groove beforeand, and really didn't know a
huge amount about it because thefacilitation certainly explained
(15:17):
it and we went through it and asI did, I fell more and more in
love with it was the bestdecision that I'd ever made
doing the, body groove.
The facilitation and gettinginvolved, it was wonderful.
And it's, Groove is like noother really with the different
styles that you can tap into andknow that it's really great for
(15:38):
our, as you say, you know, ourhealth and wellbeing it's our
emotional health and ourphysical health.
It's very, very good for all ofthat because it allows us to, to
really express.
in our own way.
And it really doesn't matterwhat anybody else thinks of us.
We're allowed to express and andenjoy it.
(16:01):
And so the other facilitationwas a great stepping stone.
And it was fine that I hadn'tdone body groove before.
You learn it very quickly.
Lisa (16:11):
Yes, that's great.
So are you doing that?
are you still coaching rightnow?
Doing the life coaching?
Are you taking a break fromthat?
Deb (16:18):
Well, I had taken a break for quite a while.
I had a bit of a transition andmove from where I was.
I moved about six months ago tocare for my mum and dad.
And also have become a, havebecome a full time.
Carer for my grandchild as well.
(16:38):
I had my daughter andgranddaughter living with me.
So life became incrediblyhectic.
The move transition it has takenme a long time.
So six months off and ready toget back into into all of my
groove and back into, which I'vestarted back with the with my.
(17:01):
life coaching and which what I'mdoing at the moment is very much
like you on a different aspect.
I've started a new series on apodcast of being able to uplift
your heart and, and which I'mdoing with a fellow.
Coach.
(17:21):
So we do that together and whichhas been a lot of fun.
We've only just started that andready to kick that off soon.
It's our second in the series.
So really looking forward todoing that and bringing the, the
groove aspect back into, whichis Where I wanted to, to be able
to bring it back into mycoaching, into the sense of
(17:43):
being able to connect thephysical and the emotional side
of it into being able to offerto people, because I think it's
a, it's a really great, greatthing.
So, yeah, took about a six monthbreak and, by September that's
where I'll be starting back inwith my Zoom groove classes and
(18:05):
with my coaching.
Lisa (18:07):
oh, that's exciting.
be look forward to taking, aslong as they're not at 2 a.
m.
in the morning for me orsomething.
It's always a little strugglewith the time difference here,
but it is, it's
Deb (18:21):
it certainly has its drawbacks, but I think the fact
that we can touch base globallyis really fantastic to be able
to get those, and, and withoutthat it.
May not have been able to findgroove.
So I'm really lucky.
Sometimes we have to have tomake those adjustments in that
timing.
(18:42):
But I think the great thing isthere's always a time available.
Most of the time.
So it's it's good.
Lisa (18:53):
So if somebody is looking for your podcast, what should
they look for?
Deb (18:58):
that going come that's coming out, which will be
releasing toward the end of thismonth is called Uplifting Your
Heartlight and we've actuallygot a, well, we have a private
Facebook group at the moment,which is Finding Your
(19:18):
Heartlight.
So, or you can contact medirectly.
I'm also doing it with my cohost on the podcast Barry
O'Donnell.
He's actually from Canada.
So we really know about timezone differences when we come to
do our recordings as well.
And so through Facebook, Iadvertise through Facebook and
(19:41):
and the group that we have onthere is Finding Your Heartline,
or I also have my, my own groupand my business, which is called
the Inside Connection which iswhere I'll be.
Introducing groove into that aswell, because it covers
everything.
(20:02):
It covers the health and ourwell being and our physical and
emotional health as well.
And that's where I work from theinside connection.
Lisa (20:11):
wonderful.
Well, I'll have all that in theshow notes.
So if you want to look up Deband what she's up to, you can
find it there.
(20:33):
So there's several groovetruths.
Was there one that kind ofresonated the most with you?
Deb (20:42):
I think the most important one for me with the, with the
groove truths is to not to worryabout what anyone else thinks.
Because it doesn't reallymatter.
And so the one that they have isnobody cares what you look like
is really very factual.
(21:06):
People aren't there standing andwatching you dance and, and, and
judging you on it.
And this is what I love aboutgroove.
It's a totally non, non judgmentzone.
Everyone's in there to have fun,really embody the music.
So it's I think the wholephilosophy of groove is so
valid.
And yeah, just to be yourauthentic self.
(21:30):
So don't worry about what otherpeople think.
Have you
Lisa (21:35):
had experiences with some of your clients in terms of?
Their connection with Groove orhow it helped them or, Yes,
Deb (21:42):
actually, I've had a couple of them during the groove
classes when I was runninggroove classes earlier on,
certainly.
I used to love it when theywould say, oh, The people that
were very inhibited to step outof, outside of themselves and,
and just not care about whatother people think, it gave them
(22:05):
the confidence to be able to bethemselves, to not worry about
what other people think, and Andbecause they loved it so much,
they just really, really enjoyedthe fact that they could express
themselves and they could do itin their own way.
And, and this is what groove is,is to be able to, with the
(22:25):
styles we offer or the, thesimple movement and rhythm that
we offer with a variety ofdifferent dance music.
and to do it in your own way.
And, and it's okay.
And this is what they do.
And it's, I think it's wonderfulto be able to watch others and
(22:46):
how they bring in their own selfand how they express a certain,
a certain movement and todifferent genres that of music
that we play.
And we're all different.
We're all different and it looksso great.
And it really is being able tocome together as and create this
wonderful party and together anddo it in, do it in our own way.
(23:12):
And it's just wonderful.
So yeah, the, the couple thathave come to it have really
loved the groove and one, oneparticular girl.
definitely thought that shecouldn't dance and had never
found anything that made herfeel like a dancer.
(23:33):
I said Everyone can dance.
We were born to dance.
As Misty says, we were born todance.
It's the first thing that welearn almost before we can walk.
We're up there and we're movingto music the whole time.
And it's just unfortunate thatas we get a little bit older, we
tend to come away from thatthinking that What are people
going to think of me?
So to be able to get back intothe groove and the music and to
(23:59):
close your eyes and to be ableto allow that inner child to be
able to come out and express theway that you want to and have
fun.
It does absolutely amazingthings to the way that we think,
to our mental health, to thefact that we feel so good.
And apart from that, it's doingwonderful things for our body.
(24:20):
It's.
It's a wonderful, wonderful wayto tone up.
Who wouldn't want to have funand know that they're getting
all these benefits?
Lisa (24:28):
I think that's one of the things I keep hearing about
people that really love Grooveis that they just, they keep
coming back to it.
Like, it's not a chore to do.
It's just, you know, there'ssomething they look forward to
in their day to go and put ontheir Body Groove On Demand or
take a class.
Deb (24:44):
Absolutely.
Lisa (24:45):
And just get moving.
And I, I kind of was hearing in'what you were saying as well
that people's sense of nobodycares what I look like kind of
carries out into the rest oftheir lives.
Maybe.
Do you find that?
Deb (25:02):
Yeah, look, very much so.
It gives, and I think when wetalk about the nobody cares what
we look like, it's.
It's more being able tounderstand it doesn't matter
what other people think, becausethe truth, the people that our
friends, our circle, our innercircle of friends that we have,
(25:26):
you know, they love you for whoyou are.
And the more we can releasethat, the more it allows that
circle to grow.
And it gives the confidence we,we enable ourselves.
Ourselves to be more confidentin a world knowing that we're
accepted for who we are.
And I think this is the, one ofthe, the greatest things that I
(25:47):
notice is the, the addedconfidence.
It, it gives someone when theycan allow themselves to be who
they are, which is, is whatgroove really pushes forward.
Mm.
Lisa (26:02):
Definitely.
Yeah, I think I've said to youbefore, but the, the group truth
that resonated most with me waslike, you can't get it wrong.
So I was always sort of puttingso much pressure on myself to
like, be perfect in thechoreography or in the technique
and just having that permissionto dance the way that I felt
(26:24):
like I wanted to dance and justto know it didn't matter if it
was, you know, it wouldn't bejudged as being right or wrong.
That was really freeing for me.
Deb (26:34):
Yeah, exactly.
And interesting because you havea dance dance history as well.
So that little bit ofperfectionism can come in about
not wanting to get it wrong.
And I was the same being atrained dancer.
It's.
You have this differentphilosophy of what you're meant
(26:55):
to be doing and how people arelooking at you because you're
meant to get it right.
groove removes all of that andyou can do it the way that you
want this and that's where it'sreally fabulous and that's what
I loved is to be able to be ableto release.
the style that I wanted to.
There, it didn't need to be thischoreographed structure.
(27:18):
It was the way I wanted torelease this, this dance passion
inside.
But interestingly enough, we'realso putting that, that aside,
there's so many people out therethat are so petrified to
actually get on that dance floorin a sense, because whether
(27:41):
they've been ridiculed andmales, males seem to be
unfortunately more in thatcategory where they hold
themselves back from the mostamazing freedom because they are
But maybe it happened as theywere growing up, which, you
know, tends to be a lot of theeffects that we've had and that
(28:03):
prevent us from doing things.
And they will not dance.
They refuse to dance.
And yet, when they can, and I'veseen males that are in that
sense that it's, oh no, no, no,so embarrassing.
And so it's more like, no, I donot dance.
Come in and have been encouragedto just begin that, that little
(28:31):
bit of movement.
And when they get used to theidea that no one's, no one's
looking at me, no one's laughingat me, there's no one laughing
at me, I will just move thatlittle bit more until they grow
into actually Because dance ismovement.
(28:53):
It's not being able to placeyour feet right because it
really doesn't matter what youlook like.
And so that is one of the thingsthat I love to see are those
that refuse to Dance becausethey have this amazing fear
about it because of ridicule,being able to slowly get into
the fact that they know thatthey can move because a little
(29:15):
bit of shoulder movement,clapping even to music is, is a
form of, of, of dance.
So it's I think being able tosee that a person come from that
to being able to do this is sucha beautiful thing.
Lisa (29:35):
Yeah, and I'm sure you've kind of experienced how, like,
just how many emotions can alsobe inside the body.
And when you start to move it,you know, you're allowing all
those emotions to kind of bereleased and work through that.
Deb (29:49):
very much so.
I think too, with the, the, thedifferent styles within Groove
where there are internal, whatwe'll call internal rhythms that
we, we use and, and this iswhere.
allowing that music to justembody ourselves, allowing
ourselves to be free to move inthe way that the music is
(30:12):
guiding us.
And this is, is such a lovelything and that's where you can
see people's expression and tosee them grow more and release
more the more that they do it.
And that's them freeingthemselves more.
And it certainly does impactthem, as you say, their release
(30:33):
of emotion.
And this is where it's reallygood overall.
It offers all of that to havethat party side of things, and
then very personal, thatpersonal emotion that music
certainly gives us.
Lisa (30:48):
I was reminded while I was doing one of the Body Groove On
Demand, sessions this morning,and there was an end part where
Misty was like leaning upagainst the wall on one of her
poses, and she was just like,look everybody, look around and
see how different we are, howbeautiful everyone's body is,
(31:11):
that we're all so different.
It was just a really nicemoment, you know, where she just
kind of acknowledged everyone intheir own way of posing You
know.
was beautiful.
She's so good at that, that kindof encouragement.
Deb (31:29):
absolutely.
It really is.
And this I think too, fromdoing, from doing groove and
dancing with others and thingslike that, you do really pick up
an amazing amount ofappreciation for.
people around and just to beable to watch the way that they
(31:50):
interact with others and thefact that we we are all
different and it's so beautifulto see so many different people
all coming together enjoying andreally having fun and being able
to be themselves and it's truewe are all different and we are
all beautifully different in ourown way and this is where it's
(32:12):
really lovely i i love the Theworld groovement for the
philosophies that they offer toothers and the way that we can
all come together as very manydifferent people, different
cultures, different, differentvalues, different beliefs,
different standards.
We have all of that, yet we canstill unite and appreciate
(32:35):
everyone for who they are andwhat they believe, the way that
they think.
And it's a really wonderful.
a really wonderful community tobe within.
Lisa (32:49):
Would you have any advice for anybody who wants to try
groove?
Deb (32:55):
Advice?
I think it would be what anyonewithin Groove would say or
anyone that finds something thatis so It will make you feel so
good and that's it.
Try it.
You can't get it wrong.
It's a great thing about youcan't get it wrong.
And you can even stay withinyour comfort zone for a little
(33:19):
bit you can just stay there andyou can move.
You can just be involved.
It doesn't take anything startGroovy.
It just means that.
out there and enjoy yourself.
You get it wrong.
No one really, it cares what youlook like.
You're going have so many peoplearound to support you and it's
(33:39):
very, it's just a thing.
Get out there and try it.
You know, even if you're justjumping and having a look at the
groove side of things, just tobe able to watch it, no one can
actually see you there but havea look.
Try it out and and You'll stickwith because it's a, it's, who
doesn't want to feel good?
Lisa (34:02):
How, Adaptable do you think it is to people that maybe
have some physical challenges?
Deb (34:09):
Look, it's groove is fabulous for all that type of
thing.
When I was, I was mentioning toyou I made the move six months
ago to be nearer to my mum anddad, who are in a nursing home.
my mother loves to dance andabsolutely.
And so interestingly enough,the, they, they have activity in
(34:34):
there the nursing home wherethey do darts and, and they
always have these communitythings.
It's, it's a dementia unit.
And.
Mum as soon as I'd come there,she'd want to dance.
So, and, and the, oh, they're sobeautiful, the elderly.
And so we, we would get togetherand we'd have a few songs with
(34:56):
everybody just doing movements.
So where groove is adaptable, ofcourse, these, some of these
people cannot get out of chairsyet.
Believe me, watching the lookson their faces as they clap
along.
So I think it's very, very goodfor them.
Because they can follow whatyou're doing and the music we've
(35:20):
got a young at heart programwithin body groove.
So a lot of the songs in thereare very, very relatable.
Everyone knows all the music.
So it's things that they can getinto, even even the grumpy old
men, I'm telling you, they will,They'll, they'll clap along
because why do they do it?
They're doing it because theperson over there, the other
(35:42):
lady over there that, you know,they may not like is doing it
and I can do this too.
So it was, that was absolutelybeautiful moments when we had a
couple of times up there wherewe would do, I would bring some
of these songs along and we'd doa couple of So it's really
adaptable because these, some,some could stand and just move.
(36:03):
Others would do it in theirchair, so it's extremely
adaptable.
And this is what I love aboutGroove.
The other area that I want to gointo is we also have a kids
programme as well and that's thenext stage that I want to get to
because Yeah, looking after mygranddaughter for so long and
she can't stay still and that'swhere I realised how beautiful
(36:26):
it is for kids just to startdancing from, from the, before
they can walk.
So, allowing, I think to bringin a groove philosophy at this
age and allowing it to carrythrough.
We're not going to get thosesame inhibitions and, and things
that hold us back if we canlearn at an early age that it's
(36:49):
okay and they love it.
It's so much fun when you getout there and watch kids just
expressing themselves in theirown way.
It's, it's just.
absolutely amazing.
So I, it goes from kids rightthrough to as old as you want.
(37:10):
And all groove is adaptable toanyone.
There's different levels becauseyou're allowing You know how far
you can go on something and youonly do what you can do, what
you feel that you can do in thesense of body movement.
But by always encouragingyourself to go that little bit
(37:31):
further and things like that, itallows us to keep that movement
and flexibility throughout ourlife.
And as older, which is so, sovitally important, which I know
because I get very stiff.
Lisa (37:48):
I'm with you.
I'm with you.
Deb (37:51):
Yeah.
So it's, been amazing for me.
I had a time a couple of yearsback where I had a very bad
problem with my hip and leg.
And I couldn't move.
It took me nearly a year to getover the whole lot of it.
But for six weeks, I was I couldnot get out of bed.
The pain was so bad.
(38:12):
it was calcification in mytendons.
So the muscle, the, the, theligaments couldn't extend.
So I couldn't walk.
I actually didn't think I'd everbe able to walk without a limp
again.
And with groove, talk aboutdoing it in any way.
I would lay in bed because inbed it was the only time that I
(38:32):
wouldn't get this intenseshooting pain where I could not
stand.
And and I started, I wouldn'tmove because I knew I had to
move.
I had to do something, I had todo some form of exercise and so
I'd put on some music whichwould make me feel better
because I felt terrible and beable move and, and I, we do
(38:54):
circulation and in, in groove tobe able to allow our joints and
our body and I...
did that meticulously until Icould at least start getting up.
And actually with some of yourclasses, Lis you were doing, I
think I expressed to you howmuch you helped me because you
(39:16):
were doing a lot of marchingwhere we pick up that.
And I, that was so amazing.
I went from really strugglingand limping to being able to now
It doesn't bother me at all.
yeah, it was just amazing.
And certainly the styles that wedo.
So yeah, you can go from beingbedridden to sitting to doing
(39:43):
it.
And, and this is what it's allabout.
Do it at the level that you cando it.
Just move.
Lisa (39:49):
Yeah.
I think that's one thing too.
I noticed about groove issometimes you can be making
progress and maybe you don'teven notice it in the moment,
but I remember like I was threeor four months into it and I was
like, I'm not having to roll myback out like every night, like
before it was so tight.
And the only thing I was doingdifferent was the groove.
(40:11):
I mean, didn't even really.
Feel like I was purposefullylike working my back out or
anything It's just in thedancing and the way we were
moving.
It just was loosening all thatstuff up So I think that's one
of the fun things about it asyou can, you know, have physical
improvements without working atit
Deb (40:32):
Absolutely.
That's the, that's the bestthing about dance.
Particularly style, in the factthat you can, who would think,
most people have this philosophythat you've got to go to a gym
and work out really hard, oryou've got to really put
yourself in such a stressfulsituation.
(40:53):
Well, in a stressful situationin the fact that our body gets
stressed on fairly heavyphysical exercise continually.
So if you can actually allowyour, your body to tone in such
a way that it's also feelinggood, it has such a better
impact.
(41:13):
And it's sustainable as well.
And this is the thing that Ifind with dance.
And as you say, gradual thingsget better and better.
And we don't realize it until wecan look back and think, Mm hmm
wow, isn't it amazing how we canactually get better with age if
we know how to do it.
(41:34):
And and that's what I reallylove about groove is something
that you can do all your life.
I, I wouldn't think that you'dbe able to.
Pump weights all your life and,and, you know, run a marathon.
You can certainly be very, veryactive, but when it comes to
treating your body well andbeing gentle on your body this
(41:55):
is a beautiful way to do it.
And, and it's a, it's a way ofkeeping your body very healthy
without putting it on into anyform of stress.
It's.
all you're doing is you'recreating these wonderful
endorphins that make you feelgood.
And everybody it's, it'swonderful to feel like that.
(42:18):
Definitely and I think the otherthing I was thinking about was a
number of people have said thatwhen they're doing Groove, even
though they couldn't do it,like, full out, they still felt
successful and I think withother things, like, maybe Zumba
or something, they may give youmodifications, but you still
(42:40):
feel like you're not doing itquite right.
Like, somehow you're not up tothe level that you should Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
there's something about groovewhere you can, as I said before,
where you can come in whereveryou're at and still feel like
you're doing it right.
Yes.
Look, exactly.
It's interesting.
(43:00):
You mentioned Zoom.
Because I, I remember going backquite a few years ago.
I thought, before I even knewabout Groove and I found Zumba
and thought, oh wow, I would trythat.
And it's exactly, exactly as yousaid, it's, everybody knows what
they're doing.
So it can be, how, I often lookat things like that and think,
(43:26):
how would someone go that hasnever ever Because it's a form
of dance and exercise mixed in.
because it's, I guess it's veryaerobic in the sense of what
they do.
It's a great style, but howwould they start?
And I, I was lucky enough that Ihad dance training that I could
pick it up very quickly.
(43:48):
But I remember a couple offriends that I said, Oh, you've
got to come along.
It's lots of fun.
But believe me, they They hadn'thad any dance training and so
they felt very, very awkward andsilly and stuff like that.
And, and so it's like, no, theycan do it and I can't.
So they wouldn't go.
(44:10):
I didn't go for very longbecause of that, you try to find
something.
And now, This something isgroove, where you can come in at
any level, because there is no,there is no level to groove,
it's, it's your level, it's theway that you it, and everyone
does it different, so because noone looks the same, you wouldn't
(44:32):
know what you, what level you'remeant to be at anyway, right, so
that's the thing, and so this iswhere, people that I know that
would not dance, because ofthis.
Oh my gosh, you know, like I'llnever be able to pick it up.
And it's so fast that yeah, it'svery hard that, yeah, groove is
(44:56):
suitable for anyone.
It's suitable for anybody, even,even the ones out there that are
listening to this, that say, no,I'm not a dancer and I'll never
dance.
And then I say, Guess what?
You are a dancer and you can doanything you want in any way you
want.
(45:19):
Right.
You can have two left feet.
It doesn't matter.
We don't say whether you'regoing to be on your left or your
right.
Ah, look, he can dance sittingdown and have fun, you know, and
that, and that's it.
It's more about I think justbeing part of, being part of it.
And we, you know, we, we arecreatures of that, that love
(45:40):
connection and, and that's whatGroove is.
It's, it's connecting and weconnect, we connect through,
through dance.
We connect through music andrhythm.
And it's, it's a wonderful wayand I think that's why it gives
such a great feeling and we feelso satisfied after it because
we've not only done somethingfor ourselves and made ourselves
(46:02):
feel good, we've been part ofsomething and and that's a
really, really wonderful thing.
Mm hmm.
Definitely.
Yeah.
I know I've talked on otherepisodes, but just how, like, if
you look at the Facebookconversations, you know, people
come in with all sorts ofquestions and all sorts of
concerns and everyone's just sosupportive to help them, you
(46:26):
know, continue on their journeyand say, yes, you can do it and
don't be worried about X, Y, orZ or whatever it is.
But yeah, it's such a supportivecommunity that I really love
that about it Look, it is.
And it's really interestingwithin that community, if you
have a look at other communitiesthat may be involved in, away
(46:48):
from the dance side of it, beeninvolved maybe health aspects
and weight loss and things likethat, you'll get the trios and
they drop out and it doesn'twork and all of this type of
thing.
You never hear that from bodygroove.
You hear it from there.
What's really wonderful is whereyou have the, as you were
(47:08):
mentioning some of the newpeople that come in and they
want to know where to start orhow to start because they
haven't done it before.
So it's where's the entry level?
Well, there isn't one, but theseare great areas to start.
So much support.
But what's beautiful is to beable to continue watching their
(47:29):
journey because the communitygrows.
They don't, they don't leave.
They don't Mm hmm.
because it is beautifulcommunity.
It's a great thing to do.
So this is what I really, Ireally love being, going in
there and watching and readingabout.
the journeys of people, wherethey started from, because
there's many, many, many inthere and they're, we're all the
(47:51):
same in, in that sense where it,the journey is a continuing
journey and, and it's reallylovely, lovely to see.
Great community.
Lisa (48:03):
I was thinking too, you have people that talk about,
well, I was grooving and thenthis thing happened and now I'm
kind of having to start at aother level.
So you get to see kind of allthese ebbs and flows of people's
lives, but how.
groove still continues to be apart of it in some form.
Deb (48:22):
exactly.
Exactly.
And that's it.
It's body groove is once, onceyou experience body groove it,
it's something that I thinkbecause you can do it at any
time and, and it doesn't matterwho you are, it's something that
you can keep with you.
(48:42):
And, and yeah, they, everyonetends to just stay with body
groove and, and keep it as partof their life because it's a
part of your life.
You can do it anytime.
Lisa (48:53):
Well, it's been so great talking with you, Deb.
Is there any sort of final wordsor thoughts that you want to say
before we end the interview?
Deb (49:04):
it's just been a whole wonderful journey.
Body Groove and the World GrooveMove is certainly a wonderful
journey for me particularlybecause I get to have wonderful
friends like you and the othersthat we have in our support
group, particularly the otherfacilitators that we always keep
connecting with and thecommunity.
(49:25):
And to be able to do somethinglike this, I certainly hope.
that more and more people comeon board because it's, it'd be
wonderful to see everybodyenjoy, enjoy who they are and
and have the best, the best intheir life.
So it's it's been wonderful tobe here today, Lisa.
(49:45):
Thank you so much for for askingme to, to come on.
It's been terrific.
Lisa (49:51):
Oh, you're welcome.
And thank you so much for takingthe time to talk with me.
And I hope everybody enjoyed theconversation as much as I did.
So thank you, Deb.
Deb (50:03):
Thanks so much, Lisa.
Lisa (50:05):
Okay.
Bye.
Welcome to the Happy Sweat Life podcast.
My name is Lisa Rung and todayI'm excited to be talking to Deb
Powell.
Deb is located in Australia, butshe and I met as we were both
going through the World GroupFacilitator Training and we've
stayed in touch as part of agroup kind of supporting each
(01:09):
other to become facilitators.
And I'm so pleased today to betalking to her about her journey
and how she ended up becoming afacilitator and her journey
through dance, et cetera.
So Deb, do you want to say alittle bit about yourself
Deb (01:27):
Thanks so much, Lisa, for having me on.
It's always a pleasure toconnect with you.
I really enjoy it.
Yeah, like after we joined and,and became friends and and went
through the facilitationprogram, which was absolutely
amazing.
It's wonderful that we've beenable to stay in contact like
(01:49):
this.
When I first started, actually,going right back, my
introduction into dance was likemany, many others back when I
was young.
I love dancing.
I have a passion for dancing,which is where groove is such an
important part of my life.
But I started dancing thetraditional tap ballet.
(02:09):
I did Scottish dancing.
I did every type of dancing when
Lisa (02:13):
Oh, you did Scottish?
Deb (02:14):
About eight.
Yeah.
Lisa (02:15):
Oh, well, didn't know that.
Deb (02:17):
I don't know what prompted my mother to put me into that.
I think it was either Irish orScottish.
And for some reason I got intoScottish, although I loved
watching the Irish, but yeah, soI've tended to do it all.
And I did that for quite a fewyears until probably I was about
11 or 12.
I stopped doing the trainedstyle of dancing, but it was
(02:39):
very good, I think, just havingthat backing.
But I always loved dancing, butother things in life happen as
you're growing up and gettinginto becoming a teenager.
So I stopped for a little while.
But it certainly couldn't holdme back.
I ended up getting back intojoining a performance, a dance
(03:00):
performance group in my midteens.
And that was really wonderful tobe able to, to do that.
I did that for a couple of yearswhere we had a, had a troupe
that traveled around and, anddid dance for, you know, in the
shopping centers and at schoolsand Anywhere that that they, we
were able to, it was a, it was akids, I guess a young, young
(03:24):
adults in a sense.
a lot of them were a lot youngerthan me,
Lisa (03:28):
So were you doing different kinds of dance?
Deb (03:30):
look in that type of thing.
It was more modern style ofdancing oh, the, yeah.
Within the dance studio itself.
We were also training indifferent aspects of dance again
in, they did a lot moreacrobatics, which I didn't
actually do.
it's really interesting becausebeing trained in ballet and tap
(03:55):
and things like that, I, Icertainly wasn't very acrobatic.
I didn't think so anyway.
You can do basic stuff, but notlike some of the gymnasts.
So I mean, gymnastics and is sototally different the way that
the body is utilised and, and,and the, I guess the spring
buoyancy and my body shapedefinitely wasn't gymnastic,
(04:17):
particularly when I startedgetting into teenage years,
which is where I think I startedbecoming very self conscious of
my body shape because I, What isthe term that they would use?
I know when I was younger, itwas like well developed.
And so I was a little bit, Iguess you'd say on the plump
(04:40):
side.
And and, and I was really,really super self conscious of
that.
And that's where, as much as Ilove to dance, it's really
started playing on me with myweight.
And so I, I didn't, didn'tcontinue that for very long.
I was just really too selfconscious and it just grew and
(05:03):
grew and grew, particularly Ithink teen, being teenagers.
With me, it it started havingquite an effect on the things
that, that I was doing.
So it was a matter of jumpingout of that limelight.
My passion was still there, butI got into other things with you
(05:23):
know, friends.
You walk away from that.
In my early twenties, I guessI've always had this pulling
back into dance and it wasafter, must have been after my,
my first daughter was born inmy, I was in my twenties and I
lost a massive amount of weight.
huge amount I think throughmaybe hormones just settling yet
(05:50):
they're up in the air after youhave a child.
But I, I did lose a lot ofweight.
I wasn't eating very well.
I lost weight and, and, I foundthe opportunity of getting back
into a dance theatre group andtook the opportunity.
I went and auditioned and I wasreally fortunate enough to be
(06:10):
able to get that.
So that was a, a show that I wasdoing.
And I did quite a bit of thatfor quite a few years, which I
just loved doing a lot oftheatre performance, but always
in the the dance side of things.
So that was really wonderful.
That's while I was in Sydney.
And then in the late eighties, Iended up moving from, the city
(06:36):
into a more regional area, whichthere wasn't a lot of that
around, I was very involved infamily at that stage.
So I tended to drop out,although I was still connected.
I would get involved in musicaltheatre and and it was only
after a few years in the,regional area that I was living,
(06:58):
that I came across people withinthe musical societies.
And again we had a, a theatre,like an old time theatre group
that we, we travelled around.
And I got into a lot more ofthe, old time dance and a little
bit of ballroom y dance within,within a performance group, you
(07:22):
know, where we, we did old timetheatre like, By the light of
the silvery moon, you know, allof that old stuff.
It was great.
Loved it so much.
So it just kept my foot in thedoor of a passion that I loved.
Until after having a couple ofkids and family.
(07:43):
That really took over my lifeand work, so I didn't do it for
quite a long time.
And as you get older, going on acouple of decades later and I
just dropped out of that danceside of things because I guess
life, life takes over as itdoes.
And through my work, I wasworking actually at a restaurant
(08:05):
and I noticed my health started,it wasn't very good.
I, so I stopped doing that andbecame very involved in natural
health.
So in my health, and I startedstudying in naturopathy to just
to learn.
(08:26):
About the health side of it,which I really loved.
I really loved the ability to beable to take care of the self.
So I directed myself into thereand a personal care development
into life coaching, into healthand wellbeing and became a
health and wellbeing coach,which led me into being able to
(08:46):
connect the circle back ofintroducing the The, the
physical, the emotionalwellbeing.
And this is where I spottedGroove and the dance.
And I thought, wow, this isamazing because I still love
this dance and the way that itmade us feel it, the way that it
(09:06):
makes people feel.
And so I ended up becoming afacilitator to be able to bring
this amazing style of dance thatcan be so joyous and, and, and
do so much for our own health inthat sense, health and well
being.
And, and this is where I metyou, Lise while doing the this
(09:30):
facilitation for it.
So it was a matter of bringingin the, this dance style.
To incorporate in what I wasalready doing in helping people
with becoming the betterversions of themselves and
helping them in their health andwellbeing.
And so that's where it kind ofall, all very, very fast paced
(09:53):
ended up finding groove.
A passion of dance that I justlove to have in my life.
Lisa (10:03):
That's quite a journey.
I didn't realize all thoseelements you had in there.
So did you do body groove ondemand at all, or did you just
sign right up for being a WorldGroove facilitator?
Deb (10:17):
I thought that this, this may inhibit me not having done
Body Groove.
So the answer to that is no, Ididn't do Body Groove, but I did
watch a couple of the BodyGroove videos an idea of what it
was about.
Because the way I actually foundit was it was scrolling through
(10:37):
Facebook and it was Actually,another coach that I saw, and
she was doing, it was, it waslike a pop up class, this pop up
class, and I thought, wow, Ilove this style of dance,
because it isn't structured inthe way, So many people are
inhibited to allow themselvesand give themselves permission
(10:59):
just to enjoy movement.
And movement is so important forour, our health and our
wellbeing.
And to be able to bring that in,and I looked and I thought,
it's...
How is she doing?
Like, where is she getting thisstyle from?
So that's where I started doingsome research where I came
(11:20):
across Body Groove and that'swhere I saw one of Misty's
advertisements on thereexplaining her story.
And I thought, wow, thatcertainly does resonate in
people having health issues andthe way that it can affect us
and what prevents us fromstepping out and allowing
(11:41):
ourselves.
Selves to just be our authenticself.
And this is where I really Ilove to be able to help people
to come back and not worry aboutwhat other people are thinking
and, and know that.
You're not being judged in whatyou do, especially when you're
being you, because we are themost beautiful people.
(12:03):
Each of us has such an amazingquality inside and to allow
others to freely see that issuch an important aspect.
And I really believe Groove hasso much of that to be able to
offer.
And I noticed one of the thingsthat really helped me, and it
was certainly in the confidenceaspect, because it's, I, I,
(12:25):
Still was very self consciousabout things.
I could help others, but when itcame to helping myself, isn't it
amazing?
We can reach out and help otherpeople, but looking at yourself,
it's I certainly needed thatconfidence boost and Groove
certainly did that for mebecause it allowed me to just.
(12:50):
So while I was in that danceenvironment, in that groove
environment, I could be me, andit was okay to be me.
And this is what I loved aboutit.
And so this is where I wanted tohelp others to recognize that
it's okay It's okay to be youbecause you're a beautiful
person.
And so I'm so thankful that I, Isaw this popup class.
(13:14):
I'm so thankful that I put inthe effort to scroll through and
find Misty Tripoli and the WorldGroove Movement and, and again,
coming together and doing thefacilitation again, the
wonderful friends that I've beenable to meet and Groove has just
such a strong and.
(13:35):
Supportive community why wouldyou want to be anywhere else?
It's great.
Lisa (13:40):
It's true.
Yeah.
I think groove does do thatreally well taking people where
they're at, whatever physicalfitness level that they're at
and just saying you're welcome.
You're welcome on the dancefloor.
And, and how much that reallydoes help your mental as well as
your physical well being.
(14:02):
So was it hard to do thetraining without having done too
much of the groove itself
Deb (14:10):
I was extremely nervous when I first started and, and,
and strangely enough, eventhough we did it on Zoom, On
video, I was very, very selfconscious when I first started.
It was like, oh, you know, I, Ifeel very awkward.
I'm in my own space, in my owncomfort zone, in my home, and
(14:33):
still felt that resistance of,but it didn't take too long.
I guess I still felt it duringthe facilitation of it, but the
more you get to meet the others,the other facilitators that were
there for exactly the samereason, and listening to some of
(14:55):
their stories as well, of howthey were too feeling it, you
realize, wow, I'm actually notalone.
And so I got over that very,very quickly, the fact that I
hadn't done body groove beforeand, and really didn't know a
huge amount about it because thefacilitation certainly explained
(15:17):
it and we went through it and asI did, I fell more and more in
love with it was the bestdecision that I'd ever made
doing the, body groove.
The facilitation and gettinginvolved, it was wonderful.
And it's, Groove is like noother really with the different
styles that you can tap into andknow that it's really great for
(15:38):
our, as you say, you know, ourhealth and wellbeing it's our
emotional health and ourphysical health.
It's very, very good for all ofthat because it allows us to, to
really express.
in our own way.
And it really doesn't matterwhat anybody else thinks of us.
We're allowed to express and andenjoy it.
(16:01):
And so the other facilitationwas a great stepping stone.
And it was fine that I hadn'tdone body groove before.
You learn it very quickly.
Lisa (16:11):
Yes, that's great.
So are you doing that?
are you still coaching rightnow?
Doing the life coaching?
Are you taking a break fromthat?
Deb (16:18):
Well, I had taken a break for quite a while.
I had a bit of a transition andmove from where I was.
I moved about six months ago tocare for my mum and dad.
And also have become a, havebecome a full time.
Carer for my grandchild as well.
(16:38):
I had my daughter andgranddaughter living with me.
So life became incrediblyhectic.
The move transition it has takenme a long time.
So six months off and ready toget back into into all of my
groove and back into, which I'vestarted back with the with my.
(17:01):
life coaching and which what I'mdoing at the moment is very much
like you on a different aspect.
I've started a new series on apodcast of being able to uplift
your heart and, and which I'mdoing with a fellow.
Coach.
(17:21):
So we do that together and whichhas been a lot of fun.
We've only just started that andready to kick that off soon.
It's our second in the series.
So really looking forward todoing that and bringing the, the
groove aspect back into, whichis Where I wanted to, to be able
to bring it back into mycoaching, into the sense of
(17:43):
being able to connect thephysical and the emotional side
of it into being able to offerto people, because I think it's
a, it's a really great, greatthing.
So, yeah, took about a six monthbreak and, by September that's
where I'll be starting back inwith my Zoom groove classes and
(18:05):
with my coaching.
Lisa (18:07):
oh, that's exciting.
be look forward to taking, aslong as they're not at 2 a.
m.
in the morning for me orsomething.
It's always a little strugglewith the time difference here,
but it is, it's
Deb (18:21):
it certainly has its drawbacks, but I think the fact
that we can touch base globallyis really fantastic to be able
to get those, and, and withoutthat it.
May not have been able to findgroove.
So I'm really lucky.
Sometimes we have to have tomake those adjustments in that
timing.
(18:42):
But I think the great thing isthere's always a time available.
Most of the time.
So it's it's good.
Lisa (18:53):
So if somebody is looking for your podcast, what should
they look for?
Deb (18:58):
that going come that's coming out, which will be
releasing toward the end of thismonth is called Uplifting Your
Heartlight and we've actuallygot a, well, we have a private
Facebook group at the moment,which is Finding Your
(19:18):
Heartlight.
So, or you can contact medirectly.
I'm also doing it with my cohost on the podcast Barry
O'Donnell.
He's actually from Canada.
So we really know about timezone differences when we come to
do our recordings as well.
And so through Facebook, Iadvertise through Facebook and
(19:41):
and the group that we have onthere is Finding Your Heartline,
or I also have my, my own groupand my business, which is called
the Inside Connection which iswhere I'll be.
Introducing groove into that aswell, because it covers
everything.
(20:02):
It covers the health and ourwell being and our physical and
emotional health as well.
And that's where I work from theinside connection.
Lisa (20:11):
wonderful.
Well, I'll have all that in theshow notes.
So if you want to look up Deband what she's up to, you can
find it there.
(20:33):
So there's several groovetruths.
Was there one that kind ofresonated the most with you?
Deb (20:42):
I think the most important one for me with the, with the
groove truths is to not to worryabout what anyone else thinks.
Because it doesn't reallymatter.
And so the one that they have isnobody cares what you look like
is really very factual.
(21:06):
People aren't there standing andwatching you dance and, and, and
judging you on it.
And this is what I love aboutgroove.
It's a totally non, non judgmentzone.
Everyone's in there to have fun,really embody the music.
So it's I think the wholephilosophy of groove is so
valid.
And yeah, just to be yourauthentic self.
(21:30):
So don't worry about what otherpeople think.
Have you
Lisa (21:35):
had experiences with some of your clients in terms of?
Their connection with Groove orhow it helped them or, Yes,
Deb (21:42):
actually, I've had a couple of them during the groove
classes when I was runninggroove classes earlier on,
certainly.
I used to love it when theywould say, oh, The people that
were very inhibited to step outof, outside of themselves and,
and just not care about whatother people think, it gave them
(22:05):
the confidence to be able to bethemselves, to not worry about
what other people think, and Andbecause they loved it so much,
they just really, really enjoyedthe fact that they could express
themselves and they could do itin their own way.
And, and this is what groove is,is to be able to, with the
(22:25):
styles we offer or the, thesimple movement and rhythm that
we offer with a variety ofdifferent dance music.
and to do it in your own way.
And, and it's okay.
And this is what they do.
And it's, I think it's wonderfulto be able to watch others and
(22:46):
how they bring in their own selfand how they express a certain,
a certain movement and todifferent genres that of music
that we play.
And we're all different.
We're all different and it looksso great.
And it really is being able tocome together as and create this
wonderful party and together anddo it in, do it in our own way.
(23:12):
And it's just wonderful.
So yeah, the, the couple thathave come to it have really
loved the groove and one, oneparticular girl.
definitely thought that shecouldn't dance and had never
found anything that made herfeel like a dancer.
(23:33):
I said Everyone can dance.
We were born to dance.
As Misty says, we were born todance.
It's the first thing that welearn almost before we can walk.
We're up there and we're movingto music the whole time.
And it's just unfortunate thatas we get a little bit older, we
tend to come away from thatthinking that What are people
going to think of me?
So to be able to get back intothe groove and the music and to
(23:59):
close your eyes and to be ableto allow that inner child to be
able to come out and express theway that you want to and have
fun.
It does absolutely amazingthings to the way that we think,
to our mental health, to thefact that we feel so good.
And apart from that, it's doingwonderful things for our body.
(24:20):
It's.
It's a wonderful, wonderful wayto tone up.
Who wouldn't want to have funand know that they're getting
all these benefits?
Lisa (24:28):
I think that's one of the things I keep hearing about
people that really love Grooveis that they just, they keep
coming back to it.
Like, it's not a chore to do.
It's just, you know, there'ssomething they look forward to
in their day to go and put ontheir Body Groove On Demand or
take a class.
Deb (24:44):
Absolutely.
Lisa (24:45):
And just get moving.
And I, I kind of was hearing in'what you were saying as well
that people's sense of nobodycares what I look like kind of
carries out into the rest oftheir lives.
Maybe.
Do you find that?
Deb (25:02):
Yeah, look, very much so.
It gives, and I think when wetalk about the nobody cares what
we look like, it's.
It's more being able tounderstand it doesn't matter
what other people think, becausethe truth, the people that our
friends, our circle, our innercircle of friends that we have,
(25:26):
you know, they love you for whoyou are.
And the more we can releasethat, the more it allows that
circle to grow.
And it gives the confidence we,we enable ourselves.
Ourselves to be more confidentin a world knowing that we're
accepted for who we are.
And I think this is the, one ofthe, the greatest things that I
(25:47):
notice is the, the addedconfidence.
It, it gives someone when theycan allow themselves to be who
they are, which is, is whatgroove really pushes forward.
Mm.
Lisa (26:02):
Definitely.
Yeah, I think I've said to youbefore, but the, the group truth
that resonated most with me waslike, you can't get it wrong.
So I was always sort of puttingso much pressure on myself to
like, be perfect in thechoreography or in the technique
and just having that permissionto dance the way that I felt
(26:24):
like I wanted to dance and justto know it didn't matter if it
was, you know, it wouldn't bejudged as being right or wrong.
That was really freeing for me.
Deb (26:34):
Yeah, exactly.
And interesting because you havea dance dance history as well.
So that little bit ofperfectionism can come in about
not wanting to get it wrong.
And I was the same being atrained dancer.
It's.
You have this differentphilosophy of what you're meant
(26:55):
to be doing and how people arelooking at you because you're
meant to get it right.
groove removes all of that andyou can do it the way that you
want this and that's where it'sreally fabulous and that's what
I loved is to be able to be ableto release.
the style that I wanted to.
There, it didn't need to be thischoreographed structure.
(27:18):
It was the way I wanted torelease this, this dance passion
inside.
But interestingly enough, we'realso putting that, that aside,
there's so many people out therethat are so petrified to
actually get on that dance floorin a sense, because whether
(27:41):
they've been ridiculed andmales, males seem to be
unfortunately more in thatcategory where they hold
themselves back from the mostamazing freedom because they are
But maybe it happened as theywere growing up, which, you
know, tends to be a lot of theeffects that we've had and that
(28:03):
prevent us from doing things.
And they will not dance.
They refuse to dance.
And yet, when they can, and I'veseen males that are in that
sense that it's, oh no, no, no,so embarrassing.
And so it's more like, no, I donot dance.
Come in and have been encouragedto just begin that, that little
(28:31):
bit of movement.
And when they get used to theidea that no one's, no one's
looking at me, no one's laughingat me, there's no one laughing
at me, I will just move thatlittle bit more until they grow
into actually Because dance ismovement.
(28:53):
It's not being able to placeyour feet right because it
really doesn't matter what youlook like.
And so that is one of the thingsthat I love to see are those
that refuse to Dance becausethey have this amazing fear
about it because of ridicule,being able to slowly get into
the fact that they know thatthey can move because a little
(29:15):
bit of shoulder movement,clapping even to music is, is a
form of, of, of dance.
So it's I think being able tosee that a person come from that
to being able to do this is sucha beautiful thing.
Lisa (29:35):
Yeah, and I'm sure you've kind of experienced how, like,
just how many emotions can alsobe inside the body.
And when you start to move it,you know, you're allowing all
those emotions to kind of bereleased and work through that.
Deb (29:49):
very much so.
I think too, with the, the, thedifferent styles within Groove
where there are internal, whatwe'll call internal rhythms that
we, we use and, and this iswhere.
allowing that music to justembody ourselves, allowing
ourselves to be free to move inthe way that the music is
(30:12):
guiding us.
And this is, is such a lovelything and that's where you can
see people's expression and tosee them grow more and release
more the more that they do it.
And that's them freeingthemselves more.
And it certainly does impactthem, as you say, their release
(30:33):
of emotion.
And this is where it's reallygood overall.
It offers all of that to havethat party side of things, and
then very personal, thatpersonal emotion that music
certainly gives us.
Lisa (30:48):
I was reminded while I was doing one of the Body Groove On
Demand, sessions this morning,and there was an end part where
Misty was like leaning upagainst the wall on one of her
poses, and she was just like,look everybody, look around and
see how different we are, howbeautiful everyone's body is,
(31:11):
that we're all so different.
It was just a really nicemoment, you know, where she just
kind of acknowledged everyone intheir own way of posing You
know.
was beautiful.
She's so good at that, that kindof encouragement.
Deb (31:29):
absolutely.
It really is.
And this I think too, fromdoing, from doing groove and
dancing with others and thingslike that, you do really pick up
an amazing amount ofappreciation for.
people around and just to beable to watch the way that they
(31:50):
interact with others and thefact that we we are all
different and it's so beautifulto see so many different people
all coming together enjoying andreally having fun and being able
to be themselves and it's truewe are all different and we are
all beautifully different in ourown way and this is where it's
(32:12):
really lovely i i love the Theworld groovement for the
philosophies that they offer toothers and the way that we can
all come together as very manydifferent people, different
cultures, different, differentvalues, different beliefs,
different standards.
We have all of that, yet we canstill unite and appreciate
(32:35):
everyone for who they are andwhat they believe, the way that
they think.
And it's a really wonderful.
a really wonderful community tobe within.
Lisa (32:49):
Would you have any advice for anybody who wants to try
groove?
Deb (32:55):
Advice?
I think it would be what anyonewithin Groove would say or
anyone that finds something thatis so It will make you feel so
good and that's it.
Try it.
You can't get it wrong.
It's a great thing about youcan't get it wrong.
And you can even stay withinyour comfort zone for a little
(33:19):
bit you can just stay there andyou can move.
You can just be involved.
It doesn't take anything startGroovy.
It just means that.
out there and enjoy yourself.
You get it wrong.
No one really, it cares what youlook like.
You're going have so many peoplearound to support you and it's
(33:39):
very, it's just a thing.
Get out there and try it.
You know, even if you're justjumping and having a look at the
groove side of things, just tobe able to watch it, no one can
actually see you there but havea look.
Try it out and and You'll stickwith because it's a, it's, who
doesn't want to feel good?
Lisa (34:02):
How, Adaptable do you think it is to people that maybe
have some physical challenges?
Deb (34:09):
Look, it's groove is fabulous for all that type of
thing.
When I was, I was mentioning toyou I made the move six months
ago to be nearer to my mum anddad, who are in a nursing home.
my mother loves to dance andabsolutely.
And so interestingly enough,the, they, they have activity in
(34:34):
there the nursing home wherethey do darts and, and they
always have these communitythings.
It's, it's a dementia unit.
And.
Mum as soon as I'd come there,she'd want to dance.
So, and, and the, oh, they're sobeautiful, the elderly.
And so we, we would get togetherand we'd have a few songs with
(34:56):
everybody just doing movements.
So where groove is adaptable, ofcourse, these, some of these
people cannot get out of chairsyet.
Believe me, watching the lookson their faces as they clap
along.
So I think it's very, very goodfor them.
Because they can follow whatyou're doing and the music we've
(35:20):
got a young at heart programwithin body groove.
So a lot of the songs in thereare very, very relatable.
Everyone knows all the music.
So it's things that they can getinto, even even the grumpy old
men, I'm telling you, they will,They'll, they'll clap along
because why do they do it?
They're doing it because theperson over there, the other
(35:42):
lady over there that, you know,they may not like is doing it
and I can do this too.
So it was, that was absolutelybeautiful moments when we had a
couple of times up there wherewe would do, I would bring some
of these songs along and we'd doa couple of So it's really
adaptable because these, some,some could stand and just move.
(36:03):
Others would do it in theirchair, so it's extremely
adaptable.
And this is what I love aboutGroove.
The other area that I want to gointo is we also have a kids
programme as well and that's thenext stage that I want to get to
because Yeah, looking after mygranddaughter for so long and
she can't stay still and that'swhere I realised how beautiful
(36:26):
it is for kids just to startdancing from, from the, before
they can walk.
So, allowing, I think to bringin a groove philosophy at this
age and allowing it to carrythrough.
We're not going to get thosesame inhibitions and, and things
that hold us back if we canlearn at an early age that it's
(36:49):
okay and they love it.
It's so much fun when you getout there and watch kids just
expressing themselves in theirown way.
It's, it's just.
absolutely amazing.
So I, it goes from kids rightthrough to as old as you want.
(37:10):
And all groove is adaptable toanyone.
There's different levels becauseyou're allowing You know how far
you can go on something and youonly do what you can do, what
you feel that you can do in thesense of body movement.
But by always encouragingyourself to go that little bit
(37:31):
further and things like that, itallows us to keep that movement
and flexibility throughout ourlife.
And as older, which is so, sovitally important, which I know
because I get very stiff.
Lisa (37:48):
I'm with you.
I'm with you.
Deb (37:51):
Yeah.
So it's, been amazing for me.
I had a time a couple of yearsback where I had a very bad
problem with my hip and leg.
And I couldn't move.
It took me nearly a year to getover the whole lot of it.
But for six weeks, I was I couldnot get out of bed.
The pain was so bad.
(38:12):
it was calcification in mytendons.
So the muscle, the, the, theligaments couldn't extend.
So I couldn't walk.
I actually didn't think I'd everbe able to walk without a limp
again.
And with groove, talk aboutdoing it in any way.
I would lay in bed because inbed it was the only time that I
(38:32):
wouldn't get this intenseshooting pain where I could not
stand.
And and I started, I wouldn'tmove because I knew I had to
move.
I had to do something, I had todo some form of exercise and so
I'd put on some music whichwould make me feel better
because I felt terrible and beable move and, and I, we do
(38:54):
circulation and in, in groove tobe able to allow our joints and
our body and I...
did that meticulously until Icould at least start getting up.
And actually with some of yourclasses, Lis you were doing, I
think I expressed to you howmuch you helped me because you
(39:16):
were doing a lot of marchingwhere we pick up that.
And I, that was so amazing.
I went from really strugglingand limping to being able to now
It doesn't bother me at all.
yeah, it was just amazing.
And certainly the styles that wedo.
So yeah, you can go from beingbedridden to sitting to doing
(39:43):
it.
And, and this is what it's allabout.
Do it at the level that you cando it.
Just move.
Lisa (39:49):
Yeah.
I think that's one thing too.
I noticed about groove issometimes you can be making
progress and maybe you don'teven notice it in the moment,
but I remember like I was threeor four months into it and I was
like, I'm not having to roll myback out like every night, like
before it was so tight.
And the only thing I was doingdifferent was the groove.
(40:11):
I mean, didn't even really.
Feel like I was purposefullylike working my back out or
anything It's just in thedancing and the way we were
moving.
It just was loosening all thatstuff up So I think that's one
of the fun things about it asyou can, you know, have physical
improvements without working atit
Deb (40:32):
Absolutely.
That's the, that's the bestthing about dance.
Particularly style, in the factthat you can, who would think,
most people have this philosophythat you've got to go to a gym
and work out really hard, oryou've got to really put
yourself in such a stressfulsituation.
(40:53):
Well, in a stressful situationin the fact that our body gets
stressed on fairly heavyphysical exercise continually.
So if you can actually allowyour, your body to tone in such
a way that it's also feelinggood, it has such a better
impact.
(41:13):
And it's sustainable as well.
And this is the thing that Ifind with dance.
And as you say, gradual thingsget better and better.
And we don't realize it until wecan look back and think, Mm hmm
wow, isn't it amazing how we canactually get better with age if
we know how to do it.
(41:34):
And and that's what I reallylove about groove is something
that you can do all your life.
I, I wouldn't think that you'dbe able to.
Pump weights all your life and,and, you know, run a marathon.
You can certainly be very, veryactive, but when it comes to
treating your body well andbeing gentle on your body this
(41:55):
is a beautiful way to do it.
And, and it's a, it's a way ofkeeping your body very healthy
without putting it on into anyform of stress.
It's.
all you're doing is you'recreating these wonderful
endorphins that make you feelgood.
And everybody it's, it'swonderful to feel like that.
(42:18):
Definitely and I think the otherthing I was thinking about was a
number of people have said thatwhen they're doing Groove, even
though they couldn't do it,like, full out, they still felt
successful and I think withother things, like, maybe Zumba
or something, they may give youmodifications, but you still
(42:40):
feel like you're not doing itquite right.
Like, somehow you're not up tothe level that you should Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
there's something about groovewhere you can, as I said before,
where you can come in whereveryou're at and still feel like
you're doing it right.
Yes.
Look, exactly.
It's interesting.
(43:00):
You mentioned Zoom.
Because I, I remember going backquite a few years ago.
I thought, before I even knewabout Groove and I found Zumba
and thought, oh wow, I would trythat.
And it's exactly, exactly as yousaid, it's, everybody knows what
they're doing.
So it can be, how, I often lookat things like that and think,
(43:26):
how would someone go that hasnever ever Because it's a form
of dance and exercise mixed in.
because it's, I guess it's veryaerobic in the sense of what
they do.
It's a great style, but howwould they start?
And I, I was lucky enough that Ihad dance training that I could
pick it up very quickly.
(43:48):
But I remember a couple offriends that I said, Oh, you've
got to come along.
It's lots of fun.
But believe me, they They hadn'thad any dance training and so
they felt very, very awkward andsilly and stuff like that.
And, and so it's like, no, theycan do it and I can't.
So they wouldn't go.
(44:10):
I didn't go for very longbecause of that, you try to find
something.
And now, This something isgroove, where you can come in at
any level, because there is no,there is no level to groove,
it's, it's your level, it's theway that you it, and everyone
does it different, so because noone looks the same, you wouldn't
(44:32):
know what you, what level you'remeant to be at anyway, right, so
that's the thing, and so this iswhere, people that I know that
would not dance, because ofthis.
Oh my gosh, you know, like I'llnever be able to pick it up.
And it's so fast that yeah, it'svery hard that, yeah, groove is
(44:56):
suitable for anyone.
It's suitable for anybody, even,even the ones out there that are
listening to this, that say, no,I'm not a dancer and I'll never
dance.
And then I say, Guess what?
You are a dancer and you can doanything you want in any way you
want.
(45:19):
Right.
You can have two left feet.
It doesn't matter.
We don't say whether you'regoing to be on your left or your
right.
Ah, look, he can dance sittingdown and have fun, you know, and
that, and that's it.
It's more about I think justbeing part of, being part of it.
And we, you know, we, we arecreatures of that, that love
(45:40):
connection and, and that's whatGroove is.
It's, it's connecting and weconnect, we connect through,
through dance.
We connect through music andrhythm.
And it's, it's a wonderful wayand I think that's why it gives
such a great feeling and we feelso satisfied after it because
we've not only done somethingfor ourselves and made ourselves
(46:02):
feel good, we've been part ofsomething and and that's a
really, really wonderful thing.
Mm hmm.
Definitely.
Yeah.
I know I've talked on otherepisodes, but just how, like, if
you look at the Facebookconversations, you know, people
come in with all sorts ofquestions and all sorts of
concerns and everyone's just sosupportive to help them, you
(46:26):
know, continue on their journeyand say, yes, you can do it and
don't be worried about X, Y, orZ or whatever it is.
But yeah, it's such a supportivecommunity that I really love
that about it Look, it is.
And it's really interestingwithin that community, if you
have a look at other communitiesthat may be involved in, away
(46:48):
from the dance side of it, beeninvolved maybe health aspects
and weight loss and things likethat, you'll get the trios and
they drop out and it doesn'twork and all of this type of
thing.
You never hear that from bodygroove.
You hear it from there.
What's really wonderful is whereyou have the, as you were
(47:08):
mentioning some of the newpeople that come in and they
want to know where to start orhow to start because they
haven't done it before.
So it's where's the entry level?
Well, there isn't one, but theseare great areas to start.
So much support.
But what's beautiful is to beable to continue watching their
(47:29):
journey because the communitygrows.
They don't, they don't leave.
They don't Mm hmm.
because it is beautifulcommunity.
It's a great thing to do.
So this is what I really, Ireally love being, going in
there and watching and readingabout.
the journeys of people, wherethey started from, because
there's many, many, many inthere and they're, we're all the
(47:51):
same in, in that sense where it,the journey is a continuing
journey and, and it's reallylovely, lovely to see.
Great community.
Lisa (48:03):
I was thinking too, you have people that talk about,
well, I was grooving and thenthis thing happened and now I'm
kind of having to start at aother level.
So you get to see kind of allthese ebbs and flows of people's
lives, but how.
groove still continues to be apart of it in some form.
Deb (48:22):
exactly.
Exactly.
And that's it.
It's body groove is once, onceyou experience body groove it,
it's something that I thinkbecause you can do it at any
time and, and it doesn't matterwho you are, it's something that
you can keep with you.
(48:42):
And, and yeah, they, everyonetends to just stay with body
groove and, and keep it as partof their life because it's a
part of your life.
You can do it anytime.
Lisa (48:53):
Well, it's been so great talking with you, Deb.
Is there any sort of final wordsor thoughts that you want to say
before we end the interview?
Deb (49:04):
it's just been a whole wonderful journey.
Body Groove and the World GrooveMove is certainly a wonderful
journey for me particularlybecause I get to have wonderful
friends like you and the othersthat we have in our support
group, particularly the otherfacilitators that we always keep
connecting with and thecommunity.
(49:25):
And to be able to do somethinglike this, I certainly hope.
that more and more people comeon board because it's, it'd be
wonderful to see everybodyenjoy, enjoy who they are and
and have the best, the best intheir life.
So it's it's been wonderful tobe here today, Lisa.
(49:45):
Thank you so much for for askingme to, to come on.
It's been terrific.
Lisa (49:51):
Oh, you're welcome.
And thank you so much for takingthe time to talk with me.
And I hope everybody enjoyed theconversation as much as I did.
So thank you, Deb.
Deb (50:03):
Thanks so much, Lisa.
Lisa (50:05):
Okay.
Bye.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!