September 26, 2023 • 39 mins
Episode 14. In this episode, we journey through the many inspired chapters of Florence MacGregor's life, from her professional career as a performer to her roles as a devoted mom, yoga instructor, groove facilitator, and now, a psychotherapist. Discover how Florence's transformative path led her through various stages, with groove dancing acting as a guiding light through moments of loss, self-discovery, and connection.
Florence's journey comes full circle as she now gives back to the Groove community by leading a free healing circle, offering solace and support to others on their paths to self-discovery and healing. Join us as we explore the harmonious dance of life, resilience, and the transformative potential of groove in this inspirational episode.
Links:
Florence MacGregor Website
Psychology Today Web Link
Patricia Albert Article on Dance Benefits
Groove:
World Groove Movement
BodyGroove
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Find my World Groove movement zoom class on Thursdays, under my name, at: https://theworldgroovemovement.com/virtual-search/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lisa (00:10):
Welcome to the Happy Sweat Life podcast.
My name is Lisa Rung, and todayI am thrilled to be talking to
Florence McGregor.
She is a mom of two kids and aregistered psychotherapist She
has been part of the GrooveTribe since 2013, so we're gonna
(00:31):
be talking about her journeywith groove and how it fit in
her life and influenced herlife.
And she's also hosts a freeonline circle.
Healing circle for anyone who ispart of the groove family.
So that's the world groove orthe body groove.
So Florence, yeah.
Could you please talk to usabout your journey with Groove?
Florence (00:56):
Yes.
Thank you so much for having meon, Lisa.
I really appreciate this timewith you.
Lisa (01:00):
Oh, you're welcome.
Florence (01:01):
So originally I, I was a classical performer.
I was at the Stratford Festivalfor many years, and then I was
invited to an internationalclassical training program at
Shakespeare's Globe.
I had an extraordinary career asa classical performer.
I was Christopher Plummer'sfirst artistic apprentice mark
(01:24):
Rylance at the, the globe waslike my acting teacher, you
know, it was a, just anextraordinary time.
I came out of that experienceand I worked with an
extraordinary woman by the nameof Paula Thompson, who is a
movement specialist.
She works with theaterperformers and dancers in the
(01:46):
realm of psychology.
and I worked with her.
I got a bunch of grants and Iworked with her at York
University.
Really on a master's level,figuring out the connection
between the mind and the bodyand our nourishment, our
self-care.
From there, I got a job.
(02:08):
At Humber College, the theaterdepartment there teaching,
basically it was an integrationclass of voice movement and
acting.
It was a storytelling class.
But in its crux, it was a healthclass for actors and we did a
lot of.
Kinetic work and going throughour body's images and our
(02:31):
memories, and we were creatingshows from that.
I met an extraordinarilybeautiful man, an Argentinian
man, and I fell in love and Ihad a couple kids and I was
like, oh, this is it.
And I just couldn't go back toacting.
I was just like, oh, this is.
This is my lead.
(02:52):
I am my lead in my own life now,and I just fell madly in love
with being a mom.
And it was like, oh, and but Iwas like, okay, how do we do
this?
Like, how am I going to, youknow, being a mom, it's a
full-time job.
But it's good to work part-timefor your own sanity, and for,
(03:15):
you know, feeding your kids and,supporting the family.
So when I was pregnant with mysecond child, I had this
extraordinary dream that I wasgoing to be dancing with
spiritual leaders and that Ishould get on the yoga floor
right away.
It was just like what I have to.
(03:37):
Learn yoga and dancespiritually, what does that
mean?
And then, you know, that's why Iwas asking around and there just
happened to be.
Yoga certification course thatwas nine months long.
it's like, right now, sign upnow.
And then after nine months, I, Igraduated from, you know, to
(03:57):
become a yoga instructor and Ihad my baby like the next day.
It was crazy.
And then like three monthslater, I got keys to this
extraordinary, beautiful studioand I opened up the floor for a
mom and baby.
Community, like a yoga mom andbaby yoga and I, I started to
(04:19):
really understand what it meantto be in community with these
extraordinary women.
Then my mother died, so it's alllike mother themed, you know, my
mom died.
I was very close to her.
I come from a big family and shewas like, The, the emotional
(04:40):
connector to us all.
She was an extraordinary woman.
She was a great mom, a painter,a poet.
She was a palliative careprovider.
She was a nurse, and it reallyrocked my soul.
It just knocked me over.
Knocked over my relationshipand, you know, everything kind
of fell apart in my soul.
And I was like, just stilldredging along and, you know, I,
(05:03):
I, I did my best to keep ittogether.
And then Dani Nobrega arrived inmy dance studio.
In the yoga studio in this, withthis great.
Dance fitness thing we thoughtat the time, you know, called
Groove.
And I was there and I was like,yeah, yeah, yeah.
(05:24):
And Misty Tripoli came to thestudio and did this
extraordinary community danceevent.
And it was a small, relativelysmall studio, but it was packed.
And then there was a trainingand I thought, okay, let's do
the training.
And my husband joined me for thetraining.
and we started dancing togetheragain, and it basically, you
(05:49):
know, brought me throughGrieving process with my mom and
saved my marriage And it beganthe journey with the groove.
I became a groove facilitator,and then I started teaching a
family groove with my kids asthey got older.
(06:11):
Again, I had another dream thatI was gonna dance like with
ministers and spiritually.
I was like, what is going on?
And then I got a job, you know,I was asking around about this
and telling some of my friendswho were ministers at the time,
and they were like, you knowwhat?
You should be working at theToronto School of Theology.
I was like, should I, what theywere like, yeah, they need
(06:34):
somebody to teach them text andintegration work, embodied
theology and, to get in thereand, and to be, to help them
with their sermons and all thatstuff.
And I was like really interestedin that.
So I applied for the job.
I got the job at the TorontoSchool of Theology.
Yeah.
And this is an extraordinaryprogram.
(06:55):
It's multi-phase.
So within the building itself atEmanuel College, there was a
program for Christians,Buddhists, Muslims, indigenous a
few Jews scattered here andthere.
at the time, they were kindalike, oh, I'm not sure about
this.
But they were, you know, theywere there.
So we were all there togetherand I just had an extraordinary
(07:16):
time teaching.
Dance and text and embodied lifereally to bring the text, to
bring the word live in the body,to bring yourself to your
community and what that reallymeans, you know, and that that
comes from a background of deepclassical performance work, As
(07:38):
I.
So then about 2017, the Collegeof Psychotherapists recognized
spiritual care
Lisa (07:47):
Hm.
Florence (07:48):
as a as a form of therapy.
They, it was recognized, they'vebeen doing spiritual care.
It's been in the hospitals alot.
This is, this is when you're inthe hospital and somebody comes
by to sit by your bedside andactually spend time with you, or
pray with you.
And spiritual care practitionersare from all faiths.
(08:08):
So I jumped on the program.
That was about five years ago,and I just recently graduated.
Lisa (08:13):
Congratulations.
Florence (08:14):
Thank you.
During the pandemic Dani and Iwe're, you know, we've been
friends for a long time becauseof our experience at that
studio.
And we decided to have an onlineHealing Circle group because,
you know, with the pandemiceverything became online
(08:37):
suddenly.
So once a month the Groove Tribeeveryone's invited, it's
completely free.
And we are talking about ourstories of healing and
transformation.
So that's, that's sort of alittle bit about me.
I'm just gonna pass the ball toyou now and we'll go into some
(08:59):
deeper things.
But I'm curious about yourexperience too, what you think.
Lisa (09:04):
Well, first of all, I have to say, wow, wow, wow.
Like what a story.
Florence (09:08):
It's my life.
It's a great story.
I'm the lead in my own life.
Yeah.
Lisa (09:11):
Yes, I mean, an amazing journey from your success as a
classical performer, I'm really,I'm really struck by how much
you really followed yourintuition, your connection to
sort of divine guidance, youknow, and how that led you to
where you needed to be.
Like that's very inspiring.
I love that.
Florence (09:33):
Yeah, I think that's it's always been part of my life
and my upbringing, kind of a, aspiritual curiosity and indeed
Misty I.
You know, she really was able totransform Misty Tripoli.
Okay, for those who arelistening, right?
She is the the founder of theWorld Groove Movement.
(09:55):
And her story particularly isit, you know, deeply embedded in
a kind of transformationalinternal journey of self care
and indeed spirituality, right?
Being good to yourself, beinggood to your soul.
So, you know, and that, and thatcomes specifically to women.
(10:18):
If I just wanna talk about womenfor a minute.
I know that we're in a general nneutral world right now.
But just, just specifically as awoman myself I always found that
the social systemic pressurethat women face in the world
with all these images that arebombarded to us on a daily
(10:39):
basis, which really come from aconsumeristic society that
objectify the feminine, Right.
And it's an impossible femaleperfection.
It's impossible.
And so, you know, as a society,women are faced on a daily basis
to become the object of thiscrazy propaganda that worships a
(11:00):
kind of consumerist consumption,right?
But what this does internallyand psychologically is it breaks
down a very deep feminineinstinct for self-care and
nurturing the authentic self.
And, you know, Misty Tripoliherself had to break down and
disassemble and dismantle whatit meant to be a fitness, you
(11:24):
know, instructor.
And her journey is reallyinteresting and, she talks about
this openly in public, that shewas plagued by this impossible,
perfect image of female beautyand conformity.
And what she did is she had toheal herself from an eating
disorder.
(11:44):
And so what she did was shecreated this dance form that
offered a kind of catharticrelease from this internal
suffering, because suffering isa pressure in some ways that we
all need in order to change andto shift and transform.
And the way to do that is tochange your physiology.
(12:05):
If you change your physiology,you change your life.
And so by getting into the bodyin a very authentic way,
Creative way.
She was able to really provideher body with the kind of
nourishment that the body needsin order to transform and change
(12:25):
and just be okay.
To live in the body with withoutjudgment is an act of healing.
It is the remedy.
Right.
It's like integrating newinformation.
As you get older, if you're ableto integrate new information
(12:45):
within the body, your bodychanges.
Your mind changes, and you grow.
Instead of conforming to asystem that has been there for
generations, generations, youhave to be a certain way and you
have to act a certain way, andyou have to look a certain way.
You have to eat a certain way.
You know, all these things.
So if you can break all thatdown and, and dismantle that
(13:09):
internally you there, there'ssuch an extraordinary creative
release, which is why, and maybeyou can talk about this too, the
idea that when you go to one ofthese groove classes, you, you
experience this permission offreedom, this non-judgment, this
place where we're dancing incommunity, but nobody's judging
(13:32):
me.
I can be completelyauthentically myself.
You know, the groove method isbased on two pillars of strength
that we are united and we areunique.
We're all doing the same thingon our feet, right?
Like we're all, you know, dance,walking to the beat, but you're
doing it your way and I'm doingat mine.
(13:53):
So that kind of creative flow,that kind of groove Just kind of
allows us all to be, to feellike we're literally nourishing
ourselves in a way that womenneed, like women need to be in
community you know, women needto chat.
(14:14):
We're chatty.
We talk about it, and then wetalk about it some more.
And then we talk about what wetalked about.
know.
In fact, I'm gonna pass the balland ask you, what do you think?
Let's talk about it some moreright?
And so when we're dancingtogether, we're.
Talking to each other with ourbodies, which is in a safe space
(14:36):
because we're taught on asocietal level in so many
different places that our body,we, we can physically talk, but
we're objects of desire, youknow?
And that's just not true.
Lisa (14:50):
You are listening to the happy sweat life podcast.
If you like what you'relistening to, please subscribe
and share it with your friends.
If you have any questions,recommendations for dance based
exercise you want to learn moreabout, or would like to be on
the podcast with your own story,please feel free to email me at
happy sweat life at gmail.
(15:14):
com.
That's H A P P Y S W E A T L I FE at gmail.
com I love the, the sort of thehistory and the background with
Misty's journey and then, reallyexplaining what Groove can be
for people.
it is much deeper than justdancing and moving your body.
(15:37):
I think about the comments onBody groove in particular
Facebook page of people's shiftsin awareness.
You know, suddenly a light goesoff, or they feel freer or,
Yeah.
All the changes beyond just thephysical ones that happen for
people is really amazing.
I keep going back to a lot ofthe groove Truths that are
(16:01):
spoken over and over again inclass.
You know, you can't get thiswrong.
No one cares what you look like.
All of those things that invitethe self-acceptance, I think are
so valuable.
And so, as you say, so healingto people.
Florence (16:16):
And it's so simple.
Lisa (16:18):
Yes,
Florence (16:19):
Oh, like the world is so complicated.
Everything is so complicated,and in order to be, you know,
accepted, you gotta be smart.
I've got three degrees andwhatsoever, but you know what?
If you can just be in a simpleprocess creatively, when you
just give yourself permission toknow deeply.
In practice that you are notjudging yourself and nobody else
(16:41):
is either.
It's extraordinary what opensup.
And when we're provided withsomething very simple, we feel
confident and then we can takemore risks.
Lisa (16:53):
So true.
Yes.
Florence (16:54):
So true.
lots of people talk about thebenefits of dance.
There's one woman in particularPatricia Albert.
She writes in this article, thisarticle's been going around,
it's called The Health Benefitsof Dance, and what she writes is
that dance helps the.
The brain form newinterconnections that work
(17:15):
faster.
So it's a mind body experience.
It increases blood supply to thebrain.
It provides an outlet forreleasing emotional expression,
allows for creativity and allowsfor a deeper connective
socialization.
So when we're social, when we'resocially regulating, especially
after a pandemic
Lisa (17:36):
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Florence (17:40):
We're, we are in the act of healing.
It's a, it's the remedy.
It's a remedy.
Social integration, socialconnection.
The feeling of belonging.
Yeah.
And it's one thing to belong toourselves.
This is very important.
And to be authentic in the bodyand to be in non-judgment, to
(18:02):
live in a state of non-judgment.
But when we can do that in acommunity, it in it literally
and statistically increases ourimmune system.
It helps us on a physical, on aphysiological level to, you
know, in increase our health.
Lisa (18:24):
I didn't know that, that, that's really fascinating.
Florence (18:27):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And you know, and the groovetruths too provide a safety net
for healing.
So, you know, in the category ofhealing, you need a secure set
of boundaries in order to feelsafe enough to heal.
Right.
Sometimes, you know that, thatfeeling when you get sick and
it's like, oh, finally I couldtake a nap,
Lisa (18:49):
right.
Florence (18:49):
We give ourselves permission right to heal because
the body heals when it feelssafe, when it's at rest, when
it's at peace, when it's quiet,when it's still, which is why,
you know, within the groovemethod, you have that wonderful
10 minute moment at the endwhere everybody's just lying on
(19:11):
the ground breathing and that isa very instinctual.
Process that Missy, you know,included in her dance form so
that we could integrate this newinformation coming from our
bodies.
'cause we are constantly tellingthe story of our life through
our body.
(19:32):
And we deserve to feel safe.
Like we've, like a woman needsto feel safe with her voice in
the world, but we also need tofeel safe in our bodies.
And with, we need to feel safein our bodies with each other.
Otherwise we're holding andclamping and not breathing and
then we get sick.
(19:54):
Yeah.
and this is the thing, you know,we have to have the experience.
I.
In order to apply it.
That's one of the groove truthstoo.
Nobody can do this for you, so,so be, you know, ha, have a
sense of courage and risk andjump out to one of your groove
(20:14):
classes out there in the world.
They're everywhere in the worldright now.
And just experience it.
And then, Then we'll see,because everybody seems to have
the same, like what?
Oh, it seems so simple.
And then you're lying on thefloor sobbing, like, what's
going on?
You know what's happened?
(20:34):
So it's funny how everybodyseems to have that experience,
but it's very true.
Lisa (20:38):
Would you recommend a live class versus a Zoom class?
What are your feelings on that?
Florence (20:45):
Yeah, it's, it's really about what, what you need
right now.
If you can find a, a class to bein person and you really want
that, and you really need that,then go for it.
If you find that it's better tobe in your own home and the
safety of your own home and todance around your living room,
(21:05):
and if that makes you feel, youknow, Connected and safer, then
go for that.
I mean, it really does depend onwhat you need, but both options
are available and there'sretreats like they, the friends
call it, you know, let's go toJungle Dance Camp.
like, let's go to, to Mexico,Costa Rica, the jungle, or you
(21:26):
know, all over the world you cango to a retreat and it's
basically eat, sleep.
Dance, repeat, That's it.
That's all we're doing.
And it's so healthy for thebody.
You can't get it wrong.
Lisa (21:42):
That sounds wonderful.
Florence (21:44):
Yeah.
Lisa (21:45):
I, I guess I should mention too, I mean, the other
option, of course is to, tostream the body groove on demand
classes.
Florence (21:53):
Yes, of course.
Of course.
Lisa (21:56):
So that's really just on your own with no one watching at
all.
Florence (22:00):
That's right, that's right.
And then, you know, you getinvolved in the Facebook groups
and you see everybody feelingthe same thing and experiencing
the same thing and enjoyingthat, that creative nourishment
is, creativity is really an actof being able to solve problems
in the world, to see things in anew light, to be able to open up
(22:23):
the horizon within your body tobe creative, give yourself
permission to be creative.
And when we can be quiet withoutintellectualizing everything,
and just be in our bodies andsee what our bodies say.
And listen to our bodyknowledge.
'cause the body knows how toheal.
We are healing machines, youknow, intuitively.
(22:46):
So give yourself an opportunityto let your body tell you what
it needs.
Yeah.
On a very deep level.
And honestly, the dance floor isa great way of doing that.
Lisa (22:59):
I love that.
Yeah, that's so true.
That's a great message as wellfor people.
Florence (23:04):
Yeah, absolutely.
Lisa (23:06):
do you, do you have any examples of a transformation
that you've seen taken place inone of your workshops or either
on your own?
I mean, you've mentioned a few,but.
Florence (23:20):
I think I think that the groove I.
Experience in itself.
The dance in itself is so uniqueand personal, and yet it's, it's
community based.
It's that great paradox that onthe one hand, you're having an
(23:41):
extremely personal experiencewith yourself in up there, and
you're not, it's not a followthe leader class.
You're not doing what anybodyelse is doing.
You're completely unique in yourown dance, and at the same time,
You feel so connected to peoplefrom all over the world, all
walks of life, you know and thatis a, that's a.
(24:06):
know, that's, that's a beautifulparadigm for our, our times.
It's a movement, it's a socialmovement, you know, and social
movements are predicated on theprinciple that the truth rises
in society.
And here we are in this socialmovement and the truth is rising
in ourselves.
(24:27):
Right.
We give ourselves theopportunity to, to nurture our
bodies and nurture ourselves andbecome authentic to ourselves.
And know that, you know, you'regonna be accepted like you're
gonna be accepted in the trap.
It's a big trap at this point,Right.
Lisa (24:42):
Right.
Florence (24:42):
Yeah.
All walks of life, you know, allages, all body types.
Yeah.
And it's, you know, I mean, I,I, I, I'm, I'm conscious of our
time together, but I do wannatalk a little bit about love,
Lisa (24:58):
Hmm.
Florence (24:59):
you know, because I think we don't talk about love
enough, right?
It's kind of like a, it's, it'sa, it's a topic that is sort of
an integral to what it is to, togr to dance, you know, to love
each other, to dance withsomebody, right?
And It is, you know, when welove when we can have an
(25:25):
availability of love inside ourbodies, there is a possibility
that we can access inside ofourselves.
It's really unmeasurable.
It's massive.
It's huge.
It's like you're hooking up tosomething universal.
(25:46):
and that's, you know, if we goback to like the spiritual
aspect of this whole thing, itdoesn't matter what religion
you're from, right.
Or, or if you have a religioneven, right?
It's just that if you can accessa part of yourself that loves
yourself, then you can access,you know, that connection with
other people.
That feeling of belonging tolove and be loved.
(26:10):
Yeah.
There's a lot of hope in thepractice.
You know,
Lisa (26:14):
Uh, absolutely.
Yes.
Florence (26:16):
Practicing hope.
Lisa (26:19):
Just thinking about sort of the community part, the
acceptance part.
I think Misty has done a lot tofoster that.
You even see that in theFacebook.
Groups and definitely you do seepeople experiencing maybe for
the first time, like a sense ofloving themselves, of accepting
themselves as they dance.
Florence (26:39):
Mm-hmm.
Lisa (26:40):
I think that's just a beautiful point that you brought
up, so thank you for that.
Florence (26:44):
Oh, thank you.
Thank you.
Lisa (26:49):
So for somebody who hasn't done it before, do you have any
recommendations for somebody whomight be curious or wants to try
it out?
Florence (26:58):
Yeah, go onto the World Movement website.
There's lots of facilitators allover the world.
Find, or you can go on onFacebook, I think is where they
I, I'm usually on Facebook, sothat's where I find everything
there.
I'm sure there's like Instagramand you know, there's all these
things, so just find a class.
You know, and be open-minded toit being really simple.
(27:21):
Like it's a really, it's theeasiest dance class.
This is not Zumba, this is notOh, tango, this is, you know,
there's different dance styles,you know, but you're gonna go in
and you're gonna succeed Likeallow yourself, give yourself
permission to know that it's afun.
(27:45):
Fun thing to do, you know?
And if you can just make it assimple as you can for yourself,
then the deeper stuff will, willcome.
Or, or, you know you know, youmight even lose some weight.
I don't know.
Like there's, there's just some,there's just something about it
that's so simple that if youallow yourself the opportunity
(28:07):
to be creative with yourcommunity and dance Can have a
lot of fun too.
You know?
Just let yourself have fun,
Lisa (28:15):
That's great.
I love that.
Florence (28:17):
right?
Lisa (28:18):
Yes.
I think too, you bring up apoint I've heard, and a few
people that I've interviewed,that that element of success,
feeling like you've notaccomplished something, but that
you're successful at it from thevery beginning
Florence (28:33):
Yeah.
Lisa (28:34):
whatever way you do it.
It doesn't have to match theinstructor like a Zumba
instructor because it is, as yousaid, so personal.
You know, you're making it yourown.
And even if that means you canonly move two fingers, when
you're dancing, then that'sperfect.
Like that's where you're at andthat's kind of where Groove
(28:55):
meets you is exactly whereyou're at.
Florence (28:59):
And it's a principle of, of being creative.
It's a creativity principle andit's a non-judgment.
it's full of non-judgment, whichas a principle enables an
internal landscape to open upand go, oh, I can't get this.
I can't get this wrong.
I just have to have fun.
Just have to enjoy myselfexploring and discovering and to
(29:22):
see.
You know, what that actuallymeans for me in this moment, in
this moment
Lisa (29:28):
Mm-hmm.
Florence (29:29):
of of my life, know I personally had the experience of
going through a deep grievingprocess, and the groove brought
me through that into where I amtoday and grieving The, the
death of, of my mother I camethrough to become you'll be
(29:51):
really proud of myself as amother and to, to be part of a
tribe where you know, I'm justpart of a group.
I'm just part, I'm just One ofmany who have very similar
experiences of why, you know,what uniquely why are we there?
Everybody's different.
Everybody will come with theirown stuff, but in the end, we're
(30:11):
just dancing together.
just, we're just dancing, youknow, talk a lot about it, but
it's, it's, it just come andcome and come to the dance
floor, come as you are.
Right.
Lisa (30:24):
Right.
Right.
And I want to also refer, sortof talk a little bit about what
you had said about your processof grieving.
And definitely grooving can be aprocess, not only physically,
but emotionally, you know, andjust give yourself the space to
experience whatever it is thatyou're experiencing at that
moment.
(30:45):
I've had people tell me thatsometimes the groove truths
really took a while for them tobelieve in themselves, like to
take it into who they were.
is there some resistance tothat?
You know, as you said, maybesocietal pressures or whatever
was acting on them.
Florence (31:03):
Of course.
Yeah.
It's hard to dismantle whatwe've been doing,
Lisa (31:07):
Mm-hmm.
Florence (31:08):
what we've been believing.
We don't even, sometimes wedon't even know it was a belief
system.
It's like, why is this so hard?
Nobody's touching me.
Why am I looking around the roomlike, what's going on?
Are you looking at me?
I'm looking at you.
What is, what am I?
What is happening?
You know, you kind of aresurprising yourself.
In practicing something that youmight not have been practicing,
(31:28):
you know, how much space andtime would you have if you
weren't thinking about whatother people are thinking about
you
Lisa (31:36):
Right.
Florence (31:37):
how much, how much creative space would you have to
not care?
That much, you know, and in tuneand in the paradox to care so
deeply about what your body isactually saying to you and what
you actually believe, whichmight be different than what
your partner believes, than whatyour family believes and what
(31:57):
your society believes.
But that's okay.
That's the journey of beinghuman.
No, and you know what?
The tension, I think I mentionedthis before too, like the
tension of our suffering, thetension of the journey of
conflict that all human beingsgo through.
It needs a relief, a release.
(32:18):
so when you shake up the body,you're literally shaking up a
bunch of stuff that you've beenholding onto.
You don't even know what you'reholding onto.
Oh, I studied in psychology forfive years.
It doesn't matter.
I get on the dance floor, I'mlike, what is going on?
This stuff I didn't know.
What am I, why am I thinkingabout that now?
(32:38):
What is, what is coming up forme in this moment that I need to
listen to you?
Lisa (32:46):
Beautiful.
Do you want to touch on any ofyour work with your, the
spiritual leaders in groove?
Florence (32:55):
That was an interesting journey for sure,
because Dancing with SpiritualLeaders is an act of, of being
at peace.
It's the, there's lots ofstories where people come with
tambourines and they literallystop a war with the dance.
Lisa (33:10):
Wow.
Florence (33:11):
that you dance with people in a very neutral place.
So you know all those storiesof, you know, there's no war
today and everybody comes outand plays soccer, right?
There's no war today andeverybody gets together and
dance that you can be inconflict with somebody, but if
you can dance with them, you canbe in connection with them.
(33:33):
All of you know, it is like allof the other stuff kind of fades
away and it's a good practice.
That even though we disagreewith one another, we can still
dance in the dance of life.
Lisa (33:46):
That's very profound.
Florence (33:48):
Right?
Isn't it kind of profound?
It's so simple, but it's sofreaking profound.
It's so simple.
Oh, so simple.
It's so profound and it's sotrue.
That's, you know, it's part ofwhy we do it.
So that we can keep connectingwith each other and keep finding
that belonging in in community.
(34:08):
And then it helps us throughtoo.
'cause we can let go of somestuff when we're upset.
Like, come on, let's dancetogether, you know?
Let's just let everything aside.
I mean, wouldn't the world be adifferent place if the leaders
could do that?
Like every, like all the leadersof the world, like, okay, we're
having a dance party once amonth, you know, online let's
(34:30):
like, right, let's put Baggo,let's set everything aside.
No need for money or oil oranything.
You know, no need for war.
Let's just dance.
a, that's a spiritual act.
The dance.
Yeah.
Lisa (34:45):
I'm gonna put that in my visioning and I'm going to look
forward to that happening.
Florence (34:50):
Yes, exactly.
Wouldn't that be great?
What if, yeah.
Lisa (34:54):
What if Yes I was taking a class recently and one of the
exercise was it's impossibleexcept if, and then you write
down all the possibilities ofwhat could happen.
And so I think that fits rightin there,
Florence (35:11):
Yeah, yeah.
No, totally.
I'm just, I'm looking through mynotes here.
There's a quote, there's abeautiful quote Demetris Goli, I
can't quite pronounce his name,but there's an article written
in the journal in a, in a sportsjournal, and it talks about in
(35:31):
prehistoric times, dance wasused because of its discerning
ability to provoke a spiritualuplift.
So in many fresco is foundaround the ancient caves.
There's often evidence of theuse of dance.
It's a way of reaching andelevated state of shamanic
healing rights.
Lisa (35:51):
Wow.
Florence (35:52):
Yeah, so like it's also, you know, as a, it's also
a particular method of healing.
You know, there's lots of stuffabout.
Dance movement therapy and thelike.
You know, Misty Tripoli wouldnever say, no, no, no.
The groove is not a therapeuticform at all.
It's a fun time in your body.
Let's go, let's do this thing.
(36:14):
And I believe that that is true.
Right?
Having said all that, you know,we are exercising a very ancient
dance form, hopefully making itpopular again in the world.
Get in the world to dance onestep at a time.
Lisa (36:32):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Florence (36:34):
Yeah.
Lisa (36:36):
So as we wrap up, is there anything that you wanted to
share more of or talk about orany final parting words or.
Florence (36:46):
I just really appreciate you, Lisa.
Thank you so much for what youare doing.
For the opportunity to speakabout this extraordinary dance
form and to encourage peoplearound the world to come and to
experience themselves in a newway so that they can allow their
bodies to do innately what theyneed, what, what the body needs
(37:11):
to do.
The body has extraordinaryknowledge, so in tune, what
you're doing is you're, you'reenabling people to.
Think outside the box and to becreative enough to jump out of
their own comfort zones perhapsand do something new, but also
to trust that movement, dance,and, and healing all go hand in
(37:35):
hand for sure.
So, thank you
Lisa (37:38):
Well, thank you very much and I hope people listen to this
episode a couple times becauseyou just dropped so many
wonderful gems and insights thatI think it'll take a couple
listenings to really get it all.
But you so much for sharing yourwisdom.
Florence (37:55):
Oh, you're so, you're so welcome.
Thank you.
Lisa (37:57):
Do you wanna share any contact information if people
are interested in getting intouch with you or doing the
Healing Circle?
Is there anything I can sharewith them?
Florence (38:07):
Sure.
Florence mcgregor.com.
Lisa (38:10):
Okay.
Florence (38:11):
I'm also on psychology today.com.
Lisa (38:17):
Okay.
Florence (38:18):
and yeah as a, as a psychotherapist join the ju join
the tribe man.
Like jump on and I'll be there.
You can join the circles.
They're completely free.
It happens once a month, usuallyat the end of the month, and I
always put out a kind of anadvertisement in the provider
page and in my own group.
(38:38):
You're welcome to come and joinour our healing, our Private
Healing circle group too.
Lisa (38:44):
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yeah, I'll put all that in theshow notes, so if anybody wants
to refer to it they can see itthere.
Thanks again, Florence.
It was wonderful talking to you.
Florence (38:55):
It's wonderful talking to you, Lisa.
Thank you.
Welcome to the Happy Sweat Life podcast.
My name is Lisa Rung, and todayI am thrilled to be talking to
Florence McGregor.
She is a mom of two kids and aregistered psychotherapist She
has been part of the GrooveTribe since 2013, so we're gonna
(00:31):
be talking about her journeywith groove and how it fit in
her life and influenced herlife.
And she's also hosts a freeonline circle.
Healing circle for anyone who ispart of the groove family.
So that's the world groove orthe body groove.
So Florence, yeah.
Could you please talk to usabout your journey with Groove?
Florence (00:56):
Yes.
Thank you so much for having meon, Lisa.
I really appreciate this timewith you.
Lisa (01:00):
Oh, you're welcome.
Florence (01:01):
So originally I, I was a classical performer.
I was at the Stratford Festivalfor many years, and then I was
invited to an internationalclassical training program at
Shakespeare's Globe.
I had an extraordinary career asa classical performer.
I was Christopher Plummer'sfirst artistic apprentice mark
(01:24):
Rylance at the, the globe waslike my acting teacher, you
know, it was a, just anextraordinary time.
I came out of that experienceand I worked with an
extraordinary woman by the nameof Paula Thompson, who is a
movement specialist.
She works with theaterperformers and dancers in the
(01:46):
realm of psychology.
and I worked with her.
I got a bunch of grants and Iworked with her at York
University.
Really on a master's level,figuring out the connection
between the mind and the bodyand our nourishment, our
self-care.
From there, I got a job.
(02:08):
At Humber College, the theaterdepartment there teaching,
basically it was an integrationclass of voice movement and
acting.
It was a storytelling class.
But in its crux, it was a healthclass for actors and we did a
lot of.
Kinetic work and going throughour body's images and our
(02:31):
memories, and we were creatingshows from that.
I met an extraordinarilybeautiful man, an Argentinian
man, and I fell in love and Ihad a couple kids and I was
like, oh, this is it.
And I just couldn't go back toacting.
I was just like, oh, this is.
This is my lead.
(02:52):
I am my lead in my own life now,and I just fell madly in love
with being a mom.
And it was like, oh, and but Iwas like, okay, how do we do
this?
Like, how am I going to, youknow, being a mom, it's a
full-time job.
But it's good to work part-timefor your own sanity, and for,
(03:15):
you know, feeding your kids and,supporting the family.
So when I was pregnant with mysecond child, I had this
extraordinary dream that I wasgoing to be dancing with
spiritual leaders and that Ishould get on the yoga floor
right away.
It was just like what I have to.
(03:37):
Learn yoga and dancespiritually, what does that
mean?
And then, you know, that's why Iwas asking around and there just
happened to be.
Yoga certification course thatwas nine months long.
it's like, right now, sign upnow.
And then after nine months, I, Igraduated from, you know, to
(03:57):
become a yoga instructor and Ihad my baby like the next day.
It was crazy.
And then like three monthslater, I got keys to this
extraordinary, beautiful studioand I opened up the floor for a
mom and baby.
Community, like a yoga mom andbaby yoga and I, I started to
(04:19):
really understand what it meantto be in community with these
extraordinary women.
Then my mother died, so it's alllike mother themed, you know, my
mom died.
I was very close to her.
I come from a big family and shewas like, The, the emotional
(04:40):
connector to us all.
She was an extraordinary woman.
She was a great mom, a painter,a poet.
She was a palliative careprovider.
She was a nurse, and it reallyrocked my soul.
It just knocked me over.
Knocked over my relationshipand, you know, everything kind
of fell apart in my soul.
And I was like, just stilldredging along and, you know, I,
(05:03):
I, I did my best to keep ittogether.
And then Dani Nobrega arrived inmy dance studio.
In the yoga studio in this, withthis great.
Dance fitness thing we thoughtat the time, you know, called
Groove.
And I was there and I was like,yeah, yeah, yeah.
(05:24):
And Misty Tripoli came to thestudio and did this
extraordinary community danceevent.
And it was a small, relativelysmall studio, but it was packed.
And then there was a trainingand I thought, okay, let's do
the training.
And my husband joined me for thetraining.
and we started dancing togetheragain, and it basically, you
(05:49):
know, brought me throughGrieving process with my mom and
saved my marriage And it beganthe journey with the groove.
I became a groove facilitator,and then I started teaching a
family groove with my kids asthey got older.
(06:11):
Again, I had another dream thatI was gonna dance like with
ministers and spiritually.
I was like, what is going on?
And then I got a job, you know,I was asking around about this
and telling some of my friendswho were ministers at the time,
and they were like, you knowwhat?
You should be working at theToronto School of Theology.
I was like, should I, what theywere like, yeah, they need
(06:34):
somebody to teach them text andintegration work, embodied
theology and, to get in thereand, and to be, to help them
with their sermons and all thatstuff.
And I was like really interestedin that.
So I applied for the job.
I got the job at the TorontoSchool of Theology.
Yeah.
And this is an extraordinaryprogram.
(06:55):
It's multi-phase.
So within the building itself atEmanuel College, there was a
program for Christians,Buddhists, Muslims, indigenous a
few Jews scattered here andthere.
at the time, they were kindalike, oh, I'm not sure about
this.
But they were, you know, theywere there.
So we were all there togetherand I just had an extraordinary
(07:16):
time teaching.
Dance and text and embodied lifereally to bring the text, to
bring the word live in the body,to bring yourself to your
community and what that reallymeans, you know, and that that
comes from a background of deepclassical performance work, As
(07:38):
I.
So then about 2017, the Collegeof Psychotherapists recognized
spiritual care
Lisa (07:47):
Hm.
Florence (07:48):
as a as a form of therapy.
They, it was recognized, they'vebeen doing spiritual care.
It's been in the hospitals alot.
This is, this is when you're inthe hospital and somebody comes
by to sit by your bedside andactually spend time with you, or
pray with you.
And spiritual care practitionersare from all faiths.
(08:08):
So I jumped on the program.
That was about five years ago,and I just recently graduated.
Lisa (08:13):
Congratulations.
Florence (08:14):
Thank you.
During the pandemic Dani and Iwe're, you know, we've been
friends for a long time becauseof our experience at that
studio.
And we decided to have an onlineHealing Circle group because,
you know, with the pandemiceverything became online
(08:37):
suddenly.
So once a month the Groove Tribeeveryone's invited, it's
completely free.
And we are talking about ourstories of healing and
transformation.
So that's, that's sort of alittle bit about me.
I'm just gonna pass the ball toyou now and we'll go into some
(08:59):
deeper things.
But I'm curious about yourexperience too, what you think.
Lisa (09:04):
Well, first of all, I have to say, wow, wow, wow.
Like what a story.
Florence (09:08):
It's my life.
It's a great story.
I'm the lead in my own life.
Yeah.
Lisa (09:11):
Yes, I mean, an amazing journey from your success as a
classical performer, I'm really,I'm really struck by how much
you really followed yourintuition, your connection to
sort of divine guidance, youknow, and how that led you to
where you needed to be.
Like that's very inspiring.
I love that.
Florence (09:33):
Yeah, I think that's it's always been part of my life
and my upbringing, kind of a, aspiritual curiosity and indeed
Misty I.
You know, she really was able totransform Misty Tripoli.
Okay, for those who arelistening, right?
She is the the founder of theWorld Groove Movement.
(09:55):
And her story particularly isit, you know, deeply embedded in
a kind of transformationalinternal journey of self care
and indeed spirituality, right?
Being good to yourself, beinggood to your soul.
So, you know, and that, and thatcomes specifically to women.
(10:18):
If I just wanna talk about womenfor a minute.
I know that we're in a general nneutral world right now.
But just, just specifically as awoman myself I always found that
the social systemic pressurethat women face in the world
with all these images that arebombarded to us on a daily
(10:39):
basis, which really come from aconsumeristic society that
objectify the feminine, Right.
And it's an impossible femaleperfection.
It's impossible.
And so, you know, as a society,women are faced on a daily basis
to become the object of thiscrazy propaganda that worships a
(11:00):
kind of consumerist consumption,right?
But what this does internallyand psychologically is it breaks
down a very deep feminineinstinct for self-care and
nurturing the authentic self.
And, you know, Misty Tripoliherself had to break down and
disassemble and dismantle whatit meant to be a fitness, you
(11:24):
know, instructor.
And her journey is reallyinteresting and, she talks about
this openly in public, that shewas plagued by this impossible,
perfect image of female beautyand conformity.
And what she did is she had toheal herself from an eating
disorder.
(11:44):
And so what she did was shecreated this dance form that
offered a kind of catharticrelease from this internal
suffering, because suffering isa pressure in some ways that we
all need in order to change andto shift and transform.
And the way to do that is tochange your physiology.
(12:05):
If you change your physiology,you change your life.
And so by getting into the bodyin a very authentic way,
Creative way.
She was able to really provideher body with the kind of
nourishment that the body needsin order to transform and change
(12:25):
and just be okay.
To live in the body with withoutjudgment is an act of healing.
It is the remedy.
Right.
It's like integrating newinformation.
As you get older, if you're ableto integrate new information
(12:45):
within the body, your bodychanges.
Your mind changes, and you grow.
Instead of conforming to asystem that has been there for
generations, generations, youhave to be a certain way and you
have to act a certain way, andyou have to look a certain way.
You have to eat a certain way.
You know, all these things.
So if you can break all thatdown and, and dismantle that
(13:09):
internally you there, there'ssuch an extraordinary creative
release, which is why, and maybeyou can talk about this too, the
idea that when you go to one ofthese groove classes, you, you
experience this permission offreedom, this non-judgment, this
place where we're dancing incommunity, but nobody's judging
(13:32):
me.
I can be completelyauthentically myself.
You know, the groove method isbased on two pillars of strength
that we are united and we areunique.
We're all doing the same thingon our feet, right?
Like we're all, you know, dance,walking to the beat, but you're
doing it your way and I'm doingat mine.
(13:53):
So that kind of creative flow,that kind of groove Just kind of
allows us all to be, to feellike we're literally nourishing
ourselves in a way that womenneed, like women need to be in
community you know, women needto chat.
(14:14):
We're chatty.
We talk about it, and then wetalk about it some more.
And then we talk about what wetalked about.
know.
In fact, I'm gonna pass the balland ask you, what do you think?
Let's talk about it some moreright?
And so when we're dancingtogether, we're.
Talking to each other with ourbodies, which is in a safe space
(14:36):
because we're taught on asocietal level in so many
different places that our body,we, we can physically talk, but
we're objects of desire, youknow?
And that's just not true.
Lisa (14:50):
You are listening to the happy sweat life podcast.
If you like what you'relistening to, please subscribe
and share it with your friends.
If you have any questions,recommendations for dance based
exercise you want to learn moreabout, or would like to be on
the podcast with your own story,please feel free to email me at
happy sweat life at gmail.
(15:14):
com.
That's H A P P Y S W E A T L I FE at gmail.
com I love the, the sort of thehistory and the background with
Misty's journey and then, reallyexplaining what Groove can be
for people.
it is much deeper than justdancing and moving your body.
(15:37):
I think about the comments onBody groove in particular
Facebook page of people's shiftsin awareness.
You know, suddenly a light goesoff, or they feel freer or,
Yeah.
All the changes beyond just thephysical ones that happen for
people is really amazing.
I keep going back to a lot ofthe groove Truths that are
(16:01):
spoken over and over again inclass.
You know, you can't get thiswrong.
No one cares what you look like.
All of those things that invitethe self-acceptance, I think are
so valuable.
And so, as you say, so healingto people.
Florence (16:16):
And it's so simple.
Lisa (16:18):
Yes,
Florence (16:19):
Oh, like the world is so complicated.
Everything is so complicated,and in order to be, you know,
accepted, you gotta be smart.
I've got three degrees andwhatsoever, but you know what?
If you can just be in a simpleprocess creatively, when you
just give yourself permission toknow deeply.
In practice that you are notjudging yourself and nobody else
(16:41):
is either.
It's extraordinary what opensup.
And when we're provided withsomething very simple, we feel
confident and then we can takemore risks.
Lisa (16:53):
So true.
Yes.
Florence (16:54):
So true.
lots of people talk about thebenefits of dance.
There's one woman in particularPatricia Albert.
She writes in this article, thisarticle's been going around,
it's called The Health Benefitsof Dance, and what she writes is
that dance helps the.
The brain form newinterconnections that work
(17:15):
faster.
So it's a mind body experience.
It increases blood supply to thebrain.
It provides an outlet forreleasing emotional expression,
allows for creativity and allowsfor a deeper connective
socialization.
So when we're social, when we'resocially regulating, especially
after a pandemic
Lisa (17:36):
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Florence (17:40):
We're, we are in the act of healing.
It's a, it's the remedy.
It's a remedy.
Social integration, socialconnection.
The feeling of belonging.
Yeah.
And it's one thing to belong toourselves.
This is very important.
And to be authentic in the bodyand to be in non-judgment, to
(18:02):
live in a state of non-judgment.
But when we can do that in acommunity, it in it literally
and statistically increases ourimmune system.
It helps us on a physical, on aphysiological level to, you
know, in increase our health.
Lisa (18:24):
I didn't know that, that, that's really fascinating.
Florence (18:27):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And you know, and the groovetruths too provide a safety net
for healing.
So, you know, in the category ofhealing, you need a secure set
of boundaries in order to feelsafe enough to heal.
Right.
Sometimes, you know that, thatfeeling when you get sick and
it's like, oh, finally I couldtake a nap,
Lisa (18:49):
right.
Florence (18:49):
We give ourselves permission right to heal because
the body heals when it feelssafe, when it's at rest, when
it's at peace, when it's quiet,when it's still, which is why,
you know, within the groovemethod, you have that wonderful
10 minute moment at the endwhere everybody's just lying on
(19:11):
the ground breathing and that isa very instinctual.
Process that Missy, you know,included in her dance form so
that we could integrate this newinformation coming from our
bodies.
'cause we are constantly tellingthe story of our life through
our body.
(19:32):
And we deserve to feel safe.
Like we've, like a woman needsto feel safe with her voice in
the world, but we also need tofeel safe in our bodies.
And with, we need to feel safein our bodies with each other.
Otherwise we're holding andclamping and not breathing and
then we get sick.
(19:54):
Yeah.
and this is the thing, you know,we have to have the experience.
I.
In order to apply it.
That's one of the groove truthstoo.
Nobody can do this for you, so,so be, you know, ha, have a
sense of courage and risk andjump out to one of your groove
(20:14):
classes out there in the world.
They're everywhere in the worldright now.
And just experience it.
And then, Then we'll see,because everybody seems to have
the same, like what?
Oh, it seems so simple.
And then you're lying on thefloor sobbing, like, what's
going on?
You know what's happened?
(20:34):
So it's funny how everybodyseems to have that experience,
but it's very true.
Lisa (20:38):
Would you recommend a live class versus a Zoom class?
What are your feelings on that?
Florence (20:45):
Yeah, it's, it's really about what, what you need
right now.
If you can find a, a class to bein person and you really want
that, and you really need that,then go for it.
If you find that it's better tobe in your own home and the
safety of your own home and todance around your living room,
(21:05):
and if that makes you feel, youknow, Connected and safer, then
go for that.
I mean, it really does depend onwhat you need, but both options
are available and there'sretreats like they, the friends
call it, you know, let's go toJungle Dance Camp.
like, let's go to, to Mexico,Costa Rica, the jungle, or you
(21:26):
know, all over the world you cango to a retreat and it's
basically eat, sleep.
Dance, repeat, That's it.
That's all we're doing.
And it's so healthy for thebody.
You can't get it wrong.
Lisa (21:42):
That sounds wonderful.
Florence (21:44):
Yeah.
Lisa (21:45):
I, I guess I should mention too, I mean, the other
option, of course is to, tostream the body groove on demand
classes.
Florence (21:53):
Yes, of course.
Of course.
Lisa (21:56):
So that's really just on your own with no one watching at
all.
Florence (22:00):
That's right, that's right.
And then, you know, you getinvolved in the Facebook groups
and you see everybody feelingthe same thing and experiencing
the same thing and enjoyingthat, that creative nourishment
is, creativity is really an actof being able to solve problems
in the world, to see things in anew light, to be able to open up
(22:23):
the horizon within your body tobe creative, give yourself
permission to be creative.
And when we can be quiet withoutintellectualizing everything,
and just be in our bodies andsee what our bodies say.
And listen to our bodyknowledge.
'cause the body knows how toheal.
We are healing machines, youknow, intuitively.
(22:46):
So give yourself an opportunityto let your body tell you what
it needs.
Yeah.
On a very deep level.
And honestly, the dance floor isa great way of doing that.
Lisa (22:59):
I love that.
Yeah, that's so true.
That's a great message as wellfor people.
Florence (23:04):
Yeah, absolutely.
Lisa (23:06):
do you, do you have any examples of a transformation
that you've seen taken place inone of your workshops or either
on your own?
I mean, you've mentioned a few,but.
Florence (23:20):
I think I think that the groove I.
Experience in itself.
The dance in itself is so uniqueand personal, and yet it's, it's
community based.
It's that great paradox that onthe one hand, you're having an
(23:41):
extremely personal experiencewith yourself in up there, and
you're not, it's not a followthe leader class.
You're not doing what anybodyelse is doing.
You're completely unique in yourown dance, and at the same time,
You feel so connected to peoplefrom all over the world, all
walks of life, you know and thatis a, that's a.
(24:06):
know, that's, that's a beautifulparadigm for our, our times.
It's a movement, it's a socialmovement, you know, and social
movements are predicated on theprinciple that the truth rises
in society.
And here we are in this socialmovement and the truth is rising
in ourselves.
(24:27):
Right.
We give ourselves theopportunity to, to nurture our
bodies and nurture ourselves andbecome authentic to ourselves.
And know that, you know, you'regonna be accepted like you're
gonna be accepted in the trap.
It's a big trap at this point,Right.
Lisa (24:42):
Right.
Florence (24:42):
Yeah.
All walks of life, you know, allages, all body types.
Yeah.
And it's, you know, I mean, I,I, I, I'm, I'm conscious of our
time together, but I do wannatalk a little bit about love,
Lisa (24:58):
Hmm.
Florence (24:59):
you know, because I think we don't talk about love
enough, right?
It's kind of like a, it's, it'sa, it's a topic that is sort of
an integral to what it is to, togr to dance, you know, to love
each other, to dance withsomebody, right?
And It is, you know, when welove when we can have an
(25:25):
availability of love inside ourbodies, there is a possibility
that we can access inside ofourselves.
It's really unmeasurable.
It's massive.
It's huge.
It's like you're hooking up tosomething universal.
(25:46):
and that's, you know, if we goback to like the spiritual
aspect of this whole thing, itdoesn't matter what religion
you're from, right.
Or, or if you have a religioneven, right?
It's just that if you can accessa part of yourself that loves
yourself, then you can access,you know, that connection with
other people.
That feeling of belonging tolove and be loved.
(26:10):
Yeah.
There's a lot of hope in thepractice.
You know,
Lisa (26:14):
Uh, absolutely.
Yes.
Florence (26:16):
Practicing hope.
Lisa (26:19):
Just thinking about sort of the community part, the
acceptance part.
I think Misty has done a lot tofoster that.
You even see that in theFacebook.
Groups and definitely you do seepeople experiencing maybe for
the first time, like a sense ofloving themselves, of accepting
themselves as they dance.
Florence (26:39):
Mm-hmm.
Lisa (26:40):
I think that's just a beautiful point that you brought
up, so thank you for that.
Florence (26:44):
Oh, thank you.
Thank you.
Lisa (26:49):
So for somebody who hasn't done it before, do you have any
recommendations for somebody whomight be curious or wants to try
it out?
Florence (26:58):
Yeah, go onto the World Movement website.
There's lots of facilitators allover the world.
Find, or you can go on onFacebook, I think is where they
I, I'm usually on Facebook, sothat's where I find everything
there.
I'm sure there's like Instagramand you know, there's all these
things, so just find a class.
You know, and be open-minded toit being really simple.
(27:21):
Like it's a really, it's theeasiest dance class.
This is not Zumba, this is notOh, tango, this is, you know,
there's different dance styles,you know, but you're gonna go in
and you're gonna succeed Likeallow yourself, give yourself
permission to know that it's afun.
(27:45):
Fun thing to do, you know?
And if you can just make it assimple as you can for yourself,
then the deeper stuff will, willcome.
Or, or, you know you know, youmight even lose some weight.
I don't know.
Like there's, there's just some,there's just something about it
that's so simple that if youallow yourself the opportunity
(28:07):
to be creative with yourcommunity and dance Can have a
lot of fun too.
You know?
Just let yourself have fun,
Lisa (28:15):
That's great.
I love that.
Florence (28:17):
right?
Lisa (28:18):
Yes.
I think too, you bring up apoint I've heard, and a few
people that I've interviewed,that that element of success,
feeling like you've notaccomplished something, but that
you're successful at it from thevery beginning
Florence (28:33):
Yeah.
Lisa (28:34):
whatever way you do it.
It doesn't have to match theinstructor like a Zumba
instructor because it is, as yousaid, so personal.
You know, you're making it yourown.
And even if that means you canonly move two fingers, when
you're dancing, then that'sperfect.
Like that's where you're at andthat's kind of where Groove
(28:55):
meets you is exactly whereyou're at.
Florence (28:59):
And it's a principle of, of being creative.
It's a creativity principle andit's a non-judgment.
it's full of non-judgment, whichas a principle enables an
internal landscape to open upand go, oh, I can't get this.
I can't get this wrong.
I just have to have fun.
Just have to enjoy myselfexploring and discovering and to
(29:22):
see.
You know, what that actuallymeans for me in this moment, in
this moment
Lisa (29:28):
Mm-hmm.
Florence (29:29):
of of my life, know I personally had the experience of
going through a deep grievingprocess, and the groove brought
me through that into where I amtoday and grieving The, the
death of, of my mother I camethrough to become you'll be
(29:51):
really proud of myself as amother and to, to be part of a
tribe where you know, I'm justpart of a group.
I'm just part, I'm just One ofmany who have very similar
experiences of why, you know,what uniquely why are we there?
Everybody's different.
Everybody will come with theirown stuff, but in the end, we're
(30:11):
just dancing together.
just, we're just dancing, youknow, talk a lot about it, but
it's, it's, it just come andcome and come to the dance
floor, come as you are.
Right.
Lisa (30:24):
Right.
Right.
And I want to also refer, sortof talk a little bit about what
you had said about your processof grieving.
And definitely grooving can be aprocess, not only physically,
but emotionally, you know, andjust give yourself the space to
experience whatever it is thatyou're experiencing at that
moment.
(30:45):
I've had people tell me thatsometimes the groove truths
really took a while for them tobelieve in themselves, like to
take it into who they were.
is there some resistance tothat?
You know, as you said, maybesocietal pressures or whatever
was acting on them.
Florence (31:03):
Of course.
Yeah.
It's hard to dismantle whatwe've been doing,
Lisa (31:07):
Mm-hmm.
Florence (31:08):
what we've been believing.
We don't even, sometimes wedon't even know it was a belief
system.
It's like, why is this so hard?
Nobody's touching me.
Why am I looking around the roomlike, what's going on?
Are you looking at me?
I'm looking at you.
What is, what am I?
What is happening?
You know, you kind of aresurprising yourself.
In practicing something that youmight not have been practicing,
(31:28):
you know, how much space andtime would you have if you
weren't thinking about whatother people are thinking about
you
Lisa (31:36):
Right.
Florence (31:37):
how much, how much creative space would you have to
not care?
That much, you know, and in tuneand in the paradox to care so
deeply about what your body isactually saying to you and what
you actually believe, whichmight be different than what
your partner believes, than whatyour family believes and what
(31:57):
your society believes.
But that's okay.
That's the journey of beinghuman.
No, and you know what?
The tension, I think I mentionedthis before too, like the
tension of our suffering, thetension of the journey of
conflict that all human beingsgo through.
It needs a relief, a release.
(32:18):
so when you shake up the body,you're literally shaking up a
bunch of stuff that you've beenholding onto.
You don't even know what you'reholding onto.
Oh, I studied in psychology forfive years.
It doesn't matter.
I get on the dance floor, I'mlike, what is going on?
This stuff I didn't know.
What am I, why am I thinkingabout that now?
(32:38):
What is, what is coming up forme in this moment that I need to
listen to you?
Lisa (32:46):
Beautiful.
Do you want to touch on any ofyour work with your, the
spiritual leaders in groove?
Florence (32:55):
That was an interesting journey for sure,
because Dancing with SpiritualLeaders is an act of, of being
at peace.
It's the, there's lots ofstories where people come with
tambourines and they literallystop a war with the dance.
Lisa (33:10):
Wow.
Florence (33:11):
that you dance with people in a very neutral place.
So you know all those storiesof, you know, there's no war
today and everybody comes outand plays soccer, right?
There's no war today andeverybody gets together and
dance that you can be inconflict with somebody, but if
you can dance with them, you canbe in connection with them.
(33:33):
All of you know, it is like allof the other stuff kind of fades
away and it's a good practice.
That even though we disagreewith one another, we can still
dance in the dance of life.
Lisa (33:46):
That's very profound.
Florence (33:48):
Right?
Isn't it kind of profound?
It's so simple, but it's sofreaking profound.
It's so simple.
Oh, so simple.
It's so profound and it's sotrue.
That's, you know, it's part ofwhy we do it.
So that we can keep connectingwith each other and keep finding
that belonging in in community.
(34:08):
And then it helps us throughtoo.
'cause we can let go of somestuff when we're upset.
Like, come on, let's dancetogether, you know?
Let's just let everything aside.
I mean, wouldn't the world be adifferent place if the leaders
could do that?
Like every, like all the leadersof the world, like, okay, we're
having a dance party once amonth, you know, online let's
(34:30):
like, right, let's put Baggo,let's set everything aside.
No need for money or oil oranything.
You know, no need for war.
Let's just dance.
a, that's a spiritual act.
The dance.
Yeah.
Lisa (34:45):
I'm gonna put that in my visioning and I'm going to look
forward to that happening.
Florence (34:50):
Yes, exactly.
Wouldn't that be great?
What if, yeah.
Lisa (34:54):
What if Yes I was taking a class recently and one of the
exercise was it's impossibleexcept if, and then you write
down all the possibilities ofwhat could happen.
And so I think that fits rightin there,
Florence (35:11):
Yeah, yeah.
No, totally.
I'm just, I'm looking through mynotes here.
There's a quote, there's abeautiful quote Demetris Goli, I
can't quite pronounce his name,but there's an article written
in the journal in a, in a sportsjournal, and it talks about in
(35:31):
prehistoric times, dance wasused because of its discerning
ability to provoke a spiritualuplift.
So in many fresco is foundaround the ancient caves.
There's often evidence of theuse of dance.
It's a way of reaching andelevated state of shamanic
healing rights.
Lisa (35:51):
Wow.
Florence (35:52):
Yeah, so like it's also, you know, as a, it's also
a particular method of healing.
You know, there's lots of stuffabout.
Dance movement therapy and thelike.
You know, Misty Tripoli wouldnever say, no, no, no.
The groove is not a therapeuticform at all.
It's a fun time in your body.
Let's go, let's do this thing.
(36:14):
And I believe that that is true.
Right?
Having said all that, you know,we are exercising a very ancient
dance form, hopefully making itpopular again in the world.
Get in the world to dance onestep at a time.
Lisa (36:32):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Florence (36:34):
Yeah.
Lisa (36:36):
So as we wrap up, is there anything that you wanted to
share more of or talk about orany final parting words or.
Florence (36:46):
I just really appreciate you, Lisa.
Thank you so much for what youare doing.
For the opportunity to speakabout this extraordinary dance
form and to encourage peoplearound the world to come and to
experience themselves in a newway so that they can allow their
bodies to do innately what theyneed, what, what the body needs
(37:11):
to do.
The body has extraordinaryknowledge, so in tune, what
you're doing is you're, you'reenabling people to.
Think outside the box and to becreative enough to jump out of
their own comfort zones perhapsand do something new, but also
to trust that movement, dance,and, and healing all go hand in
(37:35):
hand for sure.
So, thank you
Lisa (37:38):
Well, thank you very much and I hope people listen to this
episode a couple times becauseyou just dropped so many
wonderful gems and insights thatI think it'll take a couple
listenings to really get it all.
But you so much for sharing yourwisdom.
Florence (37:55):
Oh, you're so, you're so welcome.
Thank you.
Lisa (37:57):
Do you wanna share any contact information if people
are interested in getting intouch with you or doing the
Healing Circle?
Is there anything I can sharewith them?
Florence (38:07):
Sure.
Florence mcgregor.com.
Lisa (38:10):
Okay.
Florence (38:11):
I'm also on psychology today.com.
Lisa (38:17):
Okay.
Florence (38:18):
and yeah as a, as a psychotherapist join the ju join
the tribe man.
Like jump on and I'll be there.
You can join the circles.
They're completely free.
It happens once a month, usuallyat the end of the month, and I
always put out a kind of anadvertisement in the provider
page and in my own group.
(38:38):
You're welcome to come and joinour our healing, our Private
Healing circle group too.
Lisa (38:44):
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yeah, I'll put all that in theshow notes, so if anybody wants
to refer to it they can see itthere.
Thanks again, Florence.
It was wonderful talking to you.
Florence (38:55):
It's wonderful talking to you, Lisa.
Thank you.
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