Opulence Vision

My membership site has been almost a decade in the making. Let me tell you a story.

And so it begins

About a decade ago, as I’ve mentioned many times before, I completely changed my lifestyle, from my mindset all the way down to my diet. I grew up with the standard North American lifestyle - My diet consisted mainly of processed food, sugar, meat, and cheese, I watched the same television shows that were popular at the time, and I went through the same educational system as most people. As I started to change my lifestyle (eating more organic whole-food, meditating, and moving towards more of a positive mindset), my life and my relationship with life started to change dramatically.

I have said and written this sentiment many times over, and the reason it’s so important for me to keep repeating it is because the change that I experienced was so profound and so life-changing, that I need to remind myself of what’s possible, not only for myself, but for every human on this planet.

I always loved dancing, but it wasn’t until I started to live a healthier lifestyle that I really found my calling through dance. As I started to eat healthier and have different interests, such as spirituality and sustainability, I began to meet new people that were on the same wavelength. One of my new friends invited me to an event in the city that he called drum ‘n dance. At this point, the only dance events I was familiar with were either at clubs or bars, where we would need to get black-out drunk in order to lose our inhibitions enough to dance.

When I first arrived at drum ‘n dance, or what is more commonly known as drum circle, I felt completely out-of-place. I was this typical suburbanite, dressed in my jeans and fashion top, carrying whatever designer bag I had at the time, and I walked in on a group of free-spirited folk, some in tie-dye, some in harem pants, some with dreadlocks, some with long beards, all of whom, however, looked happy and comfortable as heck in their own skin. It was something I’ve never experienced before - there was a group of drummers sitting in a circle, banging away at their drums with their hands, and a group of dancers in the middle just flowing with the music - every person participating was completely present in what they were doing. My friend tried to pull me into the circle to dance, but I felt so uncomfortable that I couldn’t move past the corner of the bar. At the end of the drumming, they all came together for what they called the Om Circle and chanting the word “OM” for about ten minutes. It was so foreign to me, and though I didn’t have the courage to participate myself, I still felt drawn to the whole experience. There was something so admirable about the group of people that resonated so well together in rhythm, movement, and musical harmony. Some of it seemed rehearsed, but they assured me that it was all freestyled.

After about a month of meditating and doing personal growth work on myself, I decided that I wanted to go back to the drum circle and find the courage to let go of my self-consciousness and dance. When I got there, I stood outside of the circle with the same fear as last time, feeling paralyzed with the idea that I wasn’t going to fit in or I was going to look silly. But just like jumping into a cold pool, you gotta just go all-in, feet first. And so I did. I closed my eyes, dropped into my body, and just stayed present for how my body wanted to move. And as the beat of the drums started to penetrate my being, my body started to do its own thing, and it started to MOVE me. As I kept letting go and kept dancing, there was something inside of me that felt like it was being expanded out, as if it was my spirit or my energy. As it was being pulled out, I felt an ecstasy that I’ve never felt before. I felt like I was becoming more in tune with everything around me, I felt connected to the beats, to the drummers, to the other dancers - it was as if we were creating a picture through our sound and movement. My movements then became primal - I never felt more alive before that moment. Sometimes it even felt like I was telling a story through my dance, as though the music was trying to tell a story through my body.

Something erupted inside of me, and I think some people even noticed. Things in my life started to make sense, problems I was stuck on suddenly had answers to them, feelings of stress or anxiety was transformed into joy and hope, and I started to genuinely love each person in the room, because their energy was contributing to whatever I was feeling, and what I was feeling was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.

At the end of the drumming, we came together for the Om Circle, where we would all chant “om” together. My anxiety came up again, because I knew I didn’t have the best singing voice, and always felt self-conscious when it came to singing in public. But the Om circle is not about who has the best singing voice; just like the drum circle, it’s just about going all-in, and letting your authentic self shine through. I sat down humbly in the circle and told myself that I would participate and break free of my own self-doubt. As people started to chant, one after the other, I couldn’t help but be moved by the beauty of the moment. I grew up having to go to church every Sunday, and never once did I feel as connected to God or the Universe or whatever you want to refer to it as than I did at that moment. Every voice coming together to create such beautiful harmony - it was one of the most spiritual moments I’ve had at that time.

I decided to join. I started low so that no one could hear me. And then something happened: just like the beats pulled my spirit out as I danced, the harmony created by all the voices pulled my voice out too. I noticed my voice getting louder, harmonizing, and even creating a melody on its own. It was as though an energy was pulling the harmony out of my mouth, through my body, and as it was doing that, it was transforming me. The combination of that feeling along with feeling the energy of the room, with my heart still pumping from dance, something came over me, and I started to cry. A real, authentically vulnerable cry. I couldn’t believe how much love I felt at that moment: I was in love with each person, I was in love with the world, I was in love with myself. And it was a pure, unconditional love that's hard to describe through words.

When I first entered that drum circle, I was this shy, inhibited girl, always full of doubts and insecurities. And then by the end of the two hours, I felt completely transformed! I couldn’t leave before hugging each person and telling them how much that experience meant to me. I was in complete joy, and left the place singing and dancing, and I spread that joy to each person that I hugged and talked to. I felt like I gave birth to a new person, and I wanted to follow where that feeling was taking me.

After that night, I told myself that I would try to dance as much as I could. That took me to all these different events in the city that I didn’t even know existed. I went to ecstatic dance, contact dance, underground dance parties, drum circles, and transformative dance festivals. And every time I would go to an event, I always felt more and more transformed into an enhanced version of myself, to a point where I felt like a completely different person than I was a year before. I was open with others, and I started to meet so many beautiful characters that had the same values and passions that I was developing. I was a part of so many communities of the loveliest people that cared so much about taking care of the earth, taking care of the communities, and taking care of each other - it was inspiring to be a part of. For the first time in my life, I felt free - like I was living the most authentic life I’ve ever lived, surrounded by others that were just so authentically themselves as well. I was so happy and in love with this lifestyle, that I felt like it was my calling to help others open themselves up to this way of being also.

Learning Dance Therapy

I wanted to find a way to help others through dance, as I know how much dance transformed my life, and this passion led me to my mentor in 2012. I found a dance facilitation course run by the legendary, Erica Ross, who was one of the founders of The Move (the famous ecstatic dance event in Toronto) and the co-founder of Dance Our Way Home, which was the course that I was learning to facilitate. This course consisted of an intimate group of some of the most loving and powerful women I’ve met, and we would gather once a week at Erica’s home and sanctuary for the group discussion, and once a week at a dance studio to practice. There are no words to describe how grateful I am to have had this experience and to learn from Erica and also from each woman in the group. Erica was teaching us how to facilitate Dance Our Way Home sessions, which is a non-verbal, movement meditation for healing, enhancing, connecting, and really, just pure magic. Each time we would meet, there would always be some synchronistic breakthrough or profound transformation. She was clearly a master of her craft in dance therapy, and I am so grateful to have learned from her.

In the middle of the course, on October 22nd, she had mentioned in sorrow the loss of Gabrielle Roth, which is the first time I heard of her. Gabrielle Roth is a famous dancer and dance facilitator, and best-known for the dance practice, The 5 Rhythms. After finding out about her death, I decided to do more research into her life, and I found that we have some things in common: we share the same birthday, I was born exactly 40 years after her, we were both inspired to dance at a young age (although, I was never allowed to do lessons), we were both massage therapists, and we were both inspired to facilitate dance as a healing practice. I didn’t know why at the time, but I felt really connected to Gabrielle Roth from that moment on. Reading her life story let me know that I was on the right path and doing what my soul is being called to do.

The Studio

During the last month of the facilitation course in 2012, I somehow manifested a personal studio that I was planning to move into at the beginning of December. It kind of came from nowhere, but as soon as I saw the opportunity to move in, I was flooded with these visions of using the space to promote the artists that I knew, to host dance events for personal transformation, and to host workshops and classes run by others to teach about sustainability, urban permaculture, upcycling, and general crafting. I didn’t have a concrete plan, but I envisioned building a community in the studio. The Universe, however, had a different plan for me.

Though I hosted events here and there, nothing was consistent. I decided that I was going to have a theme for each day of the workweek - these were the same major themes in my life at the time. And so, I created Superhero Mondays, Tantra Tuesdays, Goddess Wednesdays, Warrior Thursdays, and Family Fun Fridays. Does that sound cringy to you? Well, you’re not alone! But before you write totally off what I was doing, I urge you to hear me out.

The reason why I had a theme for each day of the week is because I had all these different passions, and I felt they were all equally important but too weird to bunch together, and that’s why I created a day dedicated to each. The Superhero focuses on individual talents, skills and life purpose, and planetary responsibility. The Tantric Lover focuses on self-love and truly loving others and the world. The Goddess, or the Muse, focuses on creativity, nurturing others, and listening to your intuition. The Warrior focuses on finding the strength and courage to defend and protect what you love. And the Tribe Member is the part of you that knows you’re a part of a Tribe and works to keep the Tribe safe, happy, and healthy. I spent each day working on each theme until I realized something: each theme was a major Archetype that we play in our lives, and if we can consciously create each Archetype, we can then take charge and create lives of natural Opulence. Opulence, to me, is the full abundance of what life has to offer - not just abundance in material wealth, but wealth in relationships, purpose, love, joy, and health. Thus, I gave birth to Opulence, the Urban Meditation Clubhouse, which is what I called my studio.

I spent hours in my studio meditating, dancing, listening to all different types of music, and reading and writing about the Five Archetypes and how to create Opulence. During that time, I began to craft four movement meditations for each Archetype. What I didn’t realize, however, as I was building the foundation courses to build each one.

And although I was extremely passionate about what I was doing, and I put everything I had into it, there was always a part of me that felt silly about what I was creating. And it’s that doubt that stopped me from fully sharing what I created and what I’ve learned, and it’s that doubt pushed me back out of my studio and into the home that I was raised in.

Five Years Later

It’s been five years since I left the studio, and since then, I somehow ended up in corporate life, working a normal working schedule, and trying to fit into a culture that I left. Five years have passed, and the old teachings that I wrote long ago have been calling me back. During our time in lockdown, I was given the time and space to revisit my old work and find the love I have for it again. To be fair, after reflecting on everything as a whole, I believe that I needed to come back to my roots in order to fully understand the last two archetypes: The Warrior and the Tribe Member. For the last five years, I have been focused on my family, including spending time with my sister’s kids who range from kindergarten to high school, and establishing myself in a career that wasn’t necessarily planned, but what I needed in order to ground myself. My time in the city was amazing, and I will never forget the magic of being in the flow, and finding myself in the right place at the right time, and meeting the right people along the way. However, the experience that I’ve had over the last five years has given me better insight and knowledge to create a solid foundation for my inner Warrior and Tribe Member. And during the lockdown, I was able to look at those meditations that I wrote, and actually rewrite and complete them, inspired by my last five years here.

My mission in my life right now is to take that dance practice, the four movement meditations for each Archetype, and consciously create my life starting from now. My theory is that you can use dance therapy to recondition your subconscious and move towards what you want in life, rather than what you don’t want. I will be using my own meditations to start recreating my life of natural Opulence.

Members Only

As I post my own progress online, I invite others to come and dance with me as well. I am looking for individuals that want to build and strengthen their inner Superhero, Lover, Muse, Warrior and Tribe Member. My Member Only website will give them access to daily freestyle dance sessions online, where I will offer an intention and guided meditation, following the same themes I had in my physical studio. They will have access to the music playlists, and we can all dance in the comfort and privacy of our own homes at the same time. Doing these dance journeys at home can help beginner dancers feel comfortable to really let go and open up to the intelligence of their bodies and intuition. After each Dance Journey, we can have open discussions, and really support each other in our transformation into our fullest potential.

The website will host interviews with different artists and musicians as they discuss what inspires their art and creativity. Members Only will also have access to workshops and lectures all geared towards personal development, sustainability, nutrition, and permaculture. Members can also view the directory of local businesses that offer products and services that are good for the customers and are environmentally responsible.

I believe we have been ripped off as a species - there is so much potential that we hold within us individually and as a whole, but we haven’t been taught how to wield that power correctly. We are bombarded with ads for food that keep us unhealthy and for products that hurt us and the planet. We are raised with the idea that competition is what helps our species evolve, and thus creates this culture of eat or be eaten. The problem with the standard educational system and culture is that for the most part, we are taught to understand the world first, or even worse, understand what the systems want us to learn, and then fit in from there. We are not taught how to really understand who we are as individuals, what our unique gifts are, how we can use those gifts to make an impact, how to genuinely connect with ourselves, others and with nature, nor are we taught the close connection we have with the planet.

Opulence Vision is meant to be a site that helps facilitate experiences for others to learn about who they really are, why they’re here, how they can heal themselves and others around them, and how they can live full and happy lives. And yes, it all starts with dance. Dance and song have been used in ancient cultures for a reason - it is time to bring it back so that we can all collectively wake up to the power of our humanity.