For me, life always felt like a struggle to find authentic joy, as I wore different masks to feel safe with others. I became an expert at editing my words, burying my opinions, and curating a version of myself that felt the most acceptable—to friends, employers, romantic partners, family members, everyone.

From a young age, I learned to see myself as wrong - wrong size, wrong shape, wrong colour - from the cultural messaging of my family and from the media I consumed and from the kids I went to school with and from the 12+ years of dance training that I loved more than anything but never really belonged to. It felt unbearable to exist as I was resulting in depression, body shame and harmful behaviours.

As I aged, I disconnected from what was true within me and forgot how to feel genuine joy or pleasure. The human need for connection was replaced by a need for safety and acceptance amid others' judgments and expectations. For a while, I was simply numb. And eventually, I became inclined to anger, regret and guilt—just to feel something.

I enacted the roles of 'agreeable' daughter, wife, mother, friend, employee, supervisor—and perfectionism became my shield. I was valued by others, but it kept me in a constant state of hyper-vigilance, hiding and holding back. I wondered if I could ever experience the joy and pleasure others seemed to access.

Then I found coaching. It was the start of a brave journey, becoming aware of the masks and learning to live without them. I began helping others do the same, while I continued this work for myself, and a common theme emerged: our pain and suffering always had the same root. We were living our lives based on external referencing and validation instead of internal referencing and validation.

Awareness of this prevalent pattern brought progress. But mindset coaching and cognitive work could only take my clients and I so far. At a certain point, internal validation didn’t feel safe because we didn’t trust ourselves—our capability, our wisdom, or the intelligence of our bodies.

Embodiment became the missing piece. And my great love affair with the intricacies of the mind-body system followed. Focused on embodiment, I learned how to be present with what’s at the core of who I am—my truth, authentic emotions, energy, patterns, and trauma. I understood that it’s through this presence that we reclaim agency over our lives.

Now, I am obsessed with how this essential part of being human is not a central enough part of the health discourse. Since Descartes framed the mind and body as separate, with the mind as superior, this duality has consistently shaped the systems we’re socialized in today.

My intention is to help people return to an embodied state, so they can trust their internal reference points and alleviate the unnecessary suffering caused by fear of judgement, others' opinions, unmet expectations, and guilt about not being "enough." Embodiment is the central theme of my dance classes, one-to-one coaching, wellness retreats and every offer I put into the world.

I do this work because I know that when people live embodied lives—internally referenced and validated—they create a ripple effect. They become models for what’s possible, giving others permission to live life on their own terms. When we suffer less, we have less need to project our pain onto others or the world.

This is how we heal ourselves, our communities, and our world—from the inside out.