Finding my Dharma

The Story of my personal Dance Journey

Disclaimer: This story includes my experiences with psychedelics like psilocybin, MDMA, and ayahuasca. While I’ve hesitated to discuss this due to stigma, I believe it's important to share how these medicines have contributed to my spiritual growth. Everyone's experience is different, but by openly discussing these tools, we can better understand their potential benefits and risks. I hope to combat the stigma and promote healthy, responsible use by sharing my journey and the lessons I've learned. I’ll detail the experiences that led to my spiritual awakening in a later post.  

Earlier this month, we experienced another Lion’s Gate Portal.  Every year, on August 8th, I am reminded of my dharma, and this year, I am going to attempt to explain what that means to me. 

I never set out to find the Tao; instead, it felt like the Tao was quietly following me, guiding me towards a path I didn’t even know existed. My dance journey began with my first and very transformative experience with DMT, which unexpectedly connected me to dance in a profound way. One night, my friend had invited my partner and I to come over to try DMT for the first time.  He did a beautiful job in creating such a sacred moment for us, from creating the ambience, lighting the candles, playing beautiful music, and smudging us before we began.  When it was my turn, he instructed me to inhale as much of the smoke as possible, hold it in for as long as I could take, and exhale as slowly as I could handle.  As I inhaled, it was the most intense feeling of smoke in my life. I felt like I was going to choke, I wanted to stop and let it out, but I pushed through, and inhaled as much as I could and held it in.  With tears in my eyes, and the intensely strong urge to cough it all out, something transformational happened just when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore.  The moment I finally exhaled a little bit, the choking sensation completely went away, and it felt like a curtain started to drop in front of me, and as it came down, everything had this heavenly presence about it.  There was this glow everywhere, this magical effervescence, and I felt so intrinsically connected to everything around me - to my friend and partner that was present, to the furniture, to the candlelight, and to the music.  

As the soft music played in the background, my body started to move instinctively, as if the music itself was making love to every fiber of my being. I wasn’t just dancing—I was in communion with the Universe. Every movement felt like liquid, a release of trapped energy that melted into something beautiful and powerful. That dance became a turning point for me. It was as if the Universe had found me, and through dance, it began to speak to me, to guide me.

Ever since that night, I immersed myself in the city's vibrant dance scene, seeking out events where people danced with genuine passion—places like Ecstatic Dance, drum circles, dance festivals, and underground dance parties. Each time I danced, I would lose myself in the rhythm, entering a transformative state that revealed deeper layers of myself. I found my heart opening, my connections with others growing stronger, and life itself becoming more vibrant and beautiful. Dance became the catalyst for this profound change, and I owe so much of my newfound sense of authenticity and ecstasy to it.  I became known in the city for my freedom on the dance floor and just being this ball of explosive loving energy everywhere I danced.  Dance became a way of communicating to the Universe and to the world around me, and everyone could feel it.  For me, it was never about performing; it’s a spiritual practice—a way to quiet the ego and connect deeply with my soul.  And so, those that I connected through dance, I connected through spirit first, which is why they instantly felt like soul family.  

I wanted to share my love for dance and help others experience similar transformations on the dance floor.  In 2012, I completed a dance facilitation course called, Dance Our Way Home (DOWH, pronounced like Tao), co-created by Erica Ross, one of the co-founders of the longest running Ecstatic Dances in Toronto.  This course was so transformative for me, as it was a small container of about 8 other women, who all learned how to utilize this beautiful practice to help bring change and transformation to other women.  Midway through the course, Erica had let us know that Gabrielle Roth, the founder of the 5 Rhythms had passed away.  Before this moment, I never heard of Gabrielle Roth before, but after that night, I went home to research her, and found that we had a lot in common.  We share the same birthday, we were both massage therapists, and most importantly, we both have this deep connection to dance as a healing and transformative modality.  I will discuss my relationship to Gabrielle Roth in a later post, but I just wanted to add that as a way of knowing that I was on the right path in following dance.       

Not long after, the Universe worked its magic in the most obvious of ways. Two men I was very close to, on separate occasions, randomly found a book on the streets of Toronto—Tao Song and Tao Dance by Dr & Master Zhi Gang Sha. One of the men, who was also my mentor at the time, discovered it on the subway and immediately brought the book to me. He told me that he read a little bit of it, and it sounded like it related to my relationship to dance.  When I asked him if he was leaving the book for me, he said “No no, I’m going to take it home and read it myself, and then we can discuss it after” (which we never did).  It seemed like the Universe had other plans for me, though. When I got home one day, months later, the same book was sitting on the table. I asked my partner at the time if my friend had returned it, but he told me he had found it randomly and thought of me, so he brought it home. This serendipitous encounter confirmed for me that the Universe really wanted me to read that book.

This book, which I would later open on August 8, 2013, seemed to be a signpost on my journey. After one of my most intense morning meditations, I was guided to pick up the book, and I instinctively opened it to the first page of the Introduction.  The page that I opened to immediately stated:

“August 8, 2003, is a historic day that humanity should remember forever.  On that day, the Divine held a conference in Heaven and announced that the last universal era was ending and the new universal era was beginning…Mother Earth is in such a transition period now.  In the last few years, we have seen more and more natural disasters, including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, floods, droughts, tornados, and more….You may be wondering why humanity and Mother Earth are suffering like this.  Millions of people are wondering.  What are the root causes of the suffering?  What can we do about the suffering” 

It goes on to highlight: 

“Bad karma is the root cause of the suffering of humanity and Mother Earth.”   

When I moved into my studio in Toronto, my main goal was to develop dance sessions like DOWH that could help people clear their bad karma, which we all accumulate—whether we realize it or not—through our everyday choices, like what we buy, what we eat, how we interact in relationships, what we do for work, and our overall lifestyle. It initially felt chaotic, so I decided to assign a theme to each day from Monday to Friday, allowing people to attend the sessions they felt most drawn to.

I introduced Superhero Mondays, where we focused on individual purpose and global impact, recognizing our unique skills and talents, and how we can use them to create a more ethical and sustainable world. Then came Tantra Tuesdays, which centered on self-love, intimacy, communication, and preparing for, as well as sustaining, healthy partnerships. Wednesdays were all about creativity, originally named Goddess Wednesdays, where the focus was on intuition, nurturing, and homemaking. Warrior Thursdays were dedicated to building the discipline needed to complete projects, enhancing physical and mental strength, and cultivating the courage to protect what we love. Finally, Family Fun Fridays honored family and tribal/community bonds.

As I worked on these themes, I realized they represented the 5 main archetypes that we all embody to varying degrees. By acknowledging and engaging with these archetypes—Hero, Lover, Muse, Warrior, and Tribe Member—we can strengthen and enhance those aspects of our lives. Thus, the 5 Archetypes were born, forming the foundation for dance sessions that not only nurture these roles but also empower us to embody them more fully in our daily lives.

My approach to creating these themed dance sessions, based on the 5 Archetypes, really captures my dharma—my life’s purpose. By identifying and nurturing these archetypes within myself and others, I'm helping people connect with the deeper roles they play in life, and empowering them to live more consciously and authentically. My dharma is about guiding others to clear the burdens of bad karma and step into their true potential by embracing these archetypes, which align with universal themes like purpose, love, creativity, strength, and community. Through this work, I'm not just transforming my own life but also offering a path for others to do the same, which is at the core of my spiritual mission.