Inception
"To watch someone dance is to hear their heart speak" - Unknown
From twirling under my father's arm, to attending dance lessons, exams and competitions, and later raving on a hill to the sunrise, I was always dancing.
Until I stopped.
Life as a single mum and nurse took centre stage as my energy was directed toward providing for my son and caring for my patients. While I am so proud of this time in my life, it was accompanied by an overarching sadness. A loss of my spirit. The essence of who I am. Abandonment of myself and some devastating life choices culminated in a chronic pain condition, Fibromyalgia. I lost my career, my partner and my home. The subsequent years were spent drugged up on pain killers, spending days at a time in bed. I couldn't have danced if I tried.
Then, the world changed. My world changed. Nursing my father through Dementia and grieving his departure from this life stirred in me a tiny spark of hope that life no longer needed to be this way. I knew I needed to heal. That's when the universe stepped in. Suddenly, I found myself walking beside people who could see me. Beautiful souls who have helped me turn that spark into a flame.
On a sunny, spring day, in the most beautiful garden in the Cotswolds, as I struggled with a flare up, I was asked,
"when are you not in pain?"
I answered,
"when I'm dancing."
The response,
"then do more of that!"
I've barely stopped dancing since.
Over the past two years I have gone through the process of withdrawing from all the medication I'd been dependent on and replacing them with a holistic approach including yoga, meditation and breathwork. In moments of stillness and contemplation, I received the message to support others through their healing journey through facilitating ecstatic dance events and I knew the perfect person to join me on the mission.
James Huxley and I created our first event in May 2023 and shared it with the very people who inspired me to live again, in that beautiful garden where it all began. It was pure magic and far exceeded our wildest dreams. I knew in that moment that I had lost nothing and found my true purpose.
Together, we are Senshun Dance.
Lizanne O'Driscoll
