Before anything else, I want to honor my mother. It’s easy to look at someone’s life from the outside and make assumptions about their choices or their strength. What we often miss is the context, the weight they carried, the circumstances they navigated, and the love they did their best to give with what they had. My mother’s resilience shaped me deeply, and her strength lives on in me. From a very young age, my body learned how to survive. Throughout my childhood, until the age of 12, I experienced sexual, Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA), physical, emotional, being used for child pornography, and spiritual abuse. Those whom our family relied on and expected to provide support ended up bringing SRA abuse into our lives. This abuse involves physical, mental, sexual, and spiritual abuse. These were experiences that no child should have to carry. In response, my nervous system did exactly what it needed to do to protect me. I learned how to disconnect, how to stay alert, how to keep moving forward. These patterns weren’t flaws, they were intelligent survival strategies that helped me endure. For many years, I didn’t realize how much of my life was being shaped by those early adaptations. I was capable, dependable, and strong. I showed up. I led. I carried responsibility with determination. From the outside, things often looked steady. Inside, my relationship with my body, and with my own sense of safety, was much more complicated. My connection to God and to my inner knowing has always been central to who I am. When that connection becomes tangled in fear or confusion, it can leave you feeling ungrounded and unsure of where you belong. I know that feeling well. It wasn’t until my early thirties, while raising four children and navigating a marriage that no longer felt aligned, that I began to see how much my past was influencing my present. That awareness opened the door to a long and deeply humbling healing journey. The years that followed were not linear or easy. I faced body memories, resurfacing trauma, and long-held belief patterns that had been quietly guiding my decisions. There were moments of darkness, moments of grief, and moments that asked me to choose myself again and again. With support and intention, I began learning how to come back into my body, slowly, gently, and with compassion. Healing became the most meaningful work of my life. Along the way, I found tools and practices that helped me meet myself with more safety and kindness. Somatic work, therapeutic support, spiritual practices, breathwork, and meditation all played a role. And then there was dance. Dance became a turning point. Not as performance. Not as perfection. But as presence. On the dance floor, I found something I couldn't get anywhere else, a place where my nervous system could settle and my body could soften. Movement gave me a way to feel without being overwhelmed. Connection became something I could experience without fear. Joy returned in small, quiet ways, growing over time into something steady and real. Dance helped me reconnect with myself, with others, and with God, not through force, but through listening. It taught me that joy can be practiced, that safety can be built, and that healing doesn’t require fixing what’s broken, but remembering what’s already whole. That understanding is what gave birth to Dance to Uplift. Today, everything I offer is shaped by lived experience. I teach West Coast Swing as a conversation, not a checklist. I prioritize safety before technique, curiosity before correction, and connection before counts. I care deeply about how movement feels in your body, because I know what it means to live disconnected from it, and what it means to come home. My journey has taught me that healing is not about erasing the past. It’s about learning how to live fully in the present, with compassion for all the parts of ourselves that helped us survive. It is an honor to create spaces where others can explore that same reconnection, at their own pace, in their own way. I look forward to connecting with each of you as you step into your personal healing journey.​ Live in Love. Move with Meaning. Play Passionately. — Shalay