Background

I had become the youngest dance teacher at the studio I was attending, and without much experience, I was very effective.

There was something about being able to create art through choreography from a completely blank canvas. At face value, something so visually pleasing seems so hard – the synchrony, the rhythm, the movement.  But when I zoom in, I can see that the entire piece of art is made up of intricate micro movements. All I had to do was learn one move at a time and then take time to put it into practice. Some moves come easily, maybe because I’ve done them before, or maybe it just makes sense for my body to naturally flow that way. Some moves don’t come easy, they’re new to me, and it’s hard to wrap my head around it. So I break down the movement even further into its foundational flow and with time and practice, I get those too! This in turn gives me confidence to tackle the next set of moves.

I fell in love with the art of dance. And now I’m ready to perform 5,6,7,8…

In the meantime, I was all about my academics. I understood that dance was play and school was the real deal. When I graduated high school, I knew I wanted to be in the health field and help people. And at the time, the only thing that seemed obvious to me was to become a doctor. So I went to college to fulfill a DEC of Sciences. It didn’t take long before I realized that this route was not what I wanted.

I wanted to help people but I also wanted to inspire them. But how? I couldn’t find the answer.

So I had begun my undergrad in Behavioural Neuroscience at Concordia University. And so many things started to make sense. It was only until I became exposed to psychological concepts that I had, unknowingly, already been applying to my dance teaching. This is why I had been so effective.

I had become known for my progressive approach of incorporating behavioural neuropsychology to my teaching style and had become the most highly requested teacher at the studio.

Once I completed my Bachelor’s of Science, the natural thing to do was to continue down the route to Clinical Psychology. I had done all the work you can think of. Studied very hard to get a good GPA, volunteered in multiple research labs and so on. But it wasn’t enough.

I felt lost. I felt like I was wasting my time applying year after year. And with every rejection, I thought, maybe I need to give up dance and focus on finding a full-time job in the research field. But I couldn’t let it go. Why? All I had was my basic part-time retail job, my dance coaching and a bachelor’s that got me nowhere. I had to stop playing and get serious.

One day, while I was feeling hopeless, I decided to do one thing. Apply online to something that sparked my interest in the Clinical Psychology field. And so I do. I apply to 2 or 3 different positions and I close my laptop and think nothing of it.

The next day, I hear from the incredibly knowledgeable and profoundly experienced Clinical Psychologist, Dr. Arianna Yakirov, and I land the job as her administrative assistant. And the lessons I will come to learn from her are life changing.

Years later, I learn that other than my academics, I landed the job as her assistant because of my artistic side; my dance teaching. The side that I was ashamed I held on to. The side that I thought was only play.

And this is when I realized that although I was consciously aware of what I wanted to do in life, I was unconsciously aware that I was already doing it. No wonder I couldn’t let go of it.

This ignited a whole new love for dance and a deep appreciation to have it be a huge part of who I am and a huge part of what I do.

To have the opportunity to hone in on the skill of breaking down concepts into rudimentary steps for so many years has given me the confidence to do this in other aspects of life.

No matter what I did, working at a retail store, volunteering in research labs, I was always given a leadership role to train newcomers. I took the opportunity in each job I did to create a protocol or guide/manual that broke down all the responsibilities of that role in rudimentary steps for anyone to follow and learn and be capable of performing with confidence.

I found myself in the Professional Goal-Centered Certificate program at Concordia University. Learning the tools and foundational work to coaching, so I can do what my 12 year old self, unknowingly, fell in love with. Inspiring others to grow.

I wake up every day grateful to be a life coach. I worked with my strengths & values to achieve what I wanted. And I get to practice this every day.

I am now able to just play.