Today we’d like to introduce you to Kirsten Smits.

Hi Kirsten , we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

I come from a family that has a deep love and respect for the arts, and my mother put me into ballet classes at 5 years old. So, my story as an artist starts at 5 years old. My brother was taking acting classes at a performing arts studio in Boston, and when I would accompany my mother to pick him up, she would find me outside the dance studios watching the students in awe. My whole life has revolved around my love for dance, even in the pivots that have taken me in other directions.

I grew up in the competitive dance world in the midwest, what I love about the training I received is the versatility in styles and the passion of performing in front of judges. Although the competition world has its faults, it did provide me the drive to constantly improve and develop leadership skills within a team. It helped shape my tenacious work ethic that has driven me forward and upward.

As I developed and studied more classically in college, I found a deeper love for composition, design and dance for camera. I also became drawn to yoga, eastern philosophy, and mysticism. My eyes were opening to different forms of expression and different philosophies of creation and living an authentic, spiritually aligned human life. As I neared the end of my undergraduate journey, the dance department took the senior students on an immersion trip to New York City to study, hear from professionals in the field, and perform. My gut instinct knew I had to move out of Michigan and get to New York, and so in 2019 I followed my intuition and started my new chapter.

I was terrified, I remember my parents dropping me off at the apartment I was going to be living in and when they left, I cried tears of fear. My road here as a young adult was extremely bumpy. I was working multiple jobs to make ends meet, self destructing in the night life, while battling imposter syndrome. My confidence took a massive blow, and my passion for my creativity dwindled. Next came the pandemic. I completely stopped dancing, creating, or dreaming. I was forced into stillness that allowed me to face rooted trauma from my past that was still living in my body. As challenging as this period was, it brought me to deeper spiritual practices; including reiki healing. This was a pivot I never would’ve expected.

In my pause from dancing, I dove deep into eastern philosophy and began studying under my mentor Dr. Vanessa Caskey, psychologist and Reiki Master. I am forever grateful to her, she opened my eyes to a new way of being and trained me as her pupil over 4 years. As I processed the negative energy out of my body, and started to guide others on their journeys, I felt the call back to my art. How could I advise others to access their creativity when I was too afraid to do the same?

I started teaching dance again and building my confidence. Just as I was catching stride, I ruptured two intervertebral discs in my lumbar spine. I needed surgery, and a recovery time of a year or longer. I couldn’t fathom another pause this long. So once again, a greater force knew that I needed stillness and to develop other gifts through this obstacle.

I took that time to deepen my Reiki practice, study sound healing and Traditional East Asian Medicine. I have now integrated these arts into my holistic work. That pause, as frustrating as it was, helped me expand in my passion for healing arts and entrepreneurship.

Fast forward to this moment, as we enter 2025, I have never been more grateful for a healthy body, mind, and spirit. I find myself with deep readiness to explore myself as an artist and to study my craft with devotion again. The moments that pulled me from it have put a fire deep in my belly to launch forward. I believe there are no coincidences, every triumph and tragedy have been divinely orchestrated to get me to this place of inspiration.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

As you’ve read in my overall story, there have been struggles. A pandemic, declined mental health, and a severe injury have taken me on a rollercoaster in my career. Through these struggles, I have grown exponentially. No regrets, only lessons and knowledge. Knowledge is power and that power has brought my confidence back 10 fold.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?

My multi-faceted work revolves around one common theme: energy in motion. In the dance space, whether I am teaching, performing or creating the technique is the form and the special sauce is the story-telling or expression that comes from the emotion. Emotion can be boiled down to movement of different energies through the body and subtle body systems.

When I am holding space through the healing arts, I am a vessel to channel in energy to help alchemize the negative energy through, and out, of the receiver’s body and energy field. The key is movement in all forms. It helps bring people home to the ancient wisdom and technology of their vessel through dance, reiki, acupressure, meditation, breath, and sound. That is my unique blend and the pillars of my brand.

Looking at what I have built so far, I am most proud of my ability to shape shift. T be able to observe a space or a person and intuitively know what is needed for deeper harmony. I am proud of myself for branching out, for allowing different areas of study to inform and elevate each other. Nothing happens in a vacuum, it is all interconnected.

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?

The good luck I have received is in the magical people and mentors I have met along the way that have encouraged me or seen me in a moment when I needed that positive mirror in front of me. My luck has been in the support I have had through the stuck moments, the community that has cheered me on near and far. I do believe there is a right place at the right time, but I also believe in persistence and gumption. Ultimately, if you keep devoting yourself to the dream, it will happen in a way that is even more magnificent than what our mind’s could imagine. Stay the course.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bodiedbykeeks.com

Image Credits

Theik Smith
Lauren Volo