We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dee Wagner a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Dee, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Over the course of your career, have you seen or experienced your field completely flip-flop or change course on something?

As a dance/movement therapist, I have been curious about this idea that a healthy economy is always growing. As a dancer I know things go up and they come down.

When I was pregnant for the second time, my partner and I had the opportunity to buy a home and it occurred to me that the price my children would pay for a home would be higher than what we were paying. I realized that my grandchildren (if I had them) would be paying a price higher than what my children would pay…but the value of those homes could actually be the same.

Recognizing that the value in money would go up for the same home led me to ask:

What makes business think things can always go up?! I mean, I’m a dancer. I know things go up and they come down. But the world wasn’t ready to know this yet.

As an expressive arts therapist, I invite clients to move with awareness of gravity, so they don’t feel so bad when things go down for them. I invite clients to Push their hands into mine and feel the body’s ability to support itself through the down times.

Now, I train therapists in a mindful embodiment method I originated called Chi for Two. When therapists invite their clients to Push into them, more people are ready than ever before to experience, “When I Push into what’s Not-Me, I find Me.”

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I started seeing a psychotherapist at 19 years old. That was while I was getting my undergraduate degree in theater. I got my professional training to be a therapist in my 30’s, still doing my own therapy. That’s when I started learning about trauma. In my 50’s, I learned about nervous system functioning. That’s when I originated Chi for Two, which I have been doing since then and up into my 60’s.

Chi for Two invites mindful embodiment through practices clients do with therapists.

There are also practices lovers do with their partners because the lover dance can really ‘get on our last nerve.’

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

My business partner is my 3rd husband. We met online. Chi for Two began with the lover practices that the two of us use to help our lover dance last the rest of our life times. From there it grew into the practices for clients to do with their therapists. My tai chi teacher son along with somatic therapists Caroline Gebhardt and Mary Lou Davidson helped me develop those practices. Those practices replicate infant/parent dances that pattern nervous system functioning.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

In Chi for Two we work to shift the old business idea of a chain of command into a chain of support. This is a U-Turn because when business leaders create a chain of support, they feel more connected to their employees and customers. The “bottom line” is the dance with gravity. The question isn’t how can our business always grow but how can we all ride together through the down times.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://chifortwo.com
• Instagram: @chifortwotraumahealing
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dee.wagner.716
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dee-wagner-3aa52648/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@chifortwotraumahealing