We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mireille Nashimoto a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Mireille, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
There are a few moments of taking risks into the unknown in my life that when I look back, were some of the best decisions I have made.
The one I want to highlight is the decision to make the move from the San Francisco Bay Area (where I grew up) to Tucson, AZ 15 years ago. I had just had my 4th baby and she was 3 months old. My partner and I are both from the Bay Area so although we had many family and friends nearby, we had a calling to the desert. We had made several trips to Arizona over the years, exploring different parts of the state. We always loved it, the weather, the beauty of the rawness of the earth, the plants and animals, and pace of life. We always wanted to have the opportunity to find some land where we could experiment with sustainable building and living practices and the reality of trying to do it in the Bay seemed too challenging. So, after baby number 4 was born, I remember feeling this very strong pull to find where we needed to be as a family so that I could establish roots and raise my children.
On a whim and not knowing anyone in Tucson aside from a daughter of a friend, I packed up the van and drove myself and my four kids out to Tucson to explore the city for 2 weeks. There was no job opportunity waiting for us, no community we knew of. Simply a strong spirit calling. During the 2 weeks I was there, I got to know the daughter of our friend, she showed me around, I found a house to rent, and called my partner to pack up the house so we can relocate to Tucson! It was a giant leap of faith, and I am so happy I listened to the calling because in the 15 years we have been here, we have made wonderful friends and community, purchased a small acreage parcel, and had the opportunity to experiment with building sustainable buildings.
One of those buildings was a strawbale, solar-powered dance studio of which I enjoy and use to teach dance and movement classes to kids and women!
So taking the risk in the face of the unknown was a lesson in following my inner guidance despite the chatter from friends, family and even my own mind. It was well worth the risk, with lots of bumps in the road, and my life is better for it! I feel like I am where I am supposed to be!
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.
My business, A Dance for Life Movement & Healing Arts, encompasses mindful movement and dance with holistic principles and somatic tools. I work with children and adults and have resources to support women through the various stages of life.
I am a lifelong dancer and always found so much joy, creativity, and the ability to express what I could not through words through this art.
As I got older I was always drawn to learn more about natural and holistic health practices and studied therapeutic massage and holistic health at the World School of Massage in San Francisco.
I began having children as a young adult and ended up being blessed with 4 daughters who are now in their teens and young adult years. During their younger years I continued dance by teaching children’s classes and prenatal belly dance classes. However, being a stay at home mom was the most rewarding and arduous jobs I have ever had. During those years, I struggled with anxiety and depression, later realizing I was suffering from PPD. For years I thought something was wrong with me as I couldn’t figure out how to get out of the dysfunction. It was during a breaking point when I discovered EFT tapping. It quickly gave me relief and a way of relearning how to express what I was feeling and find resolve in the negative thought patterns I was experiencing. It had such a profound effect on my life that I went on the become a certified practitioner.
I now combine movement/dance and eft in my classes and social media content. I am passionate about making sure anyone who is looking for and desiring tools to create more ease and peace within their mind, body and soul has access to this powerful tool!
Children are our future and so I always have a soft spot for them, enjoying sharing movement and wellness tools so that they can feel confident and embody who they are.
Because women and, in particular mothers, are nurturing the adults of the future, I am adamant that I create resources to support them through the inevitable challenges that come with the motherhood journey.
I offer weekly IG lives of guided EFT tapping sessions with specific topics. I also have free digital content on my website, one being a morning movement practice, the other a prenatal tapping video guide. I have a digital course for purchase for pregnant moms that includes a prenatal belly dance movement practice (which I filmed 36 weeks pregnant with my 4th) and a series of guided EFT video guides that takes a mom through the 9 months of pregnancy.
I am currently working on a virtual workshop titled Hormones and Health for the Modern Woman. This is a collaborative event with Ulrika Karlsson who is a hormone yoga teacher based out of Sweden. Our goal is to provide tools for women who are moving through hormonal changes and transitions with more ease and comfort. I am providing EFT support and sacred dance to bring healing around the relationship we have with our feminine nature and body.
My in-person offerings are weekly dance classes for kids that I teach out of my solar-powered strawbale studio. The classes are for ages 3-5 and 6-10. I provide space where we explore basic dance technique, dance concepts, and overall instilling the joy of movement and dance.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
One of the major lessons I had to unlearn was bypassing my own body signals.
We grow up learning to obey rules, time, and structures where we have to neglect primal needs. So we normalize ignoring and numbing when our body is speaking to us. In the moment it helps us get through the situation, but in the long-run, I feel this leads to problems.
During the time I was going through PPD, I was having many health issues as well. After learning EFT and using it regularly, I began to heal my relationship with my body. It was a process of moving through the grief and guilt of mistreating myself in such ways, to coming to full acceptance of my past. I then had to work through the feeling of not being worthy of honoring myself and the idea of putting attention on my needs being selfish. This brought me to realizing that in order for me to be a stable caregiver of my children and home, it was necessary for me to be in good health. This allowed me to shift the story of self care being selfish to being a primary need on a daily basis.
It continues to be a daily practice of working through my inner critic of prioritizing my health and wellness, but I feel better than I ever have. It allows me to be centered and stable and have the energy to give to those I love and tend to what matters to me the most. In doing so, I am also setting the example for my daughters to treat their body with love and care so that they don’t have to suffer as I did.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I make it a priority to often reflect on why I do what I do. It’s easy to lose track of the purpose when we get caught up in the logistics and the doing.
When I have moments of feeling doubt, I take time to check in and make sure I am embodying that which I am sharing and teaching. This gives me the courage and confidence to keep going and to show up in my joy. I feel that this helps my clients and students to feel the authenticity in my being which builds trust.
It is also my priority that whomever comes into my space feels safe, seen and heard. My children’s dance classes always has an air of fun, joy, and the priority of movement and fun over perfection. This translates to the students and parents feeling like what I offer is unique compared to other studios.
For the work I do with adults, I strive to meet people where they are and find common ground from my own experiences and struggles that I have had. I always keep in mind that as much as I am being a guide and teacher, I am always a student in each encounter and embrace the opportunity to be in a co-creative experience.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.adanceforlifemovement.com
- Instagram: @adanceforlifd
- Facebook: @adanceforlife
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@ADanceforLife
Image Credits
Vanessa Wingerath