We were lucky to catch up with Toni Bergins recently and have shared our conversation below.

Toni, appreciate you joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

I was on the road to be a corporate New Yorker. It was perfectly normal as the expectations of my time period and my family of origin. It would have been a life, a choice, a blessing, a sacrifice, and all of it. But something changed my life and I swerved off the path of what some would have called normal. I had a dance experience that dropped me into my body in such a way, that I didn’t even know I wasn’t really in my body. I had a big emotional release, a catharsis of a kind, and a personal and spiritual realization that I needed to change course immediately. It was as if I unlocked some part of me that I didn’t know existed and boom! I was in another reality. The tears that came made me aware of my deep unhappiness, maybe even depression, about what I was creating in my life. I knew that I had other choices, I knew that I had found a new path. That was when I stepped in to the journey of personal growth and transformation that I would spend the next many years exploring with dedication and vigor. This dance would become part of me, it would move me through my life, as a tool of expression, process, and reclamation, for many others, and an ownership of my energy.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Dance, movement, and embodiment are now more well known as modalities of wellness. When I discovered myself in the dance, I dove in, hook, line and sinker as they say! But I didn’t sink, I swam! My love for music and movement was fuel for years of study into many dance forms, music, theater, and emotional process. I was always fascinated by the human experience from a psycho-spiritual perspective that I began to layer deep process work into my guidance of the dance. Over some years I called my creation JourneyDance and have since danced will over 150,000 people. I spent many years of my guiding at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health where I met 1000s of seekers on the their own paths of discovery and healing. I have helped people become empowered, sensual and joyful. I have held space for many big emotions to be released, processed and digested, all with the outcome of building self-esteem, confidence, and self-love. I have assisted dancers and movers in working through past wounds, painful experiences, negative stories and limiting beliefs. This is my mission, to end perfectionism, uplift energy, vibrancy and remind each person they matter and they are enough!

My programs and offering are now in person and on line. We hold a weekly JourneyDance on Tuesdays 12pm est/9am pst with thematic content changing weekly. We also offer The Remedy: Move, Feel, Write, Share on Friday mornings on line. We have facilitator training for JourneyDance each year in a hybrid model or in person. And if you’d like read more or listen on audible, my first book, EMBODY: Feel, Heal & Transform Your Life Through Movement is out!!

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

The one thing I will love, always and forever, is music, movement and dance. I will always be grateful that I made this choice years ago, when I could have chosen a different career, I could have been a this or a that, maybe the financials would have been easier? Being an entrepreneur is not for everyone, but a life without JourneyDance wouldn’t be a life for me.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

What has helped the most in my field is consistency, for sure! I show up and I show up and I show up. I lead, I guide, I learn from what I did, I test, track, tweak and aim to improve. I want to create the most powerful, joyful, deep, uplifting experience for each person, every time I lead a JourneyDance.

When people began asking, how do you this?, I created a teacher training. Everything happened very organically, step by step, by showing up. If I were to give any advice it would be to teach, lead, guide, and keep showing up.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://journeydance.com
• Instagram: @tonibergins @journeydanceofficial
• Facebook: Toni Bergins & my other one is JourneyDance
• Other: I recently wrote a book called EMBODY: Feel, Heal, & Transform your Life Through Movement, available on Audible and where all books are sold.

Image Credits

Jade Beall
Julia Bernadsky