Our bodies hold the codes to our greatest awakening. Spirituality is not about leaving the body but about being fully immersed in it. I sit down for this fun and informative episode with my friend Yarixa, founder of Unleash Movement, to discuss the healing power of dance and the importance of embodiment.

Ready to work with me on a deeper level to create your conscious empire? Sahara no longer facilitates this mastermind but instead created the Dharma Coaching Institute to train people to become Certified Dharma Coaches. Find out more at iamsahararose.com

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Intro + Outro Music: Silent Ganges by Maneesh de Moor

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Transcript

Episode 264: How To Unleash Yourself with Yarixa Ferrao
By Sahara Rose

[00:12] Sahara

Namaste, it’s Sahara Rose and welcome back to The Highest Self Podcast, a place where we discuss what makes You, Your Soul’s Highest Evolvement. 

[00:19] Sahara

Well, it is no secret that I love to dance. And if it your first time listening, then, know that I love to dance, I love all forms of cathartic, ecstatic, free-form dance movements. So, not choreography that’s super in your head and you’re trying to memorize dance moves, but really to allow your body to dance the dance that it’s been wanting to dance inside. 

[00:43] Sahara

I’ve shared this before, but ecstatic dance literally saved my life! When I was 23 years old, I bought a one-way ticket to Bali because I was so confused about what I wanted to do with my life and what my truth was, and my parents constantly telling me “You need to get a normal job”, “You’re never going to survive”, “You, essentially, need to get serious and back into reality”, and I knew that, working a 9-5 desk job was not for me, but I didn’t know how I would make it.

[01:10] Sahara

So, going to Bali and finding that ecstatic dance floor changed everything for me because for the first time I was able to be 100% fully free.

[01:20] Sahara

And not just in my dance moves but the dance really reflects your life and the way that you show up on the dance floor is how you show up in your every day. 

So, at first, when I got there, I was looking at other people going crazy and I was, kind of, doing choreography in my head and trying to dance moves. We think “Oh, a dance is, you learn something and you make sure it looks right and you dance in front of the mirror”, but seeing people just jumping and shaking and rolling on the floor and being so free was so inspiring for me and it also felt so foreign for me, and so freaking weird. 

So, I kept going and I kept showing up, and little by little I would unravel and unpeel these layers of myself. And sometimes I would be in bliss and other times I would be so angry; other times I would be so guilty; other times I would be so sad; other times I would find forgiveness. And this all happened through the dance on the ecstatic dance floor.

[02:14] Sahara

So, I am super grateful for cathartic free-flowing dance releases, and I honestly never thought that I would find something like that outside of Bali. When I moved to LA, 5 years ago, there wasn’t an ecstatic dance scene. There was some people doing it in a very small setting, but it wasn’t really a big thing. And I’m so grateful that I stuck it out because, recently, there really has been an uprising and a global movement, and I truly believe that ecstatic and free-flowing dances will be the yoga of the future.

Because yoga is still so masculine, it was created to keep men (or young boys) hormonally in check, that’s how the Asana practice (physical Asana practice) really came to be.

So, it’s all about structure, it’s all about discipline, it’s all about holding the right pose and making sure you do it the right way, and listening to your teacher and following the path – and that’s great. And I think we also do need discipline and focus in our society, but where do we let go? Where do we let ourselves be free? Where do we just allow our bodies to move us, instead of us moving our bodies?

[03:20] Sahara

Even when you work out, you’re making sure you’re doing your posture correctly and you’re holding the weights correctly, and it’s still coming from the mind to the body, but when, in society, are we allowing the body to dictate the mind? 

I mean, even during sex, most of us are still in our minds, most of us are still narrating, still dictating, still saying “Oh, you look fat”, “Oh, would they like this?”, “Oh, I’m tired, let me fake an orgasm.” We’re saying these things in our minds, I sure hope you are not faking orgasms because that’s not doing any good for yourself, you’ve got to teach your partner what you like. But all of these examples are us dictating to the mind and what we really need is to drop out of the mind. And the way to drop out of the mind, for me, has not been through sitting and telling the mind to be quiet – that is the way to get my mind hyper loud, that is the way if I want to turn up my mind, is sit down and be quiet, that’s not going to work for me.

For me, if I get into my body, my mind naturally dissipates, and that is why dance is such a healing and expansive practice, because you don’t need to try, you don’t need to focus, you don’t need to discipline, all you have to do is let go. And I truly believe that that’s what we need as a society – more places that we can be “Ahh”, just exhale and stop trying, and stop forcing, and stop memorizing and just let ourselves be, that’s really what we need as a collective and that is what cathartic frame dance does for us.

[04:45] Sahara

So, there are many different forms of dance. Ecstatic dance is kind of the baseline of an open floor dance party that is done absolutely sober, during the day, that, there is only one rule (and it’s no talking) because when you get into conversations then people get out of their bodies, they’re like “Oh, so, how was the wedding you went to” and then what happens is, both of you stop dancing. And then when you stop dancing on the dance floor that creates stagnation and then other people stop dancing and the energy is not flowing. So, if there’s no dancing, then people stay in their bodies, people keep dancing, you don’t come with your friend and hang around with your friend the whole time, you keep moving, you keep flowing.

So, that is what ecstatic dance is really all about. 

[05:26] Sahara

And then there are many variations of it (spin-offs of it). So, there are different types of guided-healing dance forms, from five rhythms, which is a very common form. I was trained in five elements shamanic dance activation, with Malaika, who’s been on the Podcast a couple times; I’ve created my own forms – Dance Your Doshas, Goddess Dance Activation, Sahara’s Manifestation, Abund-Dance, and other people have created their own forms too.

[05:51] Sahara

So, this Episode is with one of my friends, Yarixa, who created her own form, which is called Unleash.

I love Unleash so much, it is probably my favorite dance party that is in LA (or in existence really) because Yari is just a really beautiful example of someone who has completely unplugged herself; released herself; stopped living life in accordance to anyone’s rules and really allowed herself to be, to go, to flow, and she shares that with us so beautifully in this Episode. 

[06:25] Sahara

So, you’re going to hear all about how she created Unleash; what Unleash is about. We’re going to talk more about dance; why it’s so healing; what to do if you feel like you’re not a dancer and this isn’t for you – all of this is going to be addressed and conversed and made fun, in this Episode.

[06:41] Sahara

So, without further ado, let’s welcome Yarixa to The Highest Self Podcast. 

___________________________________________________________ 

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________________________________________________________________ 

[09:12] Interview

[09:13] Sahara

Welcome Yarixa to The Highest Self Podcast, it’s so great to have you here!

[09:16] Yarixa

Yay! Thank you! I love being here with you, this is great!

[09:21] Sahara

Yeah! So the first question I would love to ask you is what makes you your highest self?

[09:26] Yarixa

My fierceness in how I face my fears. And that allows me to continuously grow and continuously step into my power. 

[09:39] Sahara

So true! And you do that so well! So, I was at one of your – so, you have this amazing dance movement that you have created (Unleash) and we’ll dive into how you created that (all of it), but I just want to share a memory of you that I have, which was – it was one of your Unleashes, maybe in Fall of last year, and you were sharing how you had gone through this massive personal financial issue of bankruptcy and that you declared it out to all of us like “I’m here, as your leader, and I’m going through filing bankruptcy right now” and then also you were just in little boot pasties, which I think you maybe disappeared at some point, and the whole thing was about vulnerability and being your complete authentic self, and you just took it to a whole other level.

I feel like authenticity is such a buzz word right now, it’s like a strategy people use “Let me be authentic to you get followers or whatever” and you were just like, completely bearing it all, there’s no agenda behind it and it was so, to me, just like, not only respectable but expansive, to see someone really bear it all in that way. 

And very few people expand and challenge me because I feel like I’ve just been in this world for so long, but you truly do that, so just thank you for that memory.

[10:54] Yarixa

I warmed up to you. 

[10:55] Sahara

You did! I have not declared bankruptcy while showing my entire breasts to the world yet! It’s on my To-Do list!

[11:04] Yarixa

Wow! Thank you for that! That was a – yeah, wow, that was unexpected! You know, at every Unleash there is a theme and I think that one was ‘Own It’.

[11:14] Sahara

Yes! 

[11:15] Yarixa

And every time, it’s like some new layers come off, of me, personally, so that I can show up as, you know, the frequency of whatever’s about to go down. So, it’s really showing up as the frequency, it’s not just like I’m going to, verbally, cue you to do certain things, but it’s like how can you show up as the example and setting the tone for whatever it is that you’re creating. And ‘Own It’, I was like, when it first came through, because I usually just channel “Oh, it’s this”, “Oh, this is a theme” and when it first came through, I was like “Own It? Got it God! Easy!” You know, because I’m very confident in who I am at this point of my life. It wasn’t always like that, but I definitely am now and I was like “Cool! This is going to be an easy thing! And I’m going to have everyone own it and claim their stuff”, and something happened along the way that the last week, right before I got into Unleash, something, just financially, really hit hard (that was one), and two, it almost felt like I had a lobotomy, it felt like I didn’t know who I was a couple of days before Unleash, which was this mental disturbance for me, because then I’m freaking out, I’m like “How am I going to show up for Own It if I don’t even know who I am right now in this moment?” And I know that sounds a little strange and weird but that’s how it goes, I never know what to expect. And so, literally, upon feeling like I’ve lost my identity, I just prayed to God the day before Unleash. And I was like “God, angels, guides, just please show me what to do because I have no idea how I’m going to show up today”, and then at 6:00am I woke up and I’m like “Oh, it’s vulnerability”. And then I start writing in the morning before Unleash and then this thing comes through “It’s vulnerability” so I’m just going to be vulnerable. Okay, I didn’t even know what that meant, until I get to Unleash. And one of the things that happened was, I put on some pasties and these were new pasties that were durable and I don’t know what, and they didn’t stick, and so I was just there. And then I have, what’s called Bedazzlers, they bedazzle you and paint you up and get you all sparkly and personified, and I just was like “Oh, well, this doesn’t look good all cringed up on my boobs so I’m just going to take it off, it’s not that big of a deal”. So, I just took them off and had the bedazzle my nipples, and that’s what happened, and the rest is history. And what was so beautiful about that day, though, was that when women – you know, I greet people at the door and when I’m greeting them they look at me, and I’m so comfortable in my skin that they’re like “Can we do that too” and I’m like “Of course, it’s Unleash”. 

So, I had, at least, and I think you remember, it was at 7 other women that were topless at Unleash. And it’s not to say that this is what happens at Unleash all the time, but that’s just what it called for. And the other beautiful part about that was how we weren’t sexualized in the space, because, the way that I got to hold the space was being so comfortable in that that it neutralizes it so that it’s normal and there wasn’t this feeling that men are looking at us in this weird way that they want us and they want to sexualize us. It just felt so free and these women felt so free, and that’s all of the reviews I got.

[15:07] Sahara

A hundred percent! And it’s like, most people, if they’re topless, you know, performing the sexy striptease, they’re not bearing their soul, and I think there’s something of you being physically naked and then emotionally naked for us was just so beautifully embodied. 

And I’m sure a lot of people listening right now are like “Okay, Yarixa is just one of those girls who’s just always been comfortable in her body, she’s always been really courageous, she’s the Durga embodiment, Kali Ma”, but you aren’t! 

So, can you share with us what your childhood was like because you weren’t always like this?

[15:39] Yarixa

Definitely not! I’ll definitely share! So, I’m from Puerto Rico, and even though in Puerto Rico we’re very, there’s a lot of musicality and I feel like there’s a lot of sauciness to us, and a lot of sass, we’re very passionate beings, there’s still the catholic and there’s the religious part, and it’s looked down upon if you dance in a certain way, or at least my parents, definitely, would definitely look down upon that, and “Cross your legs, don’t shave your legs until you’re 15”, there’s a lot of rules. And even when I was growing up, reggaeton, because reggaeton was born in Puerto Rico (in, say the hood) and when that played, my mom used to, sort of, like, cringe a little bit and sort of criticize the people that danced that. And it also has to do, I guess, with, your level of status (to a degree) of the more poor are going to dance that and the rich are going to listen to a different music, more Americanized music, or Salsa, or something like that.

[16:52] Sahara

It’s almost like the richer you are, the less connected you are to your body. 

[16:56] Yarixa

Right! And so, there’s just certain things were looked down upon. I remember just growing up and certain things being criticized along the way. And with that, I started to have a lot of insecurities around just the expression of dance, in enough itself. And later, I moved to the United States, around the age of 7, which was when I felt that there was a lot of culture shock because I went from, you know, a really, lively music where everybody’s affectionate in their way of being, to all of a sudden there’s that arm-length distance (that’s respectable), you can’t really look at people in the eyes as much, because then you’re staring at them.

And I remember being told, by this little girl, she’s like “Teacher, she’s staring at me”, and I was just like, you know, and then that started to, sort of, dim my light, of who I was.

[17:53] Sahara

So true! Staring problem was probably such a word back then. 

[17:55] Yarixa

Yeah, staring problem, right, do you remember? 

[17:59] Sahara

“She has a staring problem!” Where has that word been?

[18:03] Yarixa

Yeah! Totally! And so, then I moved to Tennessee, which was, I wasn’t black or white, I was just this Puerto Rican kid in the mix, and I was called ugly left and right, I was spit on, I was asked if I had cockroaches, I was just very bullied and I just started to come more inward in my shell because I was like “Oh my God, I don’t fit in!” And I didn’t know who to be, I had no idea and I tried to fit in but that didn’t quite work and I was still criticized and bullied.

I remember, just the silliest things, even a kid, in the cafeteria, I remember he took a Pringle chip and he rubs, you know how Pringle chips are curved, well he took the flat part of it and rubs it on the floor and he then tells me, he’s like “Hey, do you want to eat this Pringle chip” and I look at him and like “No, I don’t, you just rubbed that on the floor” and he was like “No, I didn’t!” And I had all these kids looking at me while he’s asking me to eat this chip, and I’m like “I just saw you rub it” and he’s like “No, but I only rubbed the other part of it, it doesn’t have that much dirt”. And then can you believe that I actually ate the chip to fit in! And it was like that type of bullying that I got to experience.

So, overall, through time I just became so shy, so introverted, so insecure, I wouldn’t look at people in their eyes when I talked to them. And it wasn’t until 10th grade that this boy, in my sophomore year says “Hey, why do you look down at the floor when you’re talking to us”, I’m like “I don’t know”, he’s like “You know, it’s a sign of insecurity if you look down on the floor and you’re talking to people” and I’m like “I guess” and he’s like “Well, you and I are going to practice”, it was actually two of them, I can’t remember the other kid’s name but “We’re going to practice and you’re going to look at us in our eyes every single time you talk to us.” And, literally, that was one of the breakthroughs that began to occur for me!

But yeah, I feel like…

[20:11] Sahara

This boy must have had really nice parents!

[20:13] Yarixa

They must have! They did a really good job! That was such a breakthrough for me! And theatre started breaking me through as well, in my senior year, where I just could feel my spirit, like it couldn’t take it anymore, it was just so inside that I was just “Argh, I just want this shiny thing to come out and play”. And so, theatre was actually one of the other things that started helping.

And then the fitness journey, that was like the next big thing that really shifted everything. And, I think, in the fitness aspect of it, since I started when I was 19, I was like “Okay, I’m a good athlete so I’m going to use this, and I think I can win at this, and I’m going to have the best body ever”, and thinking to myself “Well, when I get this body, all of my insecurities, my wounds will probably go away.” I didn’t quite know that I was thinking that, but in retrospect that’s what I was thinking. And also, my body became the thing that I utilized and sexuality was the thing that I utilized with men to make me feel worthy. So, I always was so hyper-focused on my body, to look a certain way, so that I could be loved. And so, that also took a toll, but now, when these men weren’t in my life, because now I didn’t have a personality because I wasn’t allowing myself to come out, it was just all about the body, then yeah, it just – man, that was, sort of, the road that I had to undertake to finally go deep into my spirituality, because I was like; I kept suffering every single time, for 6 months, sometimes a year when I would have break-ups, because that was my worth! Yeah, so…

[22:05] Sahara

So beautifully shared! And I think all women – the feminine is the body, it’s embodiment, so I think all women have had such a journey, which is their reflection of the connection to Spirit, through the vessel of their body. So, whether it is fitness, competition, which I see is very Pitta (and you’re very Pitta), fire, people who do fitness competition, tend to be good business people, they have a goal and they will do that goal no matter what. They won’t meet their friends, they won’t do anything, it’s just about that goal. Whereas anorexia, what I suffered from, is more like “I’m stronger than my body, I can convince my body it’s not even hungry, I don’t even need food, I’m above food”, again, very Vata (it’s air). And I was doing a lot of yoga and raw veganism, and all of these things were allowing me to think that not eating is a spiritual thing, is a good thing, and I mean, it’s still happening a lot in the spiritual community. And then Kapha, of just like emotionally eating and essentially making your body the martyr that has to suffer because your life is so hard and you’re trying to numb yourself.

So, all women listening to this, look at what your relationship with your body has been like, and that’s going to tell you so much of how you have evolved spiritually.

[23:19] Yarixa

Yeah, a hundred percent And I think like, even still, as you move through the body, because I move so much, there’s still a lot of energy that I’m transmuting. And I think that, because of that, through the body is how you really get to discover your spirit in a way that’s, I feel like, even faster than reading books. And it just allows you, because you drop into the very present moment. So, it’s like, mind starts to go away when you’re in the movement part, and so, naturally, you connect with your heart more, you’re going to connect with just being more present, and the present is what allows your spirit to soar. It’s because, now you’re connected with your body and spirit, and the mind is not doing this chatter thing. So, I find that to be one of the most helpful ways, if you’re looking to really connect with your spirit – it’s through your body.

[24:19] Sahara

I so, one hundred percent, agree! And especially dance, which is something that we have united and connected and twerked on!

So, I see, for me, dance has been that thing that has connected me to my spirit so much more than anything else because even when we look at a lot of body-based practices (like yoga for example), it’s still very masculine, it’s still very structured, it’s still rigid. You do the yoga poses, are you in the right pose, are you in alignment? And if we look at the history of yoga, and we were talking about this because I did an Instagram post on it, yoga, physical Asana yoga, that aspect of it, was essentially created in India to keep adolescent boys’ hormones at bay, because when they started to become adolescent they were acting out and they couldn’t be controlled as much, so the yoga practice was about, essentially, wearing out their physical bodies so they could sit in meditation, but then also be trained for the military. So it was like a military training thing as well as for meditative practices. But again, Shiva consciousness meditation, seated meditation, detachment from desire, desire is a bad thing, detach from the body, detach from everything.

And there’s a beauty in that, we all also need to be still, we all also need to detach from our surroundings (including our body), but I’m seeing in like, what most people saying “What does it mean to be spiritual”, we’ll say “To sit in meditation”, and that’s just one aspect of it, and interestingly enough, the masculine aspect of it, which we’re already doing all day. We’re already sitting all day and working and thinking our Instagram strategies or whatever else, that I feel like what we really need right now is more of the unleashing.

So, can you share with us, just, your journey of coming to this realization of creating Unleash?

[26:02] Yarixa

Yeah! Unleash feels like it’s just this pure, raw energy that wants to pattern, interrupt anything that is confined; anything that feels like you’re boxed in; that’s exactly what Unleash is. If you watch a dog on a leash and then you unleash this dog, it’s like “Go freedom, go!” because it’s just this level of joy that gets to happen when you are all of who you are, without having to fit into any kind of mold or box or anything like that.

So, I had felt, throughout my fitness journey that “Cool, I was really good what I did”, I did a couple of weight loss shows, one for MTV, one for TLC, I became very successful in that game, and I still felt like there’s this part of me that’s missing and I couldn’t put my finger on it because any time I did think about dance – I didn’t grow up a dancer, I was terrible at choreography, and so, because I was made fun of, I didn’t want to put myself in platforms that would have me get made fun off again, or be rejected, and so, I just put that to the side. 

And I remember taking, one time, when I saw this Salsa dance or something, “Oh my God, I want to do that!” And so, I signed myself up for Salsa, for 10 lessons, because I started with group and then I would literally bust out crying because I couldn’t get the steps, so I had to sign up for personal 10 sessions. And in those 10 sessions I really learned a lot but I still couldn’t understand how to fit in dance into my fitness because I didn’t know choreography. And then, just, over time, as I got really good at the heavy lifting and helping people lose weight, and all of that, I started to become bored, I was like “There’s something just off on this!” And at one time, I was dead-lifting and I was on my third lift and I was carrying more than my weight in this dead-lift, and my back went out, fully. I couldn’t work for 2 whole months, I could move for 2 whole months! And I’m also in the field of helping people rehab and corrective exercise and so I knew a lot of the stuff and I worked with people that knew a lot of the stuff. And even with those corrective exercises, my back wouldn’t get better, I was like “There’s something still off! What is it?” 

And anything that happens for my body, I always check in, what is the emotional part of this and what am I not seeing? And so, I began to question, and upon entering those questions, some of the stuff that came up were things around my dad and forgiveness around my dad, and then some other parts – my spirit wasn’t happy because it wasn’t doing the thing that it really wanted to do. It still felt very structured because fitness is very structured and I wanted to break free from that. And so what I did was like, I don’t know why but “I want to go to Miami for my birthday and I want to just go dance”, and even though my back was completely hurt, I couldn’t bend over, I took a flight, I went to Miami, I took a shot of vodka, and before I did that I put on red high heels, and I just went all out and I started dancing. And I don’t know how, if you ask me how, my back was thrown out, but yet I could walk and dance in high heels. And then the next day, when I woke up, I no longer had a back problem. That was one of the first things that opened me up. And then I started to realize “Dance is really important for me, to incorporate.” And finally I did a plant-medicine ceremony about 6 months later and upon doing that plant ceremony, there’s something that happened inside of my body that I literally went into a full Kundalini awakening. I literally tore off all my clothes and I just started dancing in a way that was ancient, that was this, like I knew how to dance, like there was no question, I’ve done this before. And it was the inquiry, though, it had to – the injury led to the reflection, led to the asking, led to the answer. So then, when I did that, holy shit, this new world opened up for me because I was finally free in my body and doing it in a way that my mom would have shamed completely. My mom wasn’t on board; by the way, for Unleash at the beginning (or my parents) they were criticizing the shit out of it, but I knew in my heart I had to continue. So, right after that plant ceremony, I went to Burning Man, a couple months later, and when I went to Burning Man, then it really clicked for me. I was dancing with this man at the end and it felt like we had been dancing for 20 years, oh my God, it felt like he gave me codes and I gave him codes, I was called jungle and he was dressed like the jungle, he was a 6’5ft Nigerian and just picked me up and do whatever with me, I’m 4’11 1/2ft so you can just imagine what that looks like, and when I woke up from that dance, because I was so in it, I was just pure spirit, there was no thought, I was just in it, that I fell to my knees and I was like “Oh my God, I have to do this for work” and my girlfriend was like “Yari, you have to do this for work! You have to incorporate this into your life, and you’re going to be on my music video” and I was like “I know” and I have no idea how but one week later, that Pitta thing you were talking about, when you’re determined to do something, you just do it. I just needed clarity and I just needed to know, I just needed to know! And once I knew I just went all in and I started the process and it started with 10 women coming to my house. And I had no idea what I was creating, I was just like “I’m going to have you over and we’re going to…”, it wasn’t called Unleashed, it was called Soul Body Dance “And we’re just going to dance and I’m going to guide you through this” and I was super excited and they were excited because I’m excited, so it’s like “Cool!” And it was cathartic, it was like they were purging, it was just like “Oh my God, this is actually what I’m meant to do!”

And, I think, by the second month, something happened the second time I did it that didn’t feel so good and that’s just because a friend of mine came to help but she was trying to be in leadership and like “Maybe I’m not a good leader, maybe I’m not supposed to do this”, so I sort of recoiled and went back. And about a month later is when I started asking my soul, again, “Is this what I’m meant to do, please just let me know, I just want clarity!” So, it was the day of my birthday and I went to this thing called Wild Vessel that a friend of mine Alana Meta had created and I was dancing and I could feel myself, and it was my birthday and I was throwing confetti and this girl starts throwing confetti with me and I’m like “Yay, it’s my birthday, come play”, she’s like “Yay, what did you wish for your birthday” and I’m like “I just want clarity, I just want clarity! That would be the best thing ever!” and then I said goodbye to her, I’m going to walk to the other side of the room; and I walked to the other side of the room 30 seconds later, after I just said to her “I want clarity” and this woman stares at me as I’m walking by and I’m staring at her because she’s staring at me, so then, she just comes up to me, grabs my arm and says “You’re meant to dance, you’re meant to bring men and women with you, you’re meant to perform and I couldn’t leave this room without giving you this information, this has to be done now and has to be done fast!”

So, it’s like how did Unleash come about? It was through, just always asking, because my soul felt suppressed and I knew that there was more. And so, it was divinely guided through my asking, and that’s how it happened. And then a month after that lady said that, I created it, I found the DJ that I wanted to work with because I thought it was women at first, but then it was like “No, I’m such a bridge for men and women, I’m so good at having that balance for both” and then I knew it wasn’t just going to be from a playlist, it felt bigger. And on my first Unleash, I had 75 people show up and then now we’re at 180-ish, and just through word of mouth. I barely even advertise this on Facebook, I haven’t even gotten to that yet!

[35:28] Sahara                                       

It’s so good! Every time you have one, I text all of my friends, Tico, and I post on Rose Gold Goddesses. Thank you for sharing that story, so beautiful!

I rarely cry and I was literally about to start crying when you shared, just like, the codes and you remembering that ancient dance inside of you because that’s so how I feel. And I believe that we all have been dancing in many, many lifetimes and these dances that we see such as different African forms of dance or mudra-based dances, temple dances, etc. this is not our first time doing it. And you know, for me, those codes definitely came out, especially with belly dancing, realizing and remembering my past lives in the harem, belly dancing; and then also with the classical Indian Odisi dancing, I’ve never taken classes and it just comes through.

[36:15] Yarixa

Totally!

[36:17] Sahara

And when I’m in that state, there’s no mind, there’s no thought, I’m 100% connected to the music and it’s moving me, and my body is the mudra, it is the code, and something in me is channeling from a greater source that is spreading this resonance out to everyone who is around me, and that’s why I’ve seen you dance it. And I really want to drive home to people, like, look, Yari is not a trained dancer, she’s never taken dance classes before.

[36:43] Yarixa

35 is when that happened, at 35 years old! Do you know what I’m saying?!

[36:48] Sahara

Exactly! And I remember, I think you came to that dance club class that I go to and it was like your first choreography class and you were like “This is so difficult for me”, whereas if I I would just see you on the dance floor, “Oh, she goes to all the dance classes and all the choreographies” and that was your first one, this year, you’re 39?

[37:08] Yarixa

No, I’m 38.

[37:09] Sahara

38, so it just shows it’s not about being a dancer or not. You never considered yourself a dancer or thought that that was your path at all but we all have the dance within us.

[37:19] Yarixa

Totally! And not at all to the point I remember, just watching dancers and being mesmerized by them on TV and thinking to myself “Okay, in my next time life, I’m going to be a dancer”, that’s what I used to say. And it just got to the point that was like “Nope” In this lifetime I’m going to be a dancer!” And now, I consider myself, when people ask me “Are you a dancer”, I’m like “Yeah, I’m a dancer!” And I dance, so I’m a dancer and so is everybody. If you just claim that you’re a dancer, you just are! Everybody has this capability and want, and some of the fears, and I don’t know if this has happened to you or to the people listening, but was around the shame of being too much or too sexy, I was like “Oh no, this might call the wrong attention” and I just was afraid to let go because of those thoughts. 

And I can share with you that on the other side of when you do it, it is a full liberation and all that shame that you have been, sort of, cultivating in your mind will go away because you’re going to realize that “Oh, this is so natural, this is my primal self!” 

And that’s the other thing with Unleash, is that it’s very primal. One thing that I want to help people let go of is the shame around your sexuality. I’ve had just hundreds of people just twerk on the floor, all at one time, and just really putting on music and beats that allows for our hips to move because that’s where a lot of our locking is at and that’s where a lot of our stagnation (both men and women) is in, because men are also, if they move their hips too much, that would be too flamboyant or it would not be manly enough or whatever, also, constructs have been built up for them, to not allow them to move their hips either. And so, for women, it was then, too, “You’re a slut” or “You’re opening up your legs” or whatever, the shame around that and it’s like “Oh my God! This is the unlocking of everything!” Literally, all your ideas, when you start moving your hips, your ideas will start coming through, your dreams will start manifesting. I’m telling you, Unleash and dancing, in general, I believe, is the medicine for this world to heal at its fastest rate, and specifically because it’s in group, it’s a lot of fun. It’s like, when you’re on a yoga mat, the difference is that, well you’re on your own journey a lot, and when you’re dancing with others, it does create a whole new alchemy and a whole new mirroring for you, that you don’t get sometimes when you’re just doing yoga. And also, what I love about dance is the level of joy that you get to experience, and being in the frequency of joy is when you have your highest manifestations; when you’re, like, everything just downloads and comes through and you drop into your heart the fastest. So, I feel like for humanity, dance is the medicine, moving forward. And it’s not to say that all these other modalities that are so ancient and so wise aren’t useful, it’s just that we are moving into new times that new modalities are required to accelerate us at the level of acceleration that we’re going. The other stuff is a little bit too stagnant for the movement that is happening, and so I feel like, yeah, whether it’s through Unleash or you create your own thing, or 5 rhythms, ecstatic dance, go to all the dance things that you possibly can and you’re going to see your whole life shift.

[41:28] Sahara

I, one hundred percent agree with that! I always say ecstatic dance changed my life!

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[43:46] Interview

[43:46] Sahara

When I was just at the most difficult point of my life, of not knowing if I was crazy for wanting to be an author and on a spiritual journey, my parents were also very against my path and it was constantly fighting with them, I was living between India, Bali, you’d think that’s awesome but it was the most confused I had ever been, but I would go to ecstatic dance, and the whole time off, I would be angry at my mom and then feeling guilty and this, and I would just be dancing it out, dancing it out. And I would walk out of that dance floor feeling just so much more uplifted, grounded, inspired, and guess what, that would actually change the frequency of the way that she would text me, because, vibrationally, I shifted and I was no longer in that fighting against her energy of like “I need to prove you wrong”, but I just raised my vibration up, to be in joy and even though she was on the other side of the world, she could feel that and it shifted the way that she would interact with me.

[44:40] Yarixa

Totally! And whatever you shift within yourself, you’re going to see it in your external relationships or your external environments, just as much too. And I do believe that, and the more I’ve stuck to, just believing in what I’m doing, because it feels truthful and it resonates with me, the more my mom has come around; and my parents, and now they’re seeing the benefits of what I’m doing. They would be totally okay with people going and getting wasted in a club, but they’re not cool with Unleash. And I remember my mom ask “But why is it that you just have to, like, undress and get naked”, I’m like “Mom, I don’t have to, that’s just the way that my body and my soul wants to be expressed, but I don’t have to do any of that, that’s just…”

[45:35] Sahara

I don’t know if your mom says “You’re doing it for attention”, that’s something my mom would say. She would be like “The only reason why you post on social media is for attention” and that would put it in my head of like “Is me fully expressing myself for validation of outside people” and it would really screw with my head, because a lot of people – like for example, now, I post my twerk videos etc. and I’ll get comments and feedback like “You’re just doing this for attention” and it just shows how much that paradigm of “You’re only sexy or dance or in your body for other people to like you.” 

[46:07] Yarixa

Yeah.

[46:08] Sahara

Not that you could ever enjoy it for yourself!

[46:10] Yarixa

Right! Totally! And I could see how people could see it, as you’re doing that for attention, I could see how that can come across, just visually speaking, out of context, because a lot of people don’t know you, they have no idea who you are, they’re just watching the pictures on Instagram and they really don’t know you.

[46:30] Sahara

And it’s easy to be triggered by someone who’s just fully unleashed and wild and be like “She must be a whole! She must have nothing going for her! She must not be friends with the type of people I’m friends with because I could never do something like that” and create those stories around you because it’s really just a part of themselves that they haven’t met. 

[46:47] Yarixa

Exactly! And so, I’m happy to be the trigger, I’m happy to ruffle people’s feathers in that way because I know my truth; I know why I’m showing up. And I do it in the most natural way that yeah, no, I don’t feel like I have to prove anything to anyone. I literally just up, I’m like “Oh my God guys, if you knew how fucking fun this is”, that’s why I’m sharing, just because I want to and there’s nothing to prove. I feel like, in the past, in my early 20s, I could say that, I wanted to really prove to the world something, but now, it’s such a different experience for me, I just really show up.

And I think people do, a lot of people do get that and they’re inspired by it. I do get a lot of people that are inspired, and there’s going to be those 10% of the people that are going to be triggered and that’s totally okay. It’s like what aspect of you are you not loving and accepting, what are you seeing in me that you’re not loving and accepting about yourself? Yeah, and I’ve definitely had, just recently, not that long ago, I’m part of a chat, I don’t know how many WhatsApp freaking chats I’m just part of, it’s crazy, I’ve had to dumb it down to two now because it was getting distracting, but in one of them we had a community of people that are game changers and doing a lot of beautiful things for the world and I was a part of this chat, and I, excitedly, shared about Unleash and some of the things that were going on for me in 2019 and then the Admin of the group, he literally sends me the longest message possible and judging, shaming, putting me down, like “The way that I would do it would be like this and when you change your behavior then you can come back on the chat”, like “What? Patriarchal”, it was just like “No! That’s not happening for me!” I’m triggering this person so much that he wants to change me to make himself feel better around me. It’s because he’s not giving himself the permission to celebrate himself and to be excited about things and whatever it was that I was triggering, I was like “Okay dude, but I’m not changing and I’m not going to tiptoe around the group! And no, I’m not going to change my behavior, I’m just going to exit this group because it’s not my group, I don’t want to be a part of something that I can’t be myself in”. So, he didn’t even have a conversation with me, it was just through text. Moving right along, you’re going to have people that are haters and you’re going to have people that are going to try to dim your light and you’re like “Nope” I’m going to fucking show up even brighter” and just continue to do it because you know who you are.

[49:41] Sahara

So true! You know, it’s so funny because I see a lot in the spiritual community, it’s almost like Level 1 or whatever, when you first get in, is “Okay, these are the things that are spiritual. Only wear Mulla beads and white loose clothes and only eat at café Gratitude. These are the things I must do to be spiritual!” I’m like “Hip hop music – bad; this thing – bad; being sexy, heels – oh my God! No!” And you shun all of those things away because they mind you of who you previously were. And I think that, I’ve definitely been in that too of “I’m spiritual, you can tell by my Indian, Om scarf, can you not”, but then, as I got further into it, you realize that it’s all spiritual and you can take something that wasn’t spiritual and still integrate it in your life. What does spirit mean? It’s to incorporate your spirit. So, that’s why I think a lot of people, with dance, and I’ve noticed this, for example in Latin culture, where dance is a part of the culture (in Miami, I was just in Miami) but a lot of the people relate more sexual dancing, twerking, etc. to the kindness of people they don’t want to be like. So, often times it’s the people who come from those cultures, like Latin American cultures etc. that dancing is a part of their culture but they see it as this dirty, slutty, whore thing, “And now that I’m spiritual, I don’t do that anymore”, that actually, I noticed that when I was doing my Rose Gold Goddess parties in New York, there was just more of everyone’s twerking but in Miami it was actually a lot harder for people because they didn’t want to be judged and shamed to be the sluts because there’s so many of those in Miami, you know, and I was like “Wow, I thought that this would be the most open place” but it was the most complex around it.

[51:24] Yarixa

And I’m actually glad that you’re pointing that out because it’s what I was referring to earlier. Even though that we are a culture that is very expressed and dance and things like that, there’s definitely a lot of shaming around…

[51:37] Sahara

It’s like “I don’t do that anymore!”

[51:38] Yarixa

“I don’t do that anymore”, right, “I don’t do that, those were my younger days.”

[51:42] Sahara

Right! Or like “Oh, honey” and that belittling and like “Well, now that I’m spiritual, I’m like this” and not realizing that everything…

[51:51] Yarixa

That is spiritual! 

[51:52] Sahara

Yeah! Everything is! And in fact, you releasing all judgments, expectations, identity, around what spirituality is, is the ultimate embodiment of it.

[52:03] Yarixa

Exactly! It’s just, fucking unleash that shit! 

[52:06] Sahara

Unleash that shit! How should I unleash that shit? And also, I think it’s really important for people – and so, a lot of people are saying “Well, I don’t really express myself in dance. I’m not a dancer, I don’t do dance, it’s not fun for me”, what would you say for people like that, like “I tried going to a dance thing, but I just didn’t want to dance”. Do you think that everyone, like this is the code for them to activate or it’s just for certain people?

[52:30] Yarixa

You know, I personally would feel like – you know, just as we have a voice, that’s part of our human nature, right? A lot of times we don’t sing because we aren’t good singers, but our voice is what recalibrates our system. So, when we tone, we’re recalibrating and bringing our bodies back to harmony. And I feel, very much so, with dance that it’s part of our what we get to do – bring harmony back into our body. So, I feel that, if you have a body; I feel like, honestly, we have a body, dance is just a part of you, whether you acknowledge it or not. It’s just like, your spirit, whether you acknowledge it or not, and you’re in a human body that Spirit is expressing through you. But it doesn’t mean that it’s for just one people or another people, and there’s going to be preferences. I think that that’s a part, like, are you not dancing because you have judgment about yourself; you have judgments around others; culturally or not culturally; what was passed down to you; what is it that you’re thinking about? And to truly inquire, I think that that’s what I would say. If you’re not dancing, really, where is it coming from? 

And I would encourage you to write out, like “Okay, I’m not dancing”, start mind-dumping “Why am I not dancing” and write out all the things that come to mind of why you’re not dancing, and I feel you’re going to find your answer within that. And if you, then, find, like, there’s not really a valid reason for you to not dance, then that’s just going to be the challenge that you now get to really lean into, in that edge, because your gift lies in, specifically, the things that create most fear for you. I believe that when it scares and it excites you, go fucking do it, every time you’re going to find your greatest gift there. But yeah, but preference, and sometimes people like certain kind of music and so, go towards the music that you do like. It doesn’t have to be what Sahara, with reggaeton, and more of those kind of tribal beats, it may not be that. It may be more like Waltz, I don’t know, but there’s definitely, if you’re alive, music is a connector for all. I don’t know one person, do you know one that doesn’t like music?

[55:13] Sahara

I’ve actually heard someone say that and I was like “Huh?!!” 

[55:15] Yarixa

Really???

[55:16] Sahara

It’s like saying “I don’t like food, just not into it”, “Don’t like sex; not my thing!”

[55:21] Yarixa

“It’s not my thing, I’m just eating…”

[55:22] Sahara

“Breathing…hmm…no, not really!”

That’s how I see dance too, it’s essential. I do see some people and I think it kind of has to do with what chakras you’re most naturally interconnected to. Some people, obviously, you’re a body person, you’re super-root, sacral chakra. I’m a body person too, I definitely learn from my body; Ayurveda is always a body-based wisdom, but other people I see, they’re more galactic, airy, and they might be more into crystal balls and sound frequencies. My husband is very much into sound but not so much in the embodiment, so for him, going to ecstatic dances, it’s just not really his thing, but I do think he would have massive growth if he was able to step further into it, because, you know, how you behave in one thing is everything and if you can’t dance, if you can’t be in your body, what are the other ways that you’re not being in your body. Maybe you’re not being anchored into who you are; maybe you’re not fully stepping into your identity. These are all embodiment, and dancing is just like the practice of it, but how it shows up in our lives is through everything. 

And then, also, for example, I’m not a good singer and when I would sing, when I was a kid, everyone would tell me to stop, so I paved out the story I’m not a good singer, but I actually do have fun singing. And when I’m by myself, sometimes I’ll sing but then I’ll kind of notice and I’ll just stop. And it’s because of this indoctrination in my brain of “I’m not a good singer so I should not sing”, and I think a lot of us have that towards dance, towards our “I’m not creative, I’m not whatever”, whatever it is that you’re not, that is your biggest lesson to show you that you are.

[56:58] Yarixa

Totally! Because, whether it’s been public speaking, for me, that was a huge fear; dancing was a huge fear, to dance like this in front of others; singing was – karaoke was my biggest fucking fear, you know, just because of the same story that you have, that people just tell me stop, or when I was little. And I’ve kept breaking through, every time I acknowledge when there’s a fear I have contraction in my body, I then am like “Hmm, what’s the opportunity in that? Okay, what’s the worst thing that can happen? Why am I so scared of this thing?” And so, I do go down that rabbit hole in order to break that. And singing in particular, I was so scared, like “Okay, I’m just going to take singing lessons because I’m so scared of it”, so I took 5 singing lessons, I think it was about 1.5 year ago, and in those 5 singing lessons, I bawled the entire time (partially) because what it felt like for me was a lineage trauma that I had that I could literally feel my ancestral healing. And then on one occasion I started to see the future as I’m singing and toning, in a certain kind of the nasal tone when you do more of that ‘AE’ sound. So, when I started to do that sound as part of a practice from the singing coach, I started seeing visuals of spaceships in my head as I’m doing that and it started to teach me that this sound and the waves is how we communicate in the future. So, it’s going to be less of word and construct, but rather through the waves and through the feeling, and through that is how we get to communicate. So, I was literally opening up a pathway for my new self and my new lineage in the future and literally releasing all of the suppression of the voice from the lineage, from the past. I could feel that healing happening as I began to take on these singing lessons. 

So, that thing that your teacher told you that you couldn’t sing or your friends, and telling you to stop singing or whatever, that was just planted there, in this lifetime, so that you could just have that courage to break through it because that’s your greatest gift. It’s almost like your higher self puts things in place so that you lean into it because that’s how you’re going to find your greatest life.

So, I’m so grateful for being bullied; I’m grateful for literally everything that has occurred because it took me to Unleash which now gets to be this movement. And I’m actually calling it A Modern-Day Ceremony because that’s what Unleash is, it’s a modern-day ceremony. And it doesn’t have to look like calling in all the different directions and it doesn’t have to look like a very traditional sense of doing it. You know, we add sparkles to the entire thing, and the music that we utilized is just more modern, and the way we play throughout it, that’s the modernization of this ceremony; it’s the playfulness that it doesn’t have to look so serious anymore because joy is just one of the highest frequencies that you can be in. But I encourage anybody that has any kind of fear to truly step into it because I can promise you that it is where, a lot of times your dharma is.

[1:00:41] Sahara

One hundred percent! And a lot of times, the things that we’re afraid of, like, I know that there have been some professional dancers that at Unleash said “I’ve never been able to dance this way before despite being a professional dancer.” And I’ve noticed this too, I would go to parties that there were all these dancers and no one was dancing, if one person danced it was very small and choreography-based. And even when I started to go to ecstatic dance, I would do choreography because I didn’t know what to do. I always thought dancing was this “You memorize this dance and then you perform it and then you’re judged on it and were your toes pointed enough etc.” 

So, even if you are accustomed to singing or dancing, are you doing it in a free and expressed way?

[1:01:21] Yarixa

Exactly! And that’s so interesting that you pointed that out because I’ve had a lot of professional dancers come through Unleash and you’d think that they’re already free but they’re actually not because they’ve been judged their whole life on ‘this is their worth; if they don’t get the audition or get the audition’, that’s what the thing.

And this last one that I did, I remember very vividly, this girl said “You know, I’ve been dancing all my life, this is literally one of the best kinds I’ve ever had in my life” and she’s a professional dancer. And the reason she said that, she’s like “It wasn’t just letting go, it was, I actually felt my body”, and so, that’s a testament that goes to show it’s just the freedom of expression and not giving a shit, screaming, sticking out your tongue, looking weird! Look weird, sing ugly, do that so that you can get over it! 

And yeah, I really do appreciate all the people that get to come through. Whether you’re a dancer, non-dancer, everyone’s a dancer, period, and you just get to expand more, and where it’s like where those edges, let’s continue to expand so that way you know your greatness. 

[1:02:41] Sahara

One hundred percent! And really, what we were talking right before is, this is what spirituality is all about, it’s all about having fun, it’s all about being in that state of joy, it’s not about studying the books. I feel like so many people, they join spirituality or they begin their spiritual journey and they’re like “Okay, I need to read all the books; have I studied Abraham Hicks; do I know about my past lives; do I know about my Enneagram, my Human Design, my Sun Sign, my Moon Sign, my Rising Sign, my Vedic ones”, it turns into all this headiness and it’s all because our school system taught us “If you want to learn about a subject, you must study it a whole year out of these books, written about a thousand years ago by a white man, and that’s how you learn about a subject and you regurgitate the knowledge.” And I see a lot of people who have the spiritual knowledge and not the embodiment.

And if you just take one thing, like for example, I even have an oracle card deck and I’m like “I don’t need to really pull the deck every single day because if I just take one thing and embody it; take one fucking concept and embody it for the rest of my life, I’ll be there”. And so many times we’re looking for that next thing – what’s the next card, the next book, the next podcast – if someone’s going to listen to this – actually, a lot of people are going to listen to this “Okay, next!” If you just embodied everything we just said, you will be set for life, you don’t need any more information.

And I find this too, I’m also definitely an information-type person so I understand it. Back in the day, when I was trying to learn about spirituality, I would just listen to always an audio book, a podcast, a YouTube video, and then I was like “Why am I putting all these other voices in my head all the time when I’m not even listening to my own voice?” And now, honestly, if I’m not recording this podcast, I’m listening to fucking music, because if I’m listening to music, I’m getting my vibes high and then when I am in the space to have a conversation or create, it’s coming from me, it’s not coming from regurgitated information.

[1:04:32] Yarixa

Yeah, and that’s one thing I love about you. I really do appreciate the way your being is because there’s not many people that I find like you, you’re just you, and I love that so much. Your level of freedom is felt and you’re not trying to be anyone or anything, you’re just being Sahara, that’s who you’re being. And it’s fucking great and thank you for showing up in the way that you do.

The more that we get to show up like, you do you, I do me, that other person does them – great! This is actually how we unify – it’s through the embrace of our individuality; that’s the unification of us all because we lose judgment for everybody else because we’re being ourselves. And so, I love that about you, it’s just so easy, you’re so easy to get along with because I don’t find any judgment, I don’t find any stickiness to your being, and I just appreciate that so much, I just want to point that out.

[1:05:37] Sahara

Thank you so much for that beautiful acknowledgment! And I want to share that I was not always this way and honestly, it’s because of dance that I’ve become this way. When I was also 23, on that journey, I knew that I needed to go back to India. And it was after I had so much drama there and I went to this thing called Notarage festival, which is in an Osho ashram in Delhi, and basically you just dance all day, all types, like Osho, dynamic meditation, tantra dance, tarot dance, all of these different kinds. All we did was dance, and in that, in those experiences, it was one week in my life, changed me more than a decade of reading the books and knowing the information.

Even with your Unleash, it’s one time a month, but if you really go and you unleash that one time of the month, it will blast you far past more books, knowledge. And I’m not saying – information is great, I’m a fan of podcasts, we’re on a podcast right now, and I always say, people are like “How do you create so much”, I work and twerk. While I’m working, I’m twerking; while I’m writing my book, I’m moving my hips. Even if I’m going through bank statements, because that’s sacral chakra energy, I’m doing my hip circles. Even as you were talking about that, I was like “I need to be moving my body”, I’m always moving my body, I’m always dancing.

And I think a lot of people listening are going “Well lucky for them, they live in LA, so they get to go to all the fun dance things and I don’t get to go to Unleash, I live in Tennessee or Kentucky”, or wherever it is. So, what would you say to someone lives in a place that there’s no ecstatic dance community yet?

[1:07:10] Yarixa

Yet! I would say start in your living room! 

[1:07:15] Sahara

We need an Unleash Teacher Training!

[1:07:17] Yarixa

We do! That’s going to happen for sure and I definitely am going to get it out into the world more and more festivals, and different parts of the country, I’m really excited to do that. But yeah, I would say, put on your music, start in your living room, get some of your friends to come and join you, if that’s something that your friends also enjoy (is dance) do it together, I think that that would start it, and then create. If you want to start your own ecstatic dance or your own whatever, start it, you can do it, it’s missing, if it’s not there, it’s…

[1:07:56] Sahara

How did you start it? If someone’s like “Okay, I want to create a conscious dance experience”, what’s the first step?

[1:08:01] Yarixa

You know, let me just share – the way that I started Unleash was, I had an idea, “Oh, yeah, t’s going to be men and women, I want a DJ”, I heard the DJ and then I spoke to the DJ and like “Hey, do you want to do this thing with me”, “Great!” And then the next step was get a date, put it on the calendar.

[1:08:23] Sahara

And people don’t even need a DJ, they just do a Spotify playlist; Soundcloud. 

[1:08:27] Yarixa

Oh absolutely! When I started Soul Body Dance, that was just through, I just put the list on Spotify.

[1:08:33] Sahara

And you still do the little Omnisha’s Aking, that’s just the Spotify playlist.

[1:08:38] Yarixa

A hundred percent! You don’t even need a DJ, let’s just be real, that’s how easy it is. And you set a date (I think that’s really important, to book the date) and you reverse-engineer it from there and you tell the people, whatever you’re writing on your flyer or whatever you’re posting on social media, tell them what they’re going to be getting in these 2 hours’ worth of dancing. Excite them with the benefits that they’re going to receive, post little videos of you dancing, and that’s how it starts. And then you just really pump people up and you visualize it and then it happens because you set a date (that’s when it’s happening; that’s when you rented the studio space; opened up your house for it). That’s how it started for me, I was in my house, my house guys. So, yeah, it doesn’t require a lot, it just requires an idea, it requires you to set up a date and then it requires you to reverse-engineer it by then, okay, by doing the flyer, telling people about it, getting a ticket sales page (if you wanted to), or only if you wanted to, you could just tell people “Vemo mia”, whatever, you don’t even need anything. 

I definitely wrote out a description because I feel like that was very helpful to get that crystal clear vision of the feeling (and I spoke a lot about the feeling on my page). And right now, I guess the page that it’s on is unleash.wedeepen.com and if you go there, you can read about it and you can already start to experience it through the words.

So, I do feel like, a one-pager, short, simple, sweet and just your passion behind it. That’s it!

[1:10:25] Sahara

A hundred percent! And I think that, at the end of the day, that’s it. When they see that you’re in that embodiment of dance and joy and having fun, it gives people permission.

A lot of times, having facilitated conscious dance experiences, people, at the beginning, can feel really weird, they can be looking around at each other, kind of the community at Unleash, been there and they fully let go, but I’m sure this when you visit new places, they might just not know what to do because they’ve never been in the space, they’re like “I don’t know how to dance if I’m not drunk (because these are all sober events guys, too). So, you being that person to take that first step of like “I’m going to play this song”, maybe it’s your favorite song and you just go crazy (whatever that looks like for you), or maybe your craziness is more of a beautiful elegant dance or you’re tap-dancing, or whatever it is that makes you feel fully expressed.

And not to do it as a performance, it’s not like everyone’s going to go in the middle and do a dance. I think, again, our culture, instantly – like when someone’s on the dance floor everyone crowds around them and just has to watch them instead of them dancing and that triggers me to start dancing too. 

So, I think, you just being that first person and then bringing people in to dance with you and then another person and then having them two dance with each other, and you bring another person in, and getting everyone to that state. At the beginning it’s going to feel a little bit like you have to be that caricature of the dance, to get people there, but then once people are in it, they’re going to be holding the energy up. 

[1:11:52] Yarixa

A hundred percent! Do you remember what happened at Burning Man this past year? 

[1:11:56] Sahara

I was twerking, yeah, remember girl?

[1:11:59] Yarixa

Yeah, do you remember that my DJ decided to not play because of that I had to play my own playlist at Burning Man?

[1:12:07] Sahara

Oh, I didn’t even know you were supposed to have a DJ. I didn’t even know.

[1:12:09] Yarixa

Oh, so you didn’t even know. 

[1:12:10] Sahara

No! I was like twerking on the floor, in the dust.

[1:12:13] Yarixa

Yeah. You just take the reins, you just create the space, you share, maybe, a little bit of a story, at the beginning, of what’s going to take place, what we’re going to be here to do, set the intention so that you set a good container for people to understand, even, what’s happening. I think that container setting is an important part of this process, just to let them know what’s going down, what’s the intention, who you are, what got you inspired to do this and why you want to bring this to them.

And I think that people can really connect and relate to your story. I do believe in storytelling and I do believe that unifies people quite a bit, and so, then guards start to come down because they see you, that you’re not just this pro, they’re like “Oh, she’s just human”, and then it humanizes the person and you don’t go up there like you’re on a pedestal.

So, I think that that’s important; just speak from your heart when you speak to people, I think that that’s the bottom line. Speak from your heart, share with them your story and cool, we’re fucking here to dance and that’s literally it! And just let your – and the more you do it, your personality will come out more. And just know that’s not going to be perfect from the beginning, you’re going to start “Oh, I could do this differently next time” and you’re going to start adding different things. And I have friends and performers that come and play at Unleash and sometimes storytellers, or sometimes I just had EFT Tapping (at the beginning) which was really great and deepened us, and then I just got invited to be a Moon Dancer which happens in Mexico. And it’s 4 nights where women, about 400 women, get together to dance to the Moon, and it’s by invitation, and it’s this ancient, sort of, passed down lineage sort of thing about dancing to the Moon to receive certain codes of wisdom. And you don’t sleep for these 4 nights, you just literally dance. And the person who invited me to do it is a furrier commitment, played this one song, and when she played this one song, dude, it really hit me where it was like “Oh yeah, definitely going to be a Moon Dancer” and I just knew, at that moment, that this is something that I’m going to be incorporating.

So, even at this last Unleash, I sang this song that I would have never really sung at Unleash because I told you, there was this one of my biggest fears, and at this Unleash, because that struck a chord in me, I began Unleash with that particular song from Moon Dance. And so, she’s sort of a bridge for me (the person who invited me), she works more with medicine women and that’s more her niche and she’s now bringing me on board, which now I get to put it out more into the mainstream masses because that’s where I’m at. I’m a bridge between the spiritual community and the more modern, meaning that, if you need me, I can do both. I’m not too goddessy, if we were to call it that, I’m not wearing all the things and super feminine. I’m both, I’m very masculine and feminine and get to express that. But, even, I started incorporating that into, what I’m saying is, as you go, you’re going to find new things and new discoveries about yourself that that’s how you continue to innovate, and it continues to be inspiring throughout the process.

You know, I’m sure, as you’ve done your podcast, some things have shifted and changed and you decided to bring in different types of guests where you understand the kind of guests that you want for your show more than anything. So, you’re going to find what you really want to do as you do it, you don’t have to know it all at the first blink. 

[1:16:20] Sahara

So much juiciness! And now I’m like “I need to hear this Moon Dance song!”

So, where can listeners connect with you and go to Unleash?

[1:16:30] Yarixa

Yeah! It’s February 23, that’s the next one, it’s going to be across campus Santa Monica, and this one is called ‘This is Love’, just, that’s the title, and let’s see what happens for This is love, I don’t know exactly! But it definitely feels like very loving vibes for sure!

For the page, it’s unleash.wedeepen.com and to connect with me, as basically what I get to do, also, is, I work with people to help them unleash at deeper levels as well. So, whether that means you want to gain more confidence, you want to break through your blocks and your fears, whether you need transformation for your actual physical body, I get to do that too, because sometimes, our body image and our actual density in our body and the way that we appear stop us from doing things on the dance floor. And I want to help be a bridge even for that because obviously those are the building blocks that have led to Unleash, and so I’m grateful that I got to know all of this information because I can help people from such an array and real deep way through the body. 

So, you can connect with me by going to calendly.com/yarixa and we’ll do a 20-minute consult (free, complementary one) and that way I get to really understand you better and see how I can help you on a deeper level, but yeah, you can find me through that. And lastly, Instagram at coachyari@unleashmovement        

[1:18:20] Sahara

Beautiful! Well thank you so much for sharing all of your wisdom with us, we’re definitely soul sister dancers from a past life. And it just makes me – so much of the reason why I left the US, and I thought that I could never live here, was because I felt that there was no conscious dance community, and it feels so good to be able to know that there are amazing, expressive, beautiful dance that are just on par with Bali and Goa and all of those places that are known for it here, in LA, where I get to live. And if you’re listening to this, this is your invitation to create it where you live too. It’s not that this happened to be in LA, it’s that Yari decided to take action in bringing it to here, and now, all of us, get to experience it. And now it’s actually one of my favorite parts of living in this freaking city, the fact that you said yes! And not only me, but the 180 people who come every single week!

So, thank you for stepping up to that gift; thank you for releasing the limitations and conditions that the Universe gifted you with to release, and thank you for saying yes to the opportunity to do so. 

[1:19:28] Yarixa

Thank you.

[1:19:29] Sahara

And thank you for inspiring all of us to unleash even further!

[1:19:32] Yarixa

Yeah! Go be you!

[1:19:34] Sahara

Yes!

[1:19:36] End of Interview

__________________________________________________________ 

[1:19:36] Sahara

Don’t you want to get up and start dancing right now? Well, you don’t have to wait until you go to an Unleash, you can start dancing wherever you are, it’s free, just put on some music, your favorite song. I have tons of music, tons of playlists on my Spotify, if you follow me, I’m Sahara Rose, I’m always posting songs in Rose Gold Goddesses, my App, my community membership, which has a whole music section. I am a DJ and I’m always putting put music!

[1:20:02] Sahara

But there are so many forms of dance out there, I highly recommend, if you do come to LA, to check out Unleash, she is going to Hawaii for a couple of months, so the next one, I believe, is going to be in May or so. If you just follow her on Instagram, you’ll be able to check that out and just deep dive into all of the different healing dance floors out there – ecstatic dance, five elements dance, come to any of my dance experiences, there’s so much available to us, and all we’ve got to do is to get our bodies moving and we’re already in the healing process. 

[1:20:34]  

If you loved this Episode, I would love if you could leave me a review in the iTunes store and as a free gift, I will share with you the first half of my unreleased book “Eat Right for Your Mind-Body Type”. 

Simply email a screenshot of your review over to [email protected] and I will send you over the first half of my unreleased book “Eat Right for Your Mind-Body Type”.         

Thank you and namaste!                               

Episode 264: How To Unleash Yourself with Yarixa Ferrao
By Sahara Rose