Melissa Michaels, Ed.D., is the Founder and Director of SomaSource® Educational Programs, Surfing The Creative® International Rites Of Passage Programs, and Golden Bridge, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving and empowering the lives of young people through rites of passage, mentoring, and community support based in Boulder, CO.She creates movement based cross-cultural educational opportunities focusing on the potential that is available at major life thresholds. Mapping the journey from trauma to dynamic well-being, her work utilizes the expressive and social arts to establish body and heart as resources authentic expression. Rooted in rhythm and fueled by breath, this work inspires the sacred union between Spirit, flesh, psyche, and deed.Melissa is a social artist, dancing and dedicated to our collective renewal through the liberation of the creative spirit.In this conversation we explore:How Melissa came to dance and movement as a healing practice.“I really had many opportunities for experiencing something bigger than myself, but the dance also gave me a place to really go into the depths of my own suffering, and eventually wake into the majesty of my own being”Why dance is such a powerful practice for healing.“I finally found a way to stay present with the depths of my angst, and the ever expanding landscape of my own creativity.”The importance of embodiment, and how to use the body as a resource for regulation and sequencing emotions and experiences.“The dance has been a place where we've been able to move out of the reptilian conversations and move into really love infused, but psycho spiritually sound interactions.”Dance as a tool for turning towards the discomfort and pain, which is an essential part of the healing process.Melissa Experiences with Cancer and how her experiences dancing served her.“Let's be kind to ourselves and anybody navigating through [cancer] or any kind of crisis, needs and deserves, extraordinary kindness, extraordinary protection, and nourishment and space and respect and agency.”Where do we go from here? The collective movement forward.“It's all about how do we build bridges between us and moving as collective forces for change for good. And so, to me, it's like, where is their soul resonance? And what are we trying to do together? And let's get to it.”Golden Girls GlobalOther Resources Mentioned:Peter Levine & Somatic Experience (I highly recommend his book In an Unspoken Voice)Bill Plotkin and his work. (I highly recommend his books: Nature and Human Soul, Wild Mind, and Soulcraft.