Meet Amber
Spring 2013: I found OULA at the lowest point of my life. I had never been a dancer, but the instructor in that first class said, “It doesn’t matter how it looks, it matters how it feels.” I listened. It made me feel like I could fly. My song: Katy Perry, Part of Me 💗
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Fall 2013: I found myself in OULA instructor training, separated, single-parenting full-time. In OULA I poured my soul out on the dance floor. OULA asked me to connect my mind and my body, to believe I could be sexy, strong, playful, loving, loved when I felt none of those things; a part of something when I felt alone. My song: Matisyahu, Warrior 💪🏻
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Spring 2014: A hospital, a courtroom, a new life. Pacemaker surgery + divorce + college + kids + job meant that I did not become an OULA instructor. Yet. But I still found time to fly whenever I could. OULA remained my favorite mode of exercise, and also became my time for self-care. My song: Macklemore, Can’t Hold Us 🙌🏻
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Summer, Fall, Winter: I found the years healing me, my family, and OULA constant in that process. I found that there had always been within me someone who needed to move her body to music, to move in sync with others to a common rhythm, starlings in murmuration, dancing, flying. I found that we are all dancers. I found I could sing along. 🎤
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Summer 2017: A college degree, a moving truck, my family on the road to Los Angeles, where we would grow more, heal more, find more, be more. But it hurt. I needed OULA in this strange land.
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Spring 2018: I found OULA in L.A. The instructor (Jess) became my first real L.A. friend, the other OULAkins my connection to community and home. My song: Sia, Flames 🔥
Spring 2019: Instructor training, round two. A deeper understanding of how and why OULA works, a deeper understanding of me. My song: Kelly Clarkson, Broken and Beautiful✨
Fall 2019: I find myself co-teaching a Monday night OULA class with my friend Stephanie. And still I find healing, empowerment, joy every time, even when I miss a beat. That dancer I found in me loves her body and herself now, enough to love others and invite them in. She is whole, she is strong, she is enough. 💖
Because it doesn’t matter how it looks, it matters how it feels. And it still feels like flying. My song: Kesha, This Is Me
.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Fall 2013: I found myself in OULA instructor training, separated, single-parenting full-time. In OULA I poured my soul out on the dance floor. OULA asked me to connect my mind and my body, to believe I could be sexy, strong, playful, loving, loved when I felt none of those things; a part of something when I felt alone. My song: Matisyahu, Warrior 💪🏻
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Spring 2014: A hospital, a courtroom, a new life. Pacemaker surgery + divorce + college + kids + job meant that I did not become an OULA instructor. Yet. But I still found time to fly whenever I could. OULA remained my favorite mode of exercise, and also became my time for self-care. My song: Macklemore, Can’t Hold Us 🙌🏻
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Summer, Fall, Winter: I found the years healing me, my family, and OULA constant in that process. I found that there had always been within me someone who needed to move her body to music, to move in sync with others to a common rhythm, starlings in murmuration, dancing, flying. I found that we are all dancers. I found I could sing along. 🎤
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Summer 2017: A college degree, a moving truck, my family on the road to Los Angeles, where we would grow more, heal more, find more, be more. But it hurt. I needed OULA in this strange land.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Spring 2018: I found OULA in L.A. The instructor (Jess) became my first real L.A. friend, the other OULAkins my connection to community and home. My song: Sia, Flames 🔥
Spring 2019: Instructor training, round two. A deeper understanding of how and why OULA works, a deeper understanding of me. My song: Kelly Clarkson, Broken and Beautiful✨
Fall 2019: I find myself co-teaching a Monday night OULA class with my friend Stephanie. And still I find healing, empowerment, joy every time, even when I miss a beat. That dancer I found in me loves her body and herself now, enough to love others and invite them in. She is whole, she is strong, she is enough. 💖
Because it doesn’t matter how it looks, it matters how it feels. And it still feels like flying. My song: Kesha, This Is Me
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