My Journey with Music, Dance & Creative Movement
From my earliest memories, music and dance were simply part of everyday life.
My mother often told me I was dancing before I could even walk. She would laugh as she remembered that as soon as the music started, I would begin moving in my own little baby way.
I have always remembered my mother's record player. There always seemed to be music playing somewhere around me.
I grew up hearing my mother and grandmother sing—not just for entertainment, but as a way of releasing sadness, lifting their spirits, and reconnecting with their own inner strength. Their voices carried stories, pain, joy, hope, and healing. I would watch quietly and absorb the way they turned to music like an old friend, especially during difficult times.
Naturally, I followed their example.
Music became my sanctuary.
I didn't simply listen—I moved.
I danced to the beat of rock and roll and let soul music move through me. Dancing felt as natural as breathing. It released the pressure I was carrying, filled me with a sense of freedom, and allowed everything else to fall away.
Some of my earliest and strongest memories are of my cousin playing the bongo drums.
I remember how the beats seemed to vibrate through my chest, pulling me completely into the present moment.
At the time I had no words for that feeling.
Today I would probably describe it as grounding.
Back then, I simply knew it connected me to something steady, powerful, and deeply comforting.
Later in life, I realised that music and dance always brought me back to my centre.
Over time, I came to see that music and dance weren't simply ways of getting through painful times—they also helped me celebrate life.
In joyful moments they made everything brighter.
In difficult times they helped me breathe through the darkness.
Looking back now, I believe they always kept me connected to something greater than myself.
Before my grandfather passed away, he said something to me that I have never forgotten.
"Always dance, Jean."
Years later, I heard a Ronan Keating song that brought those words flooding back to me.
Only then did I begin to understand what my grandfather may have been trying to tell me.
To me, those words have never been only about dancing.
They have become a way of living.
Keep moving through life.
Keep expressing yourself.
Don't retreat when life becomes difficult.
Don't lose the joyful part of yourself.
Keep living fully.
Always dance.
Looking back to when I began leading workshops, I saw how deeply other people responded to dance and movement.
It seemed to help people reconnect with themselves—not the person they thought they should be, but the person they had always been beneath expectations, responsibilities, and pressure.
I learned that moving without a plan is at the heart of creative movement.
When we let go of how we think movement should look and simply listen to our bodies, something beautiful begins to happen.
Studies continue to show that moving freely can enhance emotional awareness and mental flexibility. It can help us break free from old patterns, explore new possibilities, and learn to trust ourselves more fully.
In my workshops I witnessed this many times.
People laughed. People cried. They let go of things they hadn't realised they were holding onto—or that had been holding onto them.
Others simply stood quietly, breathing differently, as though something inside them had softened or been released.
As a child, my mother took me to dance classes.
The teachers often smiled and said,
"Jean enjoys moving to the music, but not the steps of the routines."
They were absolutely right.
Although I learned some routines, I always felt restricted by them.
Following choreography kept me in my thinking mind, concentrating on getting the steps right.
What I truly loved was the freedom of expression through movement itself.
I didn't think about the movement.
I simply felt the music and moved.
Music and movement became one.
When I stopped overthinking and simply moved, I felt lighter, freer, and more like myself. Those were also the moments when everything simply felt right.
There is something deeply empowering about realising that you do not need choreography, perfection, or performance to express who you are.
Looking back now, I realise that dancing allowed me to enter what is often described as a state of flow.
I became completely absorbed in the experience.
The music seemed to move through me rather than around me.
It centred me, anchored me in positive feelings, re-energised me, and allowed my life energy to move freely.
As I learned more over the years, I discovered that research was confirming much of what I had experienced for myself.
Studies continue to show the positive effects that music and movement can have on our emotional wellbeing, our resilience, and even the way our brains respond to stress.
Rather than surprising me, this research validated what I had instinctively known for a very long time.
Music as Emotional Connection
Music has always affected me deeply.
A single song can change how we feel in an instant or transport us back to moments long forgotten.
I don't simply listen. I feel the music.
My body responds naturally through movement. My mind becomes creative rather than analytical, and I feel completely immersed in the moment..
Looking back, those moments taught me something that I have continued to reflect on.
For me, they revealed that there is a deeper part of us that longs to be expressed.
Some people may call it the soul.
Others our true nature, our spirit, or simply our deepest self.
Whatever name we give it, I came to believe that this part of us expresses itself in ways that are unique to each individual.
One way for me has been through music and movement.
I understood this more after my cancer diagnosis.
Although my body changed and my physical strength diminished, moments of moving gently to music reminded me that something essential within me remained unchanged.
For me, my soul never felt sick. It remains a source of inner strength.
As the years have passed, my appreciation of music has grown, and I now enjoy many different forms of music. Whatever the style, music continues to lift my spirits and enrich my life.
The Universal Language of Music
As my own relationship with music deepened, I became fascinated by how every culture has found its own ways of expressing emotion, healing, celebration, and connection through music and dance.
Every culture has used music to tell stories, strengthen communities, celebrate life, and pass on wisdom.
In African traditions, drumming has long been a sacred part of ritual, celebration, and healing.
In reggae, themes of peace, justice, hope, and resilience have given people strength and voice.
Research also suggests that the music we are drawn to often reflects aspects of our personality, identity, and emotional world.
Music also has the remarkable ability to increase empathy, allowing us to understand and feel something of another person's experience.
The more I learnt, the more I realised that music truly is a universal language. It transcends words.
It gives voice to feelings that words sometimes cannot express.
Dance, Music and Spiritual Connection
My love of music and dance also led me to explore their place in spiritual traditions throughout history.
In Sufi practice, whirling is used as a moving meditation to deepen spiritual awareness.
Many Indigenous cultures have long used music, and dance as part of ceremony, healing, storytelling, and connection.
Whether through faith, spirituality, culture, or simply human experience, music and movement have an extraordinary ability to connect us—
to ourselves,
to one another,
to nature,
and, for many people, to something greater than everyday life.
You Could Try...
Putting on music that reflects your mood and simply allowing yourself to move naturally, without worrying how it looks.
Closing your eyes and noticing how different rhythms, or songs affect your body and emotions.
Using music and movement not as a performance, but as a gentle way of reconnecting with yourself.
Stepping Into the Dance
Music, creative movement, and dance are not reserved for dancers, musicians, or performers.
They belong to all of us.
They can help us release tension, express ourselves, find comfort, and reconnect with our inner strength.
Last Christmas, after everything my family and I had been through following my cancer diagnosis, they gathered outside my home and sang Christmas carols.
As I listened, I realised music had come full circle in my life.
As a child, I had watched my mother and grandmother sing to lift difficult days.
Now, years later, the people I loved most were using music to lift mine.
It wasn't about perfect voices or polished performances.
It was about love.
It reminded me once again that music has always had a way of expressing what words alone sometimes cannot.
For me, music, dance, and creative movement, have become far more than hobbies or interests.
They have become lifelong friends.
They have helped me express emotion...
release tension...
find my centre...
celebrate life...
and continue moving forward, whatever life brings.
So whenever life feels heavy, noisy, stressful, or overwhelming, pause for a moment....
Put on music that moves you.
Breathe.
Move freely.
Listen deeply.
And remember...
sometimes the body expresses what the heart cannot put into words.
Always dance, Jean.