The Journey to Dance as Medicine
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Drug Prevention Power Hour. I’m your host, Jake White from Vive 18. And today we’re hanging out with a new friend, your girl Pearl. And before we hand over the mic to Pearl, I’m just gonna share, we met maybe a couple of weeks ago and I was so enthralled with her story because she’s the founder of The Lit Rave.
Stay tuned for this, okay? And she’s on a mission to spread the medicine of dancing across the world. So Pearl, thank you for being on our show today. Yeah, I’m so happy to be here. Thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure. really excited dive into our conversation and talk more about the magic and medicine of dancing.
Yeah. Well, tell us a little bit about where in the world you are. Um, and then how do you want to introduce this, this movement that you’re on? Like, I’m, I’m always curious about people’s origin story of like, wait, you teach people dancing and like the medicine of dancing. How did you get into that?
Yeah, well, I’m from Vancouver, BC. And the story really came through, I really resonate with your story and what you shared, because it came through the death of my sister, actually. My little sister took her own life at the age of 16 due to mental health issues. And she was really depressed and just not in really great state mentally. yeah, thank you. It’s okay. And so that experience really put me in my own depression, like grieving like this whole and no one really teaches you how to process your emotions or how to express and I grew up in a household where you weren’t supposed to talk about the hard things and you know when you were going through a hard time you’re supposed to suck it up because you should be grateful that you have a house and that you you know what I mean and so yeah I never was able to understand how to process how to manage my own stuff so sister died I went through this whole experience grieving, sad, like all these emotions. didn’t even know were possible to feel. was feeling with no outlet.
And this led me to, course, drinking drugs, partying all the time, going out, like busy myself, like just doing everything I could to not be in my body and not be with my emotions. So of course it leads me to my whole journey and my whole experience. And eventually I really have a bad, like really bad panic attack, like breakdown, like mental health issue. And I was just like doing so poor. And I was just like crying on my floor like hyperventilating I was just like what am I doing my life is so like everything’s falling apart blah blah blah, know and just really not knowing what to do with all that was probably my rock bottom moment and I remember and this might get a little spiritual but I had an out-of-body experience not sure if you ever had one in your life before but Yeah, I had an out-of-body experience and I my soul left my body and I saw myself on the floor like crying and like I saw the scene and I remember hearing this voice so clear
And the voice was like, you’re meant for so much more. You need to figure this out. You can do this. Like basically it was like get your shit together. Figure it out. So I remember I came back to my body and it was like a switch flip. Like I instantly was like and I was like, Wow.
Stop crying, stop hyperventilating, got out of my panic attack and I went to the mirror that I have. was like, okay, you’re going to figure this out. You’re going to get better. Like you can do this. And I went to the gym right after that moment. I went to the gym. I like, I’m going to go to the gym. It makes me feel good. And then I started to dedicate my life really to studying neuroscience, studying the body, studying semantics, studying how we can process our emotions, studying the nervous system, like all the things I didn’t know about. And this is how now led me to really realizing dance is one of the biggest things shifted me in processing my grief and sadness and I understood how to use movement to really work through the things that stuck in the body and the energies that need to be shifted because I tried the therapy, I tried the mindset work, I tried all the things and it didn’t really land for me until I started using dance and movement to unlock that for myself and to heal and I was like holy shit like this was so amazing for me so now I teach others how to move and connect their bodies and process any emotions through movement and dancing and my events, also my coaching. So that’s kind of my story in a nutshell.
That’s incredible. Wow. So you, I think what’s interesting too, there’s a point in your story when you have this realization that you have to do something different and you literally hear a voice. That is amazing. Somebody’s looking out for you, Pearl. That’s incredible. Yeah. I think that there’s also though a moment when you’re like, I, for sure.
I need to change, I also need to learn all about my brain and neuroscience. Was there something that told you like that was going to be fun or that was going to be your new thing? Like how did you decide that that was what you were going to dive into?
Yeah, you know, I just it was kind of intuitive, because I was in such a low place mentally and I was like, my sister was also in such a low place mentally. I remember Googling like what causes depression. I Googled what causes depression. I started reading about all these things. I was like, oh, okay. And I was like, well, what’s the solution? Like what prevents it then? And started reading and like learning and listening to videos and watching all the things. so over the years, I start to also practice on myself. I was always into like healthy habits and working out and eating healthy, it’s always been a big part of my life. But the piece I was missing was the deeper emotional piece. I, you could do all the things, you can work out, you can go to the gym, you can eat healthy, take all the supplements. But if you are still not functioning in a way that supports your mental wellbeing, if your brain isn’t really releasing the serotonin, the oxytocin, the things that we need to have a healthy brain, you’re gonna feel depressed and low and anxious and all the things that we’re seeing now, the increased rates of all these mental health issues in society. And I think it’s so important.
I was like, well, I want to do this for myself and basically rewire my brain and how it operates, which took a while. But yeah, really just starting with trying to understand like why we get depressed and what happens there and try to reverse engineer that.
Wow, that’s fascinating. So it’s just like a moment of curiosity because, I’m looking for answers, I’m searching for answers, and then kind of going down that rabbit hole, which has led to something incredible today because you’re leading this fun movement, which I, of course, resonate with so much.
Yeah, no, I love it. I love the movement I’m creating and it’s very similar to like, you know, you don’t need drugs to do this. Like I’m like, you don’t need alcohol or drugs to dance to have fun. Right. And I know you were mentioning that. Was it your uncle? Yeah, that past. I’m curious. Like what was the thing that led you to your rabbit hole?
Yeah, that’s a great question. I also went on Google. I remember in college, was like Googling, why does everyone, I think I put like everyone need drinks to have fun or like, does everyone need drinks to have fun? And it came across this statistic, which now I know is called the social norm statistic. And it showed that not everyone was drinking. And I became really curious about that and was like, wait there’s people out there like me and who probably feel alone on the weekends, just like me, and they don’t have a place to go to make friends and they feel weird about making a healthy choice, probably just like me. And so that became the catalyst to say, shoot, well, if all these people are probably waiting for somebody to step up and take action, then it’s never going to change if I keep waiting for them and they keep waiting for me. I’m going to, and then the house party thing was just like, it’s dirt cheap. It’s what college students liked at the time so I went for it and it, I’m spoiled that it went well so well right away, but I think some of the answers had already been embodied and who God was creating me to be. It was like, kind of had a headstart in building a social movement because I was practicing all these social things and that’s another thing.
What I love about what you said was that like you talk about movement being medicine and that our body needs it for all these things going on in our head. Because we think of exercising our muscles and it makes sense. know these moves to do it at the gym, but it makes sense that we also have to exercise our social skills and getting dopamine and serotonin in healthy ways. And if we don’t exercise them, we won’t have a good muscle. And our brain is like the most important muscle in our entire body. It governs all the others yet we ignore it sometimes.
That’s so true. It’s like no one we’re not taught how to exercise the muscles or how to Process our emotions or even how our nervous system works and this is some of the things I think are so important to educate people on because the nervous system was built to process and to Move the energy through movement. Like that’s actually how it’s meant to that’s what animals do right in the wild And so humans have just been so disconnected from that nature We get interrupted or we don’t get you know, we don’t get support in the ways you need to when we’re younger and like it shifts how we are conditioned etc. And so I think it’s so key to understand that movement and dancing and like expressing is like the key to letting your body process the trauma and the low feelings, the depression, anxiety, all the things that we experience as humans really needs an outlet right? And if it’s not going to be movement, it’s going to be drugs, alcohol, or violence, whatever else it shows up in right?
Is there something about the brain and maybe you can take me to school for a second. if, is there something about movement that makes it so powerful for dealing with trauma? Like, is it about understanding this one chemical in your brain or is it a suite of them? Or how would you explain that to somebody like me who maybe doesn’t know the neuroscience behind it?
Understanding Movement and Trauma
Yeah, so let me see. me try to keep it simple. So basically, emotions are just energy and energy has different frequencies and different emotions, different experiences, elicit certain things in the body, right? For example, you feel sadness sometimes in your heart or like when you’re scared or anxious, some other things will feel and this is your nervous system. When we’re activated, that’s some energy being built up in the body. So whether we’re activated by a trigger or a mad or we’re sad, that’s an activation in the body and that energy must go somewhere. Now, most times humans interrupt that cycle and we stop it by saying, don’t cry or like, ignore that or we’ll numb or dissociate or whatever our coping mechanism is. And we won’t allow that activation to complete the cycle. So what happens is that now gets trapped in the body and that can get trapped in any any other areas of the organs or like certain parts of the body. And then that energy there now is kind of stuck, right?
Because it’s stuck, kind of festers and creates other ways. The nervous system has to learn how to contain the energy and uses other ways to make it contained. So that could look like anxiety, know, ADHD, like all these other symptoms can come up, especially if it’s years and years and years of suppression, symptoms will get worse and worse and worse. Now, what we know to be true is that the nervous system needs a release of that energy needs to be create, create an outlet or some sort of shift. So when you get to the root of that activation or that situation or that energy in the body and you let it out, whether that’s their movement through shaking, through dancing, through screaming, through some sort of physical, embodiment of that emotion or that energy that’s when we actually complete the cycle because the cycle must be completed to be released through the body and that’s like how it’s meant to work now most people know how to do that so things that get stuck and then we create all these other scenarios in our life but that’s like the gist of it did that make sense
Yeah, I think it did. it’s because you’re thinking about physics too, like the energy was never created. It’s like stored. I’m not a science person destroyed. It’s either like shifted or like something like I don’t know the quote. Yeah, destroyed. It’s just like moved or something transformed or any, we both kind of know what we’re saying on that one, but you definitely know about right Your expertise I know about vibe, but that’s kind of in the middle somewhere But yeah, I’m tying tying it back to some things that I learned back in school and it’s like okay this does make sense And it could see how one thing would cause the other exactly, yes. And if you don’t have a healthy outlet, you might go to an unhealthy one because you’re you literally you want to get rid of this emotion or you want to work through it. yeah, having a healthy way to do it. so take us to your movement now because you. You’ve chosen dance as your can you kind of tell us, I mean, what is your movement? What do you do kind of take us to one of the events? Like, what does it look like?
Creating Safe Spaces for Dance
Yeah, for sure. So I’m a dancer, that’s a big part of my life. I dance for festivals and I dance for life and I teach dance, etc. So dance has always been a big part of my life. And as a dancer, as also very health conscious, I would go out to dance. But of course, everyone’s drinking and doing drugs. So, you know, naturally, especially when I was in my low phase, I would do the same. But once I started waking up and wanting to be sober and wanting to really figure out how I can feel better.
I had to stop drinking and doing drugs, but I still wanted to go dance. I always loved dancing. So I would still go out and dance, but I noticed I’m like, oh, like, why is no, like, I’m only so one here or like, I don’t want to stay up so late because I messed up my circadian rhythm or like all these things. So
I want to create a space for people like me who love dancing, who are sober and don’t want to go out, don’t want to stay out late. So I started to create, okay, I’m going to create this. Initially it was called BioRave because I’m into biohacking. I changed it LitRave because LitRave works more with my community and the coaching I’m doing as well. So as I started these events, I was like, I just want to have a space for people to dance and come into the space and just be open and be free. But it wouldn’t always look like that.
People would come but they wouldn’t necessarily dance and be super free and be open. And I was like, okay, there is some blocks here. So because I dance, was like, well, some of the objections I was getting, they’re like, I can’t dance when I’m sober or I feel awkward or, you know, like, I don’t know. I can’t feel like I’m stupid. You know, these things people tell you, you know, and of course when they drink, all these worries go away. So then I got curious and I was like, well, what is the actual thing that’s happening that makes people feel safe to dance when they’re drinking but not dance when they’re sober?
I realized it came down to like the perception of safety and like them being feeling safe to be expressed in their fullest self in their sober state. So I started to incorporate neuroscience, some somatic work and some nervous system tools in my events to help people feel safe expressing themselves in the space. So I started experiment with that. And so the events now they look like it’s evolved over time. It’s probably going to keep evolving. Right now they look like I get everyone to have a little mingler. So I give people some prompts to do some chatting and some authentic relating, we talk about some deeper things because also creates more safety in a space around that. And I also get people to do some meditation. We do some breaths. We do some physiology, state shifting. We get to the body. I also get people like to shake and to let out some noises just like let some things out. And then I teach them dance moves. So I teach some very simple, easy dance moves that everyone and we do it to a song. And once we learn the moves to this song, I’m like, when this song plays, you’re going to find a partner and go to the dance with that person. So it creates this really cool environment during the night where people are like, oh my God, the song’s playing, let’s go dance. Like everyone knows what to do. And they feel so like, they’d be like, yeah, we’re doing this together. It’s just a really cool moment. And the rest of the event is usually just like dancing, I’m playing music. Sometimes I’m DJing, sometimes I’m hiring a DJ. Sometimes I’m playing a playlist, but just for people to come together, to connect, to be with each other, to dance, to express. And at the end, we do a little closing circle where we share how we felt, we share or highlights and anything else that came up. That’s the usual flow of my events.
Wow, that’s so interesting. Dang. what’s funny is that in any group dynamic, if they’re not close friends, even if they are maybe, and they don’t feel comfortable dancing or connecting, the same thing will happen at small groups with these youth prevention clubs or when some people listening to this podcast go in and they facilitate a curriculum with the students and they’re wanting to create a safe place and so what’s fun is you basically like, cool, let’s use the elements of what helps people turn off that risk factor in their brain saying like, ⁓ man, I can’t talk because they’re going to make fun of me. They’re going to say the wrong, I’m going to say the wrong thing. And there’s a state of mind that we have where we just don’t care about that stuff. you kind of do have to practice it. Like I do think there are people that just operate that a hundred percent of the time every day. They literally do not care. And it’s beautiful to see.
And then there’s most of the world that’s like, I would say this is a generalization, but you know, we’re like hyper sensitive that everyone’s looking at us and they’re not like no one cares about what you’re saying or doing or what you look like. and then maybe there’s some of us too, that are like, I have a healthy rational of like, not everybody’s looking at me, but I’ll do what I want sometimes, but I have a healthy awareness of I’m at a work party and I probably shouldn’t do that or something.
Right, somewhere in the middle there. Yeah. For you, what helped you kind of turn off that part of your brain that was worried about what people thought and like being judged, etc. I think it was, yeah, when I wanted to turn that critical part of my brain off, it was realizing that everyone here, just like me, is completely insecure. And if I’m able to just own it, then everyone will be able to. So I was always like the first one. It’s like 8.30 PM at a party or a bar, and I’m the sober person who’s dancing. And like, gives people permission to do it or just to have a good time and laugh.
So I think once I realized that’s my role, like as a leader, that’s my role. I could own it and not really care. Yes, that’s so powerful. find that too, because at my events, someone has to lead the way. So I am the most ridiculous, silly, obnoxious person in the room, because I’m like, and then you’re going to do it too, you You set the standard, right?
Absolutely. I’m curious for you mentioned some games or some conversation starters or anything like that. Is there a go-to that you really love if there’s a new group of people together and you’re like, this one always crushes it. We’re connecting really well. Is there an activity or something that you really enjoy?
Yeah, there’s I don’t do many games, but I do always have the component of like we’re talking and then we’re moving together and we’re like dancing learning something together. I think the one prompt that really works well is when people talk about themselves in really positive way. So one question I ask is what is your favorite thing about yourself or what are you most proud of this year or something like that? And this really gets people like the rooms like my god I get like their inner child’s like I get to talk about myself and all the cool things I did it’s so cool to see like everyone’s like like yeah I love this about myself and I think I do a really good job at this and it’s it’s really beautiful so that’s a really great prompt it really lights up the room and everyone’s just like really feeling positive energy from that. And then I would say just the being silly together too. There are a couple of different things I do in my events. So I don’t do that every event, but one is I’ll play a song.
And I’ll say, when this song plays, I need you to act with the silliest, goofiest, whatever. And I prompt them and the way some people, not everyone, but some people will start off just like being so goofy, like getting on the ground and then everyone else will also like join in and be like silly. And so things like that, that really let people to express those inner child moments, those silliness, the goofiness, authentic selves is like some of my favorite things to do.
That’s gotta be so fun to witness because it’s amazing. I remember there was, my wife was an RD at a college. So she managed a small team of student leaders. And one of the, when I left for a speaking engagement, like everyone was awkwardly in the room, like making sure they don’t touch each other and they’re silent, not talking. And I got back, it was a quick trip. It couldn’t have been more than 48 hours later. And it was the completely different experience, you know?
What’s really cool is, right, friendships, hanging on each other, having their own jokes. And you’ve created this environment where people feel safe because you’re just speeding through that process. I love the fact that you asked the question, what are you most proud of? I mean, everyone loves talking about themselves and they don’t get asked that very often. Like, hey, just gush on yourself a little bit. Like that is so, so fun. I’m curious what are some things that you notice are really good to get the crowd going or like games or prompts or things you do for your events or your speaking?
Engaging Activities and Prompts
Yeah, we are all about fun or funny competitions. We’ve found, and this goes back to the sober party days of like, I found that people will talk as much trash during a game and like have fun and get so wild and crazy because they’re trying to win. You might think that they were intoxicated because they’re so into it. And for me, that was the substitute. I’m like, I don’t need any alcohol or drugs. People are crazy here. It’s so fun and to me, that was the level one. And so we still have a, if you’re on our Instagram page, you see us playing rock, paper, scissors, splits all the time, which is a little competition. have one called hand sumo and then we actually working on a database right now. We’re putting together a course and a database of over a hundred games that are in these categories of like name games to learn names, icebreakers, team builders, competitions on stage games, big group games, because we found so much success in that. And people are always curious of like, yeah, can I just pick one? yeah, I’ll send you a link.
We want that database. Yeah, well Pearl, this has been awesome. I wanna leave people with some information about you so they can check out your platform. So step one, is there a way for people to get involved? Yes, or see what you do, and then two, how can they get in touch with you?
Yeah, so get involved in terms of like just like attending or just seeing what I’m doing or either way, if you got 100 people here who are probably excited about you, yeah, how can you learn more about you? And if they, I don’t know if there’s a way to go to a dance, or do you gotta be in Vancouver on the on board with the mission and want to do cool things and then yeah if you want to have an event let’s talk about it because I would love to expand and get more people experiencing the magic of dance and connection and fun and yeah doing in a sober space so that’d be really great.
I do I have hosted them once I’ve hosted them in another city and I’m open to doing events like the goal is to bring my lit rave as many places as possible But so you can follow me on Instagram. I have two one is at pearl CC, which is P a R L CI CC I and my lit rave is at the lit rave Also, that’s my Instagram there as you can check me out there. Feel free to message me DM me I always love connecting people who are that’s awesome. Well, I’m going to give a shout out to Jacques Martiquette for introducing us. If you were on the episode with the shoot with like the sober scientist or he, he, he went by this one name that was, I think is the name of the party scientists. Yes. If you want to catch that episode, we owe this, this awesome guest to Jacques that he could introduce us. And yeah, go and check out Pearl Cici and the Lit Rave on Instagram, check her out. then yeah, Pearl, if you need anything, you can hit me up. I love what you’re doing. It’s so, so fun. And for everyone listening to this episode, I just want to say thank you for doing the work that you do. We know that it’s heavy sometimes. We know that you don’t always get to see the evidence of the change that you make, but we love you. Keep going and we’ll see you next Monday for another episode of the Drug Prevention Power Hour.
