Ancestral Healing Dance for BIPOC with Stephanie Parker 

Location: Portal Community Center, 3051 Adeline St, Berkeley, CA 94703, United States

When: 2nd Mondays of every month at 6PM

Class lasts for 1 hour

Price: Sliding Scale $10-30 pay at the door Cash, Venmo, or Zelle

This offering is a collaboration with HIGHER DIMENSIONS a safe, conscious community for Black & Indigenous People of Color on the journey of healing with plant medicine. 

About Ancestral Healing Dance (inspired by The Nia Technique): This is a low-impact, low-pressure movement practice rooted in ancient forms of energetic healing and release including Tai Chi, Yoga, West African, and Modern Contemporary dance. Nia (which stands for Neuromuscular Integrative Action) helps trauma and stagnant energy move out of the body through gentle fluid motion, dynamic expression, and mindful awareness. During our time together, we will honor our ancestors and Spirit, work up a little sweat, devote ample time to cooldown & stretching, and learn somatic techniques you can take home to add to your own practice. With barefoot exploration and mat play, Nia healing dance will leave you feeling refreshed, relaxed, and mentally clear. And because we focus so deeply on listening to each body's unique wisdom, the experience is adaptable to all needs and abilities.  

Stephanie Parker (she/her) is a Black intuitive somatic healer (Somatic Experiencing Practitioner in Training), licensed Nia movement instructor, and anti-oppression facilitator based in Oakland, California. She is a graduate of Stanford University (B.A., M.A.), and worked at Google for 9 years before being called to the path of ancestral healing. Stephanie creates safe, affirming, sacred, decolonial spaces, guiding in a nonhierarchical way that allows collective wisdom to emerge from the group.  Stephanie's journey as a healer began with her own body’s divine act of refusal in the form of severe upper body-wide nerve pain, a condition that led her to step away from both her social justice organizing work and decade-long career in the tech industry. Stephanie’s search for relief led her to her first Nia Dance class, where she experienced the physical release of trapped emotions, loving intergenerational community, and the embodied sensation of feeling both freedom and safety at the same time. It was this spirit-led encounter that served as a catalyst for her decision to walk in her purpose. You can learn more about Stephanie and her offerings at https://linktr.ee/stephanieparkerhealing, and on Instagram at @catchlight27.