Transform Your Health: Jenny Cohen's Inspiring Guide to Conquer Cancer with the Dance to Heal Movement

When Jenny Cohen steps onto the dance floor, she's not just performing; she's unlocking a world of healing and self-discovery.

Our riveting conversation with this breast cancer survivor, best-selling author, and a beacon of resilience reveals an "outside-in" approach to recovery that could change the way you view the art of movement. (Check out her podcast too!)

Jenny's saga of triumph over illness, interwoven with family challenges, illustrates the untapped potential dance holds as a steadfast ally against life's most brutal battles.

Navigating the tumultuous waves of cancer treatment can leave one feeling adrift, but Jenny turned to a 400-day dance challenge as her lifeline, even amidst the grueling reality of chemotherapy.

Step into her shoes as she recounts choosing vibrant attire for treatment sessions and igniting joy in a space often clouded by despair. Her journey is an inspiring testament to the power of self-expression and the transformative impact of dance, not only for the individual but also for the evolving community of breast cancer patients.

This episode isn't just a conversation; it's a call to all seeking a path to wellness through physical and emotional expression.

Jenny's 'Dance to Heal' program envisions a global community united in rhythm, offering solace to isolated people.

Her heartfelt narrative provides a blueprint for initiating positive change, emphasizing empathy, setting boundaries, and fostering growth through self-reflection. Tune in and be moved—literally and figuratively—by Jenny Cohen's extraordinary journey and the universal language of dance.

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Transcript

Dai Manuel: 0:05

Welcome to a special episode of the 2% Solution Podcast, where we're diving into the healing power of movement with the extraordinary Jenny Cohen. Born in Taipei, taiwan, and flourishing in the US, jenny is not only an outside-in recovery master and breast cancer survivor, but also a multi-time number one best-selling author. She's the visionary behind the Dance to Heal program and podcast, fostering a safe space for everyone to heal through dance. Living in Salt Lake City with her husband for eternal twins, two pups and no joke, 11.3 cats, jenny embodies resilience and transformation. Today, she's here to share how embracing movement can unlock deeper connection to our inner cells, demonstrating that, in spite of life's challenges, we are created in beauty and perfection. Stay tuned as Jenny unfolds her inspiring journey and how you can start your own healing through dance. I'm just going to open it up with this question. So, jenny, I was going to say you're the inside out master.

Dai Manuel: 1:10

That'd be kind of weird, but you're the outside in master and I think this is going to be awesome versus kick off here, because I know people that come to your profile they might be wondering what does that mean? So just talk about where that moniker came from. But why is that so uniquely, jenny?

Jenny C Cohen: 1:28

It's uniquely Jenny, because we're usually told Editation is the key to freedom in your mind. And what I would do is have a silent panic while trying to sit still, while focusing on my breath, and the only way I started to steal my mind was to move. That outside in method was moving meditation. That was key folks. Some people can't do it. There's a reason why we haven't addressed past traumas because we weren't given permission to acknowledge we had moments of childhood where we felt powerless.

Jenny C Cohen: 2:10

I came from the generation it was. You got toughen up, your kids Like, who are working now, right, you got your poor dropped ice cream cone Some children, it's not a big deal, some children. That's actually really traumatic and we will inside our bodies and minds because we felt powerless in that moment. We have to make up a script to make sense of the world, right? Other than parents of poopoo heads, you can't do that because you're stuck with them. So you get a comment internalized I was being the poopoo head, I don't deserve the ice cream. And then you spiral into these layers.

Jenny C Cohen: 2:48

So for me, the key of life for me was to turn it on its head. It wasn't inside, I was actually outside in moving first. Then it quieted my mind and then I was able to go inward at that point and go hey, subconscious, help me. I know you're trying to keep me safe, but really I don't want to crave the carbs now that I'm in menopause and they don't serve me Right, because I grew up I'm 55 now so I grew up in junk food land times where you know that's part of self soothing, and that has not served me anymore. However, because my old looping systems are keeping me safe, are not going to go for that gluten-free stuff because one it looks weird, right, and sometimes it tastes weird, so why would it want me to do something new where it cannot provide safety systems set up all my life?

Dai Manuel: 3:46

I love this idea of the outside in and how you're the outside in mass, and we'll talk about some of the methodologies that you have truly pioneered. But, more importantly, I know it's making a huge impact, not only in your communities, locally, but globally. So I want to get to that because I know that's going to be really actionable items for those that are listening or watching today. But before we get there, I think I'd love to talk or, if you're open to it, I'd love to hear your perspective on the journey that got you to this place, because you know what you're saying is really interesting.

Dai Manuel: 4:14

I prefer walking meditation. I had to come to that, but I know for the longest time I was told just sit still, quiet your mind, work on your breathing. I even did a seven day of a passion up, thinking okay, this is going to crack the code for me. I'm going to become a master mediocator, and I realized it just felt harder and harder the more I tried to stay, still the harder I got. So you're praising the idea of movement first, and so just how did it all come about? Why you and how did you come to that discovery for yourself, but now also to get to the place that you want to share it.

Jenny C Cohen: 4:47

Yes, Before I take you into 55 years ago. More recently, after my breast cancer was done and I was released to the world and I had been using dance as a way to recenter myself and not be fearful I might die and not survive the treatment. So dance was an amazing exchange of energies and I really loved it. When I was done, I didn't want to process the feelings that being trapped because, quite honestly, we like to gaslight ourselves. We have to really. You're going through a chemo, you have to go. Oh, this is not a big deal, I'm a warrior, a warrior, not a warrior. And then you get home and you're sitting by yourself so fearful it's going to come back. Your body's no longer the same. So dance became an escape.

Jenny C Cohen: 5:35

And then I missed the signs of one of my kids being really in danger, really like some trigger warnings for your audience. So my child was going through pretty intense sub-harm and making plans not to be pregnant anymore and told me gosh, we had a relationship. They woke me and I went to clinical mode. That's my usual thing. A mom, I'm the fix it. I fix things, I'm an occupational therapist. So, being in clinical mode, we set up therapy, locked up the knives and I thought this is great, You're good. I'm going to go right back to hiding in my dance. Two weeks later, I'm getting joked up. I want to tap a little bit. Two weeks later, they had a severe relapse.

Jenny C Cohen: 6:19

They found fifth grade knives I had missed because, I wasn't brand new, fresh filet knives, folks, like a brand new one in the little cardboard sheet and it's up there, aren't and has. I was butterflying their skin together and I'm looking in the eyes of a complete stranger. It was a universe. It was God going. If you do not at present, right now, you're going to lose this precious baby that you went through in vitro four. This child is not going to make it to adulthood if you don't get your act together. That was when I went oh my gosh, I am not present, I'm not going to even know when they're in danger, and I homeschooled my kids. I knew before I started to run away from myself. I knew whenever they were not 100%, when they were connected, and I had missed all that from when I was diagnosed because I was associated until I was released right, and then you'll well, so you must have maybe ran in your.

Jenny C Cohen: 7:16

Did the cancer run in your family? And I was like no, I was the first one to get it and he was so crazy. My husband and I we've always been able to control allergies with diets, mm-hmm, and I just gone full on vegan. He was vegan. He's been a triathlete for all withers years 35 years together now, but back then, seven, eight years ago, ten years ago Even a vegan. He's like you gotta go vegan. Like I found out, go vegan.

Jenny C Cohen: 7:42

And I was at my pre-baby weight, at my strongest, and then I found that lump, thinking, oh, it's just like from cancer from college when I got the lumps? No, it wasn't. I was in my mid 40s and they're like that's not a good thing. And Then you trace back oh, it's because my husband had emergency surgery the month before I found the lump and I was a single parent. Oh, you go back further. My are one of our, we're fraternal twins. So the other twin was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. So I had not slept in six years when my child might die in the middle of the night. You go back a little further eight.

Jenny C Cohen: 8:18

So it was a cumulation of stress in my life where I always felt trapped and if you go back far enough, it was just me feeling Powerless and it just accumulated until I got the cancer. Here's the thing movement is essential. When things stop moving in our body, we die. When we're in trauma or some type of stress event, well, we feel powerless is the equivalent of dying in that moment because we're frozen. Oh, the key to life, it's always movement, vibration, anything. That's why I was like y'all, we all gotta be moving. I don't know. One needs to be a performance. You know, performing for no one.

Dai Manuel: 8:58

It's so powerful, and she about the movement, because then you throw the music in there and we got some dancing and and I guess I always think about that, as you know, dan's like no one's watching. Today we're gonna pretend that everyone's dancing to learn, okay, so Dan's like we're all learning, and but why is it? Why dance? Like, how does dance tap into that subconscious? I'm really curious, like from your experience and obviously you were clients on the in the same sort of methodology and process like what is it about dance that connects that cell subconscious and makes us more aware of that subconscious, or maybe some of the Nealings that we've been suppressing, and I'd like to hear your thoughts on that.

Jenny C Cohen: 9:36

Oh, I've got. I'm a consummate learner and I have Acclimated this umbrella understanding ready, ready, okay, okay, let's go. Science is now starting to prove I want to remember I address all of this Science has been able to document that when we dance is one of the few things that unites every part of your brain, so your whole. Usually, when we're in any type of stress, parts of our brain will shut down because we must be in saving ourselves. Dance is one of the few things that lights up every part of your brain and unites it in one endeavor. At the same time Do they've also documented Frequencies of sound, so there's a vibrational frequency where we can level up in our lives.

Jenny C Cohen: 10:24

All right frequency can be found in music. They say, oh, so what? Oh, here's what, so what? Water vibrates to the sound waves of music. Our bodies are mostly water, so one of the times when our minds are having trouble turning us towards a better frequency, the outside vibrations of music can help us pivot towards that. That's really that whole idea of why dance is good. And here's the thing you ever listen to someone singing and you just start crying. Yeah, help, people in all different cultures around the world can be moved by someone's voice, their voice box vibrating, touches us at levels we cannot even comprehend. That's the key. If we just marry that with movement, it's I'm healing.

Dai Manuel: 11:19

That's incredible. I love it and it makes complete sense because I do recall reading a study or two or more so someone's synopsis of a study, and speaking to that because they've also done similar work in the fitness space. And music also has a similar positive effect on Just getting into our bodies, but also it subdues that perceived exertion level and actually Allows us to work a little bit harder without us even realizing we're working a little bit harder, and that's that power of music as well. So this makes total sense what you're saying. Can you share a story where you've experienced a personal breakthrough after a throw-down dance session? I'm just I'm really curious, or maybe you have a great story of your clients and how they've also experienced some of these breakthrough moment I just love to hear about. How does this play out in action?

Jenny C Cohen: 12:04

Yeah, so here's a big thing for me, specifically during my chemotherapy.

Dai Manuel: 12:09

So I had 16 cycles of chemotherapy 16 16 treatments, yeah it was pretty brutal Wow brutal.

Jenny C Cohen: 12:17

But yeah, and so the first four were the A and C. I could look up the technical terms is not important. The thing is A and C was this bright red color. Whoa and they literally had a. They had a nickname for it they're red death.

Dai Manuel: 12:33

Oh gosh.

Jenny C Cohen: 12:34

That's really motivating.

Jenny C Cohen: 12:37

Just sitting there in a towel, I heat a blank with all your layers because I started chemotherapy end of July. So I'm in this nice little day, fool you with the lounge, you chair with the flip up feet right and you got your food. She point gets a cut, the crackers for you and the juice, and then the nurse comes. It goes okay, I'm gonna get your chemotherapy. And she brings up this bright yellow tray but she has to gown up with a mask before she will touch it. But they're gonna pump that into my IV, into my body, perfect, yeah. And then 16 and then 12 cycles out, that of the T, which, which caused pretty severe neuropathies because the nerve damage in your hands and feet or Happened because they can't direct the chemotherapy Just to your cancer, it goes through your body.

Dai Manuel: 13:27

Yes, that's right?

Jenny C Cohen: 13:28

Yeah, so during that time I had to, but still while they pumped poison into me. That's how you get saved, right? So I did that. I wanted to go through the Western medicine. I could not leave my children or teenagers. Why am I going to this? I just want to give you the backdrop.

Jenny C Cohen: 13:43

During that time I started up 400 days of dance. So basically I committed to picking out five random songs on my playlist and then a friend was doing a challenge where she would give you a Q to rotate through those five songs 20 times that, equal to hundred days and you video taped yourself every time and Every time, and every song you could do a minute of the song, you could do the whole song. One cue was just freestyle to whatever you felt like. A. So one day I would do song. One day, two hours to song two, and so forth, until you hit a hundred days, and the goal was to get used to looking at yourself and then in your video. Most of us shy away from that and it was also look at yourself with care bears there 80s reference.

Dai Manuel: 14:34

I love it.

Jenny C Cohen: 14:35

Yeah, hair bears there, right, the shining, because we're audience member watching children were usually going oh my god You're. So you just walked on the stage. We're adorable. We don't give ourselves enough of that gaze, right? Because if I look at myself in the past I'd be like, alright, well, kind of look old, you know, look at the way you gained. And or if a dance video oh, you didn't hit the mark, you don't look as good as the other woman that I've seen or the other dancers and performers, we're taking away that automatic thing.

Jenny C Cohen: 15:04

So I did this four times. A fifth, I didn't complete my fifth rotation because I was done with chemo and the whole a year of infusions after that. My point being is it was the movement every day to combat the being stuck in a chair for radiation, for surgery, for chemo therapy, for my infusions. It's pretty traumatic and to see if you, if I go back and look, as I've actually looked at it before, has I first started, I didn't really feel it. Then I, when I really started to feel it, then when you were just endurance, I was endurance, tripped on you to get through all the treatment and then, towards the end, as I started to come out of that haze. I Used to get occasional standing ovations, and then I started getting standing ovations every time I performed. So in retrospect, it's because I was transforming through the movement.

Jenny C Cohen: 15:59

During my treatment In my haze I thought, oh, they just feel sorry for me because I'm going through cancer. I'm bald yeah, you can see that I'm like not well, and it wasn't. When I go back and look, I knew how to make myself up. I didn't look sick. I had another level of performance where I was touching people's hearts at a vibrational frequency that I did not have before. I did that during my treatment and I was being confident. I was competing too and winning competitions Gosh that's awesome.

Dai Manuel: 16:30

You have some of those videos on social at all, from where you started and transitions of your dancing, especially over those hundred days. I can only imagine this shift can be visually seen in you and to think that's just incredible. Is there actually that kind of content? Because I'd love to link to that content in our notes for sure.

Jenny C Cohen: 16:47

Yes, I'll send you videos of my performances prior to cancer, like right before I got diagnosed, and then during the treatment and then just as I was finishing, because if you were the map, you can see people standing up and I was like whoa, what's going on? It was a very interesting shift.

Dai Manuel: 17:06

Did you find that other people in that? Because I know often there's a room for the treatments. I guess sometimes it can be a very personal have your own room. But I know a lot of the times when I've had visited friends when they were doing chemo. There might be a bunch of those lounge chairs set up. You know, you start to get to know people because they might be on a similar sort of protocol and I was curious did anybody else pick up some dance moves while you were there? Did anybody else pick up on your vibe and just wanted to jive with?

Jenny C Cohen: 17:32

you. It was one of the younger people because they're unfortunately now the age of people with breast cancer is actually getting lower. I was one of the few people getting breast cancer at a younger age back then because most of the people I was surrounded with were older, in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, getting chemo in that unit. I wasn't really allowed to dance around because everyone was hooked up to pretty toxic chemicals on IV pools. However, I was well known for wearing onesies. I would be in my onesie. I would see in this onesie that might this colored wig.

Jenny C Cohen: 18:08

So I brought my own party and when you walk in and they have to sedate for chemo, so I would sit, get my IV and they would give me there's, what is it? The antihistamine that we normally take, and they give it to you in liquid form about 50 times stronger than what we would normally have access to. So the first 20 minutes everything's funny to me. My husband's loud chewing, which normally drives me crazy, was hysterical to me during those first 20 minutes and I would be laughing. They would think there's something wrong. They were like, are you okay? And I'd be like crying from laughing, spewing crackers everywhere, just having a party with myself, and then I would fall asleep for the next two hours while they were pumping the poison in. So it wasn't never a day for me to dance during chemo. However, when I was out, it would be the times I would do the recordings.

Dai Manuel: 19:01

Got it Okay. Yeah, it almost reminds me of Rob Williams, patch Adams. Remember the old doctor and just bring up the nose and you'd get the whole ward doing stuff. Yeah, you know, so I was. Just I could see your energy being very contagious, but also welcomed reprise from some of the negative energy that we often experienced going into a hospital any type of heat, especially under those circumstances. So I just I can imagine that just your energy coming into the room was very welcome.

Jenny C Cohen: 19:31

It didn't really matter to me at that point. I had nothing to lose my boo like seriously, because people would be looking at me. Or why is she doing a photo shoot in her monkey onesie on the bench in front of the oncology hospital? I'd be like, hey, what's?

Jenny C Cohen: 19:46

and they didn't understand because I had to form myself into some type of movement where it's a choice versus being stuck. Yeah, for me it was super important to do that and in retrospect I was surrounded by people who really were making plans to die. The perspective when you're going into chemo because my husband had to stick your other cancer 20 something years ago, almost 30, we counted up because our kids are now 25. So back then he had a curable. He was lucky they had just come up with a cure for the type of cancer he had and I remember the nurses use 26. Telling him listen, we just want to make sure you understand.

Jenny C Cohen: 20:33

Mindset is everything they said to we're newly married at that time in our 20s and they said to Michael, listen, you have a curable cancer. You need to know in your head and mindset that you are going to be fully expressive in your life. You're going to have kids with your wife. You're going to have an amazing life ahead of you. Because we've had clients patients they call them back then who would be told they were curable but decide they heard the word cancer and they were going to die and no amount of chemo medication we pumped into them saved them they would still die. And we'd be like what is going on? You just decided you have cancer, you're going to die. And then there were people who were told six months and they lived three years further because they were like, uh-uh-uh, we live when I am done with my business, my bucket list.

Dai Manuel: 21:22

Yes, that's just that, mind over matter. It's so funny, mind doesn't. If we don't mind, it doesn't matter, right, it's just. It's amazing where our attention goes, our energy flows. You know, tony Robbins, a lot of the other gurus like to say, but there's so much validity and truth to that right. We know that If we apply a lot of energy to the negative, it's amazing how we create more negatives.

Dai Manuel: 21:44

And protecting those inputs and actually curious about the inputs, because you're obviously putting motivational music and sounds, audible sounds, to create those vibrations and then you tune into your body with that. I think that's wonderful, but it's again guarding your inputs. Was there anything that you tried to avoid or change as far as what you were feeding your mind? Because I know, I recognize the mindset is very, very key, especially in overcoming something as serious as cancer. And so what were you doing to sort of protect those inputs or to keep that positive mindset, because that's not always easy. Come on, let's be real here. It's very scary. It's very scary and well, positive is oh man. So please take it away. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that.

Jenny C Cohen: 22:27

First of all, thank you so much for bringing me here in front of your amazing audience. Okay, because I'm just so honored. Thank you for being, well, the real fact of it. We're post Panini, we're post Panini. I called the lockdown the Panini the Panini. Okay, why the Panini? I'm not sure why the Panini Similar to your question right Once, in a different place, of understanding what COVID lockdown was and different definitions of that.

Jenny C Cohen: 22:57

That's why I call it the Panini, because everyone knows immediately what I'm talking about and we're not going to get into an argument about what it means to them, right? Because I've had friends who lost people and I've had people who never were really affected by it other than being locked down. So if I call the Panini, then we can agree on that, right, and that's that framework because there was such a dark time for the whole world. The world is irrevocably changed since the Panini, right? Yeah, For me I'm an empathic person because I have found, in my healing, most impacts come from periods of time we weren't feeling safe at all, so we decided the only way to be safe is to be empathic, meaning I can project when people around me are going to get in a bad mood, which means that I may not be safe being a bell? Yes, it does, right. So now recognizing that means I used to pride myself on being a person of service and now, radically looking at my healing, that only was my way of being safe.

Jenny C Cohen: 24:03

So audience members, look at that. Some of us are not necessarily natural servers. We're servers to keep safety in our lives because we don't have much choice. Once I turn that on its head, I would wait a minute. So I don't need to hold space for every single person suffering in this world. What do you mean? I'm allowed to not look at the news. Yeah, go ahead. But then how do I make a difference in the world? And my healers have said to me so you're gonna limit your reach to people because you're so consumed with holding suffering for people. How will you do it? Like the suffering and the torture of people have existed in all time? Bad things happen every other second. Yeah, what about the positive? You can do? Yes, who are you gonna touch in a positive way instead of watching and holding the negative?

Jenny C Cohen: 25:04

I wanna tell you a really important story. Oh my gosh. So I don't know if you noticed, but I'm Asian. What? Yeah, I know you're Jenny Cohen, you're coming by the juke, all right. So here's the thing.

Jenny C Cohen: 25:17

I have a really interesting perspective, shared by a friend of mine. His name is, we'll call him Sam, right, and Sam is very darker-hewed in appearance and he told us the story how he normally travels a lot and people would not know his ethnicity. They weren't sure if he was Egyptian or a darker-hewed Turkish person or a black man from the States. It just was open to interpretation. And he was finding he was always being stopped in Germany, always in Germany for business. He would get stopped by immigration and one time they said you need a visa. And he's like I've been here so many times, I don't need a visa.

Jenny C Cohen: 26:03

And he ended up in the paddy wagon to jail what?

Jenny C Cohen: 26:06

And he looked, yes, and he looked in the paddy wagon and it was surrounded.

Jenny C Cohen: 26:10

It was all black men in the paddy wagon.

Jenny C Cohen: 26:13

He was like, oh, come on, right, he goes, goes to the process and he comes home and he's talking to his mentor and his mentor said Sam, I'm not saying there isn't racism, there is.

Jenny C Cohen: 26:25

I just want to point out something. Because you pay me the big bucks to be your mentor, you light up when you talk about these stories like nothing else. When you talk about your travels, you light up and sometimes I can hear this stagnation. And the story and I want to just bring to your attention does your subconscious search for more of those types of situations that you have more to talk about. Because his brain was addicted to the negative experience and he opened his eyes and after he worked and went wait a minute I could go through immigration. There are other racist people in the immigration. There aren't only people who want to pick on me. There are other BIPOC immigration people I could go to, and once he addressed that, he stopped getting stopped in Germany. Wow. So what I'm saying to us right now is I want us to be forces for change versus just holding everybody else's garbage.

Dai Manuel: 27:26

Well said, said yeah, because I know that in psychology there's that, that a reticular activation system, right, and people probably heard the reference. Like you want to model a car, a certain make, certain year, certain color, and it's like you tell yourself that's the car I want. You start looking at ads, right, and all of a sudden, wow, there it is again on the road. There it is again on the road. We start to take notice of it and it's because the subconscious is now tuned into searching for that, because it believes that's what we want, and I think it's on that same effect of what you're speaking to. But it's to the negative. Right, we normalize the seeking of negative. So of course we're going to just keep doing right. And it's interesting because I think you've really touched on a vein there. This is a human behavior too, right, and just how many times do we find ourselves just doing the conditioned response that we've always done and wondering, jeez, why doesn't things?

Jenny C Cohen: 28:14

get better. Yeah, my RAS is really geared towards finding straight kittens on the road. That's good for me. I love saving kittens they find mean and that's a good connection. And I'm starting to notice now certain people will bring a certain reaction back in the past, because the universe won't stop testing us just to make sure you, sure you want to go in that direction. Noticing I'm getting better at recognizing going. I really would not like to go back in that direction, so I'm going to politely say no and that's okay. That's part of healthy boundaries. People Like say yes to this amazing podcast. Come back for all other guests, all right, cause we're going for 10,000 downloads y'all sorry easily within the end of this year, right, and at this name time, who's what really resonates for you? In the past I was signed up for something and forced myself to stay because of this false sense of loyalty and if it doesn't serve you, let it go and say hey, thank you so much for being in my life right now and then bye, bye, no, thank you.

Dai Manuel: 29:23

I love that you, yeah, boundary setting oh my goodness, that's a whole another episode in itself. And knowing just the time today and I'd like to take a second, because I'm sure there's people with a bajillion questions right now listening to this or watching this, and so I have lots of questions. But don't worry, all of Jenny's contact info is in the show notes. I expect you to reach out to her and ask those questions. But, more importantly, you've got a book that you've written about this whole experience and this methodology, and it's the outside in recovery, right Outside in recovery. Yes, can you speak to that? And what is like the best chapter? The chapter that people, if they've heard or listened to anything that we've said today and taken a couple of little nuggets away, but if there was one chapter in your book that you know, just take this home for them. Can you share a bit about that chapter as well? Obviously, the whole book is a quick overview, but what's the chapter that you really feel people need to listen to or watch, or or?

Jenny C Cohen: 30:19

okay, good, take it away To our beat. The whole book is really cute and entertaining, even though it's about my cancer journey. But seriously.

Dai Manuel: 30:25

Sure.

Jenny C Cohen: 30:27

You're fine, most important. Most important because I wasn't given permission to do this and it was something held over my head. Nies, and allow yourself to have anger. Anger is really important.

Jenny C Cohen: 30:38

There was a reason why you felt the anger is usually related to powerlessness. So once you recognize it, you can then cut off the energy of what has power still over you. The anger will die away. If you don't recognize the anger and you're loud or faster in you, it becomes a poison in you. You know that saying. You maybe don't know the saying.

Jenny C Cohen: 31:01

I'm gonna say it anyway Staying angry at someone is drinking poison and expecting it to hurt your enemies. So if you recognize the anger and then figure out, what part of it do you need to let go of. So let me be clear. We are not talking about forgiving people if they were unjust to you. I'm gonna straight talk. Straight talk has been difficult for one of my kids who we found in trigger warning, some when they were little kids, right, and the people that we trusted to take care of our kids family members and they're not at that point. I'm just about getting there. It's forgiveness. You don't need to do that. You can let go of that anger that's poisoning me because it's not doing them anything. They don't care. Damage is done. They've gone on to their better selves and their better lives, and I'm dealing with trying to get my daughter to stay alive because of it, right? And the poisoning of the anger I had to release so I could heal, because then there's no more power over you, right?

Jenny C Cohen: 32:09

The second thing is understanding where you are now. Right now in your life, is your homeostasis where you're comfortable? And if you're not happy with where you are which means that you know there's a problem, versus you're not sure you're happy in your problem just know your subconscious is keeping you there. Just analyze it a little bit, all right, because I mean like no, my life is great, yes, yes. And at the same time, you are programmed to grow. You are programmed to grow. If you stay stagnant, it's actually on the other side of starting to go away from growth in life, right? So we're always this rest, we got to grow.

Jenny C Cohen: 32:54

Your homeostasis is affected by a couple of different things your actions and your beliefs and your feelings, those kind of work together to give a result, and some of the beliefs that we're functioning under are from our childhood. We haven't fully analyzed and or some of the actions we're doing right now are just force of habit and we just don't want to change it, or an emotion anger that we have to change about it. All you need to do is adjust one of those three things. It will change and if you elevate one of those, everything will come up to meet that in your homeostasis. You don't have to change everything. Change one little thing, stay consistent, everything will shift up.

Dai Manuel: 33:42

I love it. I think that's, and if that doesn't get people excited or even bugged, I don't know what will, but I know it's something that's. I don't really think labor of love is the right description, but I imagine what was the inspiration to just write the book? Because I do. I know, just reliving some of that must be somewhat overwhelming at times. I don't know what else to be bringing back some of those thoughts and feelings that you experienced when you were going through that. And I'm just like what was the inspiration to just bring the book out? Was there a moment in your life, was there something that happened, that was like you know what I'm writing a book about? This whole thing?

Jenny C Cohen: 34:18

During the panini. Yes, I launched the Dance to Heal Wellness program and I was a little bit lost. I wasn't sure how to get people from A to B and the final missing link of my program, which was the Avalon Empowerment Evolved Neurolinguistic Programming that I did they make you heal yourself seriously. Any program you want to coach, you'd be healing yourself first. Folks, and it has to be a long enough rotation to make a big enough difference. Okay, and that was the missing link.

Jenny C Cohen: 34:51

And they introduced me through referrals to this amazing woman named Angela of Difference Press, and so we invested the money to write the book because it helped me formalize the Dance to Heal program, and so that's why we wrote the book and I just loved the way Angela coached us. She said your book is a love letter to your client, and at that time it was someone who's just finished breast cancer treatment, completely lost, and don't understand why we have survivor guilt, we have anger, and then we don't know why we can't see ourselves in the mirror, like what happened. It doesn't really matter, cause I was doing full makeup, competing, performing, yeah, teaching, and I look in the mirror and not be able to see me, and that's something that we started to take apart and, ironically, all my private clients now are, I think, almost the me before I got the breast cancer.

Dai Manuel: 35:48

Isn't that hit on the knee? Yeah, you've come back and now you're guiding others from that similar journey and pointing out where the pit stops are and but also where the pitfalls are, and.

Jenny C Cohen: 35:59

Yeah, beautiful. Yes, here's the thing. One of the things I really love is you know the story of you're walking out of the street and you fall in a hole and you climb out and you're like what the heck? And then you next day you walk down the street, fall back in the hole and you're like stop it, stop walking. What? Okay, fine. And then the third day you see the hole and you walk around the hole but the hole's still there. And then, finally, the next day, you're like I'm just not going to go down that street anymore, like it does not serve me. Why do I want to avoid the holds? Go down another street, folks. It's time for you to choose another street.

Dai Manuel: 36:35

Fill in the holes. Yeah, I think that's great advice and I'd be remiss if I didn't at least ask this because, on the lighter side of things, there was a dance move you had to go to to tap into your subconscious, like what is the move of your favorite move to do? Well, it wouldn't be something that we could do. On this whole 2% solution idea is also you providing some insights into how people can invest for seven days, for one week this is the invitation after every guest comes on. If you were to work with somebody, one of our listeners or viewers, oh and give them one week invitation to do 30 minutes or less a day of a certain thing, so they can experience a little bit of what you've experienced in all these years of going through this journey. What would that thing be, what would that habit be, what would that activity be? And I'd love to hear your thoughts on that.

Jenny C Cohen: 37:25

Okay, easy peasy, ready, all right? All right, it's gonna be super fun. So all you do is first you tune into your five senses. I always have a great tea if you're watching the video, if you see me sipping my be yourself. Everybody else has taken mud, yeah. And you smell your favorite smell. You taste your favorite taste. You tune into the sounds around you, like I share an office space, so my husband's tapping on his keyboard, my cat is shifting and snoring over there, I can hear the sounds of the thick. Then you feel your butt, cheeks and your seat beat in your shoes on the floor, your clothing on your body and if your naked, just feel this seat in the your butt. And some people listen to this naked.

Jenny C Cohen: 38:09

So my house has to include those people. No one's left behind, all right. And then you let clothing or your seat feel you. Then your gaze is very, very softened, meaning you're gonna elevate. So wherever your eye gaze is level, you're gonna bring it up a couple of inches and then open up your periphery. So your five senses smell, taste, hearing, sense and vision You're gonna inhale one, two, three, four, exhale five, four, three, two, one. Sway to your right, sway to your left, tune into your five senses. For me, keep breathing. This is where you might hit your favorite song. I'm not sure you give any music capabilities. I'm not gonna sing to you. Just imagine your favorite type of music playing right now, and then that's just level. This is good. I'm usually listening to somebody by Eniko.

Jenny C Cohen: 39:06

I've been watching cake, dramas and some of the songs we just love. So we just play their soundtracks all the time and that is it. You do that for five minutes, or at least a minute, of your favorite song. This is what I did during my 100 days of improv. If this is like, oh, I got this easy peasy, you can elevate it by adding one last thing Besides the swing.

Jenny C Cohen: 39:29

We hold a lot of memories in our core, so what you're gonna do is put your hands on your belly and inhale, expand your belly and then exhale, close your belly. Now you're gonna separate your breath from the contraction right, meaning you're gonna be able to go five, four while you're expanding and contracting your stomach. So count on that with me Five, four, three, two, one. Some people are like I don't wanna talk, then just hiss, go back to your five senses, this is all while the music is playing. And then expert, vip, like Ninja level is, you're going to have the rhythmic contractions of your stomach to the beat that you hear and then using. So, if you wanna add a layer, your swaying side to side with the stomach contractions, breathing, tuning into the five senses.

Dai Manuel: 40:23

Now you dance Now, you dance Nice and tuned now.

Jenny C Cohen: 40:27

Yeah, I'm really belly dancing because it's one of the first really dance forms I love. But I do hip hop contemporary. I do belly dancing, my husband and I do ballroom dancing, when we can fit that into our schedules.

Dai Manuel: 40:40

You don't discriminate against dance moves. I can tell that's cool, oh man. But before we finish out, because this has been just an amazing but very insightful conversation, but also just so simple you know what I mean Like it's simple for people to tap into this, and also the way that you deliver the message and explanations, I have to commend you. I can tell that you've spent a lot of time making this easy for all of us to follow, but also to take action with, and so thank you for that. And the question for you right now is if you could choreograph okay for anybody, live or dead, right, it just doesn't matter. But let's just say you're gonna choreograph some dance or someone. Who would that be? Now, who would you love to choreograph and dance or maybe have one of these meditative dance offs with no, it's anybody that you could imagine doing it with. Who would it be?

Jenny C Cohen: 41:31

Oh okay. So when you first started asking the question, I got a vision of two people who are no longer with us. Because I wanna be really clear, I present as a really put together person who's almost like I present as an extrovert and I'm actually very much an introvert, okay and the two people who are no longer with us because they took their own lives and they presented as extroverts and I wish they'd been someone like me for them to heal. Of course, that's not my place to say that they shouldn't have left when they did. I'm just saying the reasons why they left. I would have loved to have danced with either Robin Williams or Twitch.

Dai Manuel: 42:16

Oh, wow, yeah, DJ Twitch for sure.

Jenny C Cohen: 42:19

And Robin.

Dai Manuel: 42:19

Williams. Oh my goodness, that would have been a hoot Holy smokes. See you guys. Cut and rug.

Jenny C Cohen: 42:25

The thing is right. He had so much pain and I wanna speak to the audience members who don't think anyone sees the pain they're under, because now when I go back, it's like I see my pain in their eyes when I go back Right, and we're all connected. So we're all connected, folks, you are not alone. When you move, you can feel all of us in community with you. When you dance, I'm dancing with you.

Dai Manuel: 42:58

And I know that community is a huge part of your vision for dance to heal, what I love. Before I ask you the last question is how do you envision it? What is the vision that you have for dance to heal and the program that you're bringing to the world? Like? I know you've got a big vision and where is it at? Like, where are we going and how can we help you All?

Jenny C Cohen: 43:17

right. So listen, listen. If you can just commit to being connected with yourself, dancing is just one modality to connect mind and body, because it's got to be a super highway instead of this dirt page road, you know. It's got to be a super highway between our brains and our bodies.

Jenny C Cohen: 43:38

I love Asian dramas because they talk about how we have these immortals that come down to the human plane to experience all of our trials of being human. That elevates celestial beings' cultivation. If you watch anything shows, all the immortal shows say that I'm going to go down to human realm and experience pain and pleasure and loss and death, and that increases their essence of being a spiritual being. Right, I want more of that for us here in this plane, and I know that dance is one easy way to do it.

Jenny C Cohen: 44:22

I want everyone to be able to dance and know this is their birthright. I want us to be able to dance whether we're together or not, to immediately feel that connection on a global level, because a lot of us are actually alone. We have a lot of people listening to your amazing podcast who are alone even if they're surrounded by people, and I want you to dance to feel that connection that you are not alone, you're part of the fold. And then my biggest thing is just I want people to be doing dance to heal with me. I'm going to look for applicants within the next five years. We've got to make this global.

Dai Manuel: 44:59

Yes, we will provide all those links to your platforms, but if people wanted to connect with you and really start this process of getting to know you and your methodologies and really, let's be honest, pick up on some of the great energy you're throwing down, because, again, we're all about the input, so here's a very good input that is healing as well as very growth orientating. So what channel of yours would be the best for people to connect with All?

Jenny C Cohen: 45:23

right, so they can get a free class for me at dance and healcom. Yeah, it's a whole outer world where half of it is a cardio belly dance class and I walk you through it. You don't have to memorize anything, you just have to have a little clear space and I'm like, hey, mar, right, right, left, right, left, right, step step step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step.

Jenny C Cohen: 45:44

and you just be with me. There are little form reminders on the screen, so tune in to your five senses. And the second half of the video is myofascial release. So we have a cheat that carries memories on our body and we're releasing all that Plus. Most of us have a computer, so our shoulders are hunched, so we stretch up the front of the neck and that's going to be impingement in your neck.

Jenny C Cohen: 46:07

I was an OT, so I'm all about being we're going to have to correct it to your seat, and then that will pop you into my email list. If you really want to talk to me and I really want to talk to you, know this you can either email me at Jenny, at JennyC Cohencom. Ooh, did I just give you all my private email? Yes, you can email me there, don't worry. To the show notes too, and in there. And then I'm going to ask that my booking link be popped. So literally you could just book a 25 minute call with me immediately and just be like I need to talk to you now. Great, because I blocked off time for that.

Dai Manuel: 46:46

Oh, jenny, thank you for that offer and also just for making yourself available for people. If you're listening to this and hearing this, please know you well. Jenny's thrown down today, especially that piece about a loan or loneliness. It is literally one choice difference between being alone and feeling lonely. It's just, it's one choice and one action that separates the two, but it's very.

Dai Manuel: 47:10

As someone that's personally gone through this a few times myself, I can honestly say community is key, but it also involves communication and learning how to be more vulnerable, to say, hey, you know what I am feeling this way and I don't want to feel this way anymore. Has anybody else said this like that? Yes, and as soon as we start opening up about it, it's amazing how many people come out of the woodwork and say, oh my gosh, me too. I had no idea I wasn't the only person with this feeling. We talk about it. It opens all of our eyes that gosh. We're all living the same life, and what I mean by that is it's right back to the connectivity piece that you shared today.

Dai Manuel: 47:40

So I just have to commend you on everything, because I can see how it all comes together beautifully and it's just such a wonderful modality that also elevates our spirits and it's fitness people. You're moving your body with purpose. So everything. There's lots of checkboxes. Okay, jenny, I'm going to give you the last word today before we leave. If there was anything that you'd love to share, to inspire, motivate or continue to educate, like you've been doing wonderfully today on this conversation, what words would you like to leave with the audience today?

Jenny C Cohen: 48:09

To move the Titanic of your life. It just takes one tiny degree, tiny pivot, and eventually you'll shift it. So keep giving yourself grace, okay, and just keep trying and keep reaching out. We're waiting for you to come and join us.

Dai Manuel: 48:26

Beautiful, beautiful. I love the Titanic reference because I usually often refer to that as the big ocean liner, right Like I don't use the Titanic, I guess it would make more sense to say Titanic, because everyone knows what the Titanic is. So thank you for that insight and just wonderful reminder, because it is. It's the smallest pittments, especially over time. You know the 2% solutions all about the small little shifts that we make and how they add up to big, massive shifts over time. And it's that positive compound which is amazing. And today you've been just such a beautiful guest, both figuratively and literally. Okay, and I got to say thank you for your time today.

Dai Manuel: 49:02

Jenny, I was so ecstatic when you agreed to be on here because I already knew that we had a great conversation, but I also knew you'd bring the energy and thank you for doing that today. And I am excited because, if everybody loved this podcast, make sure you reach out to Jenny, check out Dance to Heal, check out her book, but, more importantly, leave a review. And if you have something positive to say about today's episode, please leave it. And I'd love to have Jenny back. She'll be back, but we'll have her back in a few months to give us another update and I actually think it's kind of fun if we could plan it. So maybe we have some freedom around our machines here and we do some dance moves. We show some people some basic mechanics on how they can start tapping into this, if you're open to it, jenny.

Jenny C Cohen: 49:41

Yeah, if you had just taught me how to jam music, I would have had us move in, because I don't need that much room y'all, I'm the queen of the chair dancing personally.

Dai Manuel: 49:52

And I think that would be great. And don't worry, I'll have that figured out for next time. I know there's a way I can share the audio Again. Everybody knows I'm new in this. I'm under two months so far, but hey, I'm figuring out as I go because of great people like Jenny. So with that, I just want to say goodbye, Jenny. Thank you again for being here today. It was insightful, it was, but it was also extremely valuable for all of us to grow as people. And, oh yes, big heart to you too, and look forward to having you back. Yeah.

Jenny C Cohen: 50:21

I'm excited, let's do it.

Dai Manuel: 50:26

What an inspiring session with my guest today, jenny Cohen, exploring how dance can be a powerful tool for recovery and self-expression. Jenny's journey from Taipei to becoming an outside and recovery master and creating the dance to heal program is a testament to finding beauty and strength in our bodies, regardless of life's happenings. As Jenny reminds us, it's possible to dance our way to healing and reclaim the safety and perfection of our bodies. Today's conversation moved you. We encourage you to take that first step towards healing through movement. Share this episode, leave a review if Jenny's story touched your heart, and subscribe to the 2% Solution Podcast for more empowering stories. Let's dance our way to healing, one step at a time. Thank you for listening. Remember, your journey to recovery and self-acceptance is just to dance away.