My journey began with Doug back in Nov 2012 when I first attended the be activated level 1 course in Sheffield. It amazed me how brilliant this technique was and I used it straight away within my dance school. I loved it but I didn’t quite feel 100% confident on how to utilise it within the school.

As the years went on I gradually stopped using it, not because I didn’t want to just that I got distracted with other ‘things’ to do. I’ll be honest I was working so hard on my business over the next few years that I had totally forgotten what the whole Be Activated was about. I had missed the point completely.

Fast forward 8 years, I’m coaching more and more professionals, me at the age of 40 something ‘trying’ to make my body do what it did when I was 19. My left hip would clunk and give way, my left knee would give way, burning pains in my feet.  Left shoulder niggles and basically accepting that this is what every dancer goes through when they reach a certain age. My husband and I would laugh whenever I was getting up from the sofa at the end of the night, it was like watching the evolution process happen all at once. My body felt restricted and ‘trapped’!

Then I saw that Doug was returning to Sheffield, I had to do the course again, I knew there was more I had to learn and there was no way I was going to miss this opportunity. So I booked and not only for Level 1 but Level 2 as well. February 2020 and we’re sat in the room and Doug asks me why am I here? What did I want from the course?

And I quote “I’m a dance teacher and I want to learn even more about the body, it worries that kids are watching videos of people making their bodies do ridiculous things and wrecking their bodies. I don’t want them to be needing hip replacements at 30. “

Doug’s response was simply “wouldn’t be nice if there were no limitations”

This stayed in my head throughout the first day. As the course went on we got to the ‘row row row your boat’ activation and my partners worked on me, I could feel myself needing extra support so asked my friend to activate my glutes. This allowed me to continue, all I can say is I have never felt relief like it. I jumped up off the couch and instantly ‘developed’ my leg derrière ( in English stuck my leg in the air behind me) it had not reached that height since I was 19. I had no clunking and no pain, my body felt amazing I had never felt so free.

We get to the end of the course and Doug once again goes around the room and asks, so what’s your story now?

My reply,

“I have learned that when the body is in its explosive state the possibilities are limitless, it’s as free as we allow it to be, now I can go and share this with all my pupils” The freedom I felt was exhilarating!

Now I have introduced it into the studio dance school and even found a way of making it fun for the children.