Her Story Hour: Sensual Body Movement with Sarah Haykel
“Health because of wealth of beauty.””
April 2015's Her Story Hour featured two amazing women in the community, Elyse Mazurkiewicz, creator of Exo Supply and our Strong Woman of the Month, and our presenter for the evening, Sarah Haykel, founder of the Sensual Body Movement.
We started out the night hearing about Elyse’s story. She was born and raised in WNY. After working as a teacher in Buffalo, she changed career paths to take on managing operations and marketing at her father’s chemical company. During that time, Elyse also dabbled in manufacturing. While she tested new and existing formulations, she developed her first product, Pure Remover. This organic nail polish remover was the starting point for Elyse’s brand, EXO Supply.
Elyse has since added several other items to her product line including: Pure Remover Travel Wipes, an all-natural multipurpose cleaner, and her newest product EXO Pure Cleanser, a foaming coconut face wash.
As someone who changes her nail polish as much as I change outfits, her natural remover is a MUST. Plus, it smells amazing. Trust me, your nails will thank you.
EXO products can be purchased at Her Story Boutique. Be sure to check out her products at www.EXOSUPPLY.com.
“Put both feet on the ground – feel the ground – visualize being grounded to the earth. Send energy to the earth to connect. Use this tool to clean out energy….energy that is not serving you. This will allow you to receive the goodness around you.”
After we all grounded ourselves, Sarah explained Sensual Body Movement to us in the best way she knows how : by dancing.”
For those of you who don’t know Sarah, you are definitely missing out. She is such a joy to be around, and is doing amazing things to empower women around the buffalo community. We were so honored to have her share her wisdom with us last night.
A little bit about Sarah… Sarah Haykel, founder of The Sensual Body Movement, is a trained Latin, West African, hip-hop, and breakdancer, life coach, and yoga instructor who has developed her own style of improvisational movement she calls Sensual Body Movement. Through conscious breathing and intentional movement, Sarah’s work brings you right into your body. Sarah believes the body provides us with valuable information, support and guidance. So, a strong mind-body connection is the key to living a clearer, more empowered, and juicy life, from the inside out.
We began the presentation with a simple grounding mediation tool. Sarah asked us to be aware of how we were sitting. Most of us were sitting cross-legged.
Sarah then took out a golden flag. At first, I wasn’t exactly sure how this was going to fit in, but when she explained, it all made perfect sense. She told of a workshop that she attended where she was asked to think of three things: a movement, a metaphor or image, and an intention. She explained to us the image she had: of a woman, a beautiful goddess dressed in white and blue and gold. This woman was holding a golden flag. This became her image. The waving of her flag became the movement. And her intention was to empower herself, and to empower other women. Sarah asked us all “What is your movement? What is your symbol to remind yourself of your intention?” Any time you feel yourself falling into your “false center”, you need something to pull you back down, and bring you back to yourself.
The thing that we learned from Sarah is a very simple one, but it is something that speaks to the heart of the sensual body movement: the importance of self-love, which starts with self-care. The first tool to love your self is to simply focus on your breath. Notice how your body moves when you breathe, and how different you feel when you begin to “watch your breath.” We did a few exercises that helped you to learn how to listen to your body, and your breath. We danced, and moved our arms and hips with our breath. When we were finished, we did a “self check-in.” How did you feel before? How do you feel now? The effect was truly amazing.
The second part of the presentation was spent talking about how important it is to connect with yourself. It is only then that you are truly about to connect with someone else. People are always searching for something else to give them what they want; instead, try to show yourself the love you want to receive from others.
As women, we wear a lot of hats; we are strong, fierce, subtle, feminine, powerful. Often we do not realize that in our space as women, we radiate, we are magnetizing. When we embrace our femininity, we draw what we want to us. When we are angry, and fearful, we repel what we want. Her advice to us was to be in your grace, ask for what you want and need; set your intention.
If you want to know more about Sarah and stay in touch with her, be sure to check out her facebook page.
“In your bliss place, in your joy place, your effect on the world is enormous. In your angry place, and stressed out place, your effect is also enormous. Ask yourself, what effect do you want to have?”