DANCE WITH YOURSELF. A practical book about the body, self-acceptance

Naomi Sherman

DANCE WITH YOURSELF. A practical book about the body, self-acceptance

DANCE WITH YOURSELF

Overcoming Fear

A practical book about the body, self-acceptance, inner freedom, and small changes

Closing. A Dance Called “Life in Harmony”

You don’t have to wake up one day as someone who is no longer afraid of anything. Life does not require us to be confident all the time. It changes along with us—sometimes gently, sometimes unexpectedly, sometimes through very small steps.

Perhaps now you notice your body a little more carefully. You hear your breathing. You see how movement changes when there is no longer a need to live up to someone else’s idea of who you should be.

Perhaps you have learned to pause before your usual reaction and ask yourself, “What do I want?”

And maybe that alone is already a small success.

The dance with yourself does not end on the last page. It continues in ordinary days: when you choose comfort instead of tension, honesty instead of pretending, movement instead of freezing, support instead of being alone.

You may not always find it easy to move. Sometimes the step will be small. Sometimes you will want to stop. Sometimes the past will remind you of itself again. That does not mean you have gone backward.

You are simply continuing your dance.

The dance called “Life in Harmony” is not about perfection. It is about gradually finding your rhythm, noticing yourself, and leaving room in your life for breathing, movement, choice, and silence.

Look in the mirror.

Take a calm breath.

And make one movement that you choose for yourself.

That is enough for today.

And tomorrow, the dance will continue.

Naomi Sherman

Take a step toward yourself with a dance called “Dance with Yourself.”

Contents

Preface. A Few Minutes Just for Yourself

How to Use This Book

Part I. Returning to the Body

1. Your Body Does Not Have to Stay Silent

2. Looking at Yourself Without Judgment

3. Music, the Mirror, and the First Movement

4. From Tension to Fluidity

Part II. The Japanese Principle of the Small Step

5. Kaizen: You Don’t Have to Change Yourself All at Once

6. Wabi and Sabi: Making Room for Imperfection

7. The Present Instead of Endless Returning to the Past

8. Your Own Point of View

Part III. Eight Practices for Returning to Yourself

9. A Conversation with Your Body

10. Gratitude Before Letting Go

11. Symbolic Closure

12. After the Conversation—Returning to Yourself

13. A Conversation with Your Future Self

14. Meeting Your Past Self

15. A Step Forward After a Difficult Moment

16. Your Name Before an Important Choice

Part IV. 28 Days. Dance with Yourself

Closing. Thank Yourself

If You Need Support

Preface. A Few Minutes Just for Yourself

Before you read any further, pause. You do not need to become stronger right now. You do not need to urgently get rid of fear, find the right answer, or prove to yourself that you have already changed. Simply give yourself a few minutes. Close the door if that makes you feel more at ease. Put your phone away. Create a space where no one will expect you to be convenient, beautiful, composed, or productive.

Take a few calm breaths. Do not force your breathing to be deep. Let it be whatever it is today. Choose music you like. Not music you are “supposed” to dance to, but music that makes you want to move, even a little. Put on clothes that feel comfortable. Clothes that do not make you constantly adjust yourself, suck in your stomach, hide your shoulders, or think about how you look. Put a mirror in front of you. Not to look for flaws. Simply so that one day you can see yourself not through the eyes of an imaginary audience, but through your own.