Creator of Femme!
Bernadette Pleasant
Be guided on an exhilarating Emotional Tour — a somatic practice to release constricted emotions, calm your nervous system, and step more confidently into your most authentic Self.
Fear, grief, anger, shame, joy…
These feelings exist within all of us...
Yet, are you actually allowing yourself to feel these emotions? Or are they brewing beneath the surface, yearning desperately to be heard, seen, experienced, expressed, and released?
Our emotions are meant to be expressed. Whether we deem them good or bad, it’s their nature to “move” us, and, for our own wellbeing, they should move through and out of us as well.
Scientific research shows that stress caused by pent-up emotions can contribute to many health issues, including high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and even a suppressed immune system.
And, as you’ll discover during this uplifting hour with renowned somatic healer and fiery dance teacher Bernadette Pleasant, truly feeling your emotions can not only improve your wellbeing, but can be the key to living a juicy, fully experienced, passionate, and sensual life... opening you up to fully and joyously being YOU.
So how can you better recognize and express your emotions?
Especially if you were raised in a family of non-feelers, or conditioned to hide them by a culture that trains us to suppress our feelings?
Movement, specifically dance, provides a powerful and easy way to help us release feelings we've been denying, as well as to discover and express our hidden emotions.
Studies on the psychotherapeutic use of dance show that dance promotes emotional, social, cognitive, and physical integration, and can significantly improve your health and wellbeing.
In her own journey of self-exploration and healing through movement, Bernadette discovered that this ancient form of self-expression can help break patterns of people-pleasing, putting other people’s needs ahead of your own, and other soul-stifling behaviors. Dance can also help us re-embody childlike spontaneity, curiosity, creativity, and joy.
Movement and dance can help you rediscover your primal self...
During this liberating hour with Bernadette, she’ll show you how you can perform intuitive, free-form dance movements to the beat of a drum. The steady rhythm of the drum removes your focus from your repetitive thoughts and into the groove of your body’s wisdom and language of joy.
Freeform dance has no rules or structure, the point is to just let the music move you. There are no wrong moves! Dance to the rhythm of the drum and the inner rhythm of your higher Self. Let your dance express and release the feelings you need to let go and release!
You’ll discover just how powerful movement can be in helping you discern, feel, and liberate your emotions.
Bernadette is a vibrant example of what’s possible for you. Her high-energy teaching style is inspiring and intoxicating. You’ll want to know her secret… to feel the abandon and joy she exudes… to jump right in and learn to better recognize and express your emotions.
During this free online event with Bernadette, you’ll:
- Discover the importance of honoring and expressing your feelings, for the sake of your health and wellbeing
- Learn how movement and dance can open you to your full range of emotions and be a powerful means for expressing difficult feelings during challenging times
- Explore how dance can help you reclaim childlike spontaneity, curiosity, playfulness, and joy — allow in an authentic experience of YOU and your life
- Discover that you can choose and invite in joy, and learn how movement can help you access this pleasurable feeling — even in the midst of any pain you may be experiencing
- Be guided on an Emotional Tour — a somatic dance practice to release constricted emotions, calm your nervous system, and step more confidently into your authentic Self
Bernadette comes from a long line of natural healers who use touch and movement to help others find peace, empowerment, and wellness. She’s an intoxicating, energetic, and fiery teacher, and the creator of the popular mind-body wellness program, Femme!
— Bernadette Pleasant
Her dance classes welcome participants without judgment and offer loving support in finding comfort in your own skin.
Honoring and safely expressing all our emotions allows us to live a more authentic, vital, and healthy life.
During uncertain and turbulent times, we’re all bound to be holding strong feelings... perhaps some we’re not even aware of. And if you’re like many, you may even be feeling shame about feeling joy — in the midst of all the suffering across the globe.
When you join Bernadette for this special hour, you’ll discover how to use simple dance movements to unlock stuck emotions, express difficult feelings, open to joy, and start to feel the liberating abandon of being who you truly are.
You’ll experience how drumming can help you lose yourself to dance. Bernadette will be accompanied by accomplished percussionist Baba Don Eaton Babatunde, who’s performed at Lincoln Center, City Center, and Carnegie Hall, as well as numerous jazz venues in the U.S. and abroad.
You’ll also learn about Bernadette's upcoming 7-module online course, in which you’ll have the opportunity to go much deeper into her liberating approach to somatic healing — and have a lot of fun in the process!
Sign Up Now
Join this FREE video event with Bernadette Pleasant and discover a somatic practice to release constricted emotions, calm your nervous system, and step more confidently into your authentic Self.
Free Video Event
What People Are Saying About Bernadette Pleasant...
“[Bernadette] has inspired me to liberate myself from feeling any shame for having a full range of emotions.”
Like most women, I was taught to conceal my deep-seated anger and grief. [Bernadette] has inspired me to liberate myself from feeling any shame for having a full range of emotions. In her Femme! class, we move out EVERRYTHANNG from sadness to FLIRTATIOUSNESS! Her one-day experience, “Emotion in Motion,” and her luscious retreat in Jamaica were the revolutionary medicine supporting me in moving out all of the loaded feelings I was carrying during my first year of motherhood. Learning to accept and love the many gorgeous facets of myself has helped me remove the judgment and, instead, set my body on fire!
— Leora Edut, Author of Goddess on the Go: Rituals to Help You Slow Down and Slay
“... tasting the power in consciously moving emotions through your body...”
Bernadette Pleasant’s course is geared towards people who... want to explore expressive movement. These classes are one way of tasting the power in consciously moving emotions through your body and allowing them fuller expression than what is typically available to us in our day-to-day lives.
— Alicia Munoz, LPC, author of No More Fighting: The Relationship Book for Couples: 20 Minutes a Week to a Stronger Relationship
“... you will explore and feel every square inch of your divine, sensual temple, and never think of leaving it again.”
With Bernadette in the house, you will explore and feel every square inch of your divine, sensual temple, and never think of leaving it again. She’ll take you on a journey we all recognize, starting at the edge of your seat in anticipation, to receiving well-deserved news that you [have] reached the top of your personal Mt. Everest, triumphantly, only to retreat back into your shell and under your rock shortly after, to protect others unable to take in your light and joy. After getting the depth of this collective tragedy, she gets you out of your seat, and with her signature Femme! moves and drumming ensemble, she masterfully gets EVERY SINGLE MEMBER in the revved-up audience to cross the ocean with their hips and rediscover and inhabit their bodies in brand-new ways so that no woman or girl, including YOU, will ever dim your light again for ANYONE.
— Loraine Van Tuyl, PhD, award-winning psychologist, author, shamanic practitioner, and founder of the Sacred Healing Well
“... a woman who has given herself permission to express her own truth, even on a cellular level.”
The moment Bernadette takes the stage, the energy in the room goes up. She is so fully alive inside her body it intoxicates the entire audience. I was awestruck by her power to open and move me as she shared her story. Bernadette is a wonderful example of a woman who has given herself permission to express her own truth, even on a cellular level. She is a leader in her field of expertise to support women in the full awakening of their own power by breaking through their embodied judgments and limitations of what is acceptable or even possible.
— Prasanna Diana Manuela, inspirational speaker and author
“... a new perspective on ways to heal trauma...”
Bernadette left everyone wanting more! The presentation and brilliance of her message was riveting. The fact that she was able to command me to lean in with a simple whisper speaks volumes to her hypnotizing presence. Bernadette invited me into her world, and allowed me to travel in time. She gave a new perspective on ways to heal trauma while keeping me engaged. This woman embodies sensuality, strength, and intelligence.
— Aundrea Veney, Entrepreneur, public speaker, author, and professional executive trainer
“I was blown away by the experience.”
— Victoria Uwumarogie, senior editor of MadameNoire
“This woman is pure magic.”
— Amy Emmerich, President North America and chief content officer at Refinery29
About Bernadette Pleasant
Spirited and energetic, Bernadette Pleasant is a fiery and sensual speaker, somatic healer, founder of The Emotional Institute and creator of Femme!, a mind-body wellness program, and 400 Years, a somatic-based anti-racism program. She is known for channeling her personal journeys and radical empathy into transformative, immersive experiences that support and celebrate people of all genders, colors, ages, and sizes.
Certified in emotions-centered coaching, somatic healing, integrated energy therapy and studies in African, tribal, and free dance, Bernadette promotes emotional freedom through movement and empowerment. She also facilitates deep and refreshingly real dialogues on emotional healing, grief rituals, and unlearning racism.
A woman of color, Bernadette comes from a long line of natural healers who have used touch and movement to help others find peace and wellness. Her classrooms, online and in person, welcome participants without judgment, supporting all to experience comfort and pleasure in their own skin.
About Baba Don Eaton Babatunde
For almost a quarter-century, Baba Don Eaton Babatunde, a percussionist very much in demand, has performed with major American dance companies such as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Limon Dance Company, and the Dance Theatre of Harlem in some of the world’s greatest performing arts venues. His recording career is as equally varied as it is vast in jazz idioms, rhythm and blues, and most African-derived music. He is the founder of JAAMBO, an Afro Caribbean ensemble, and the founder of Percussion ARTS Projects, LLC. A featured member of the esteemed Last Poets, he’s long been acknowledged as one of New York City’s master teachers of African Drumming and the rhythms of the Diaspora in the Americas. For over 25 years, Baba Don Eaton Babatunde has been on faculty at the Harlem School of the Arts teaching all ages, from four years of age to adults.
