FIND…More Joy and Connection
Do you ever find that life feels too heavy and serious?
Do you feel that you’ve unwittingly painted yourself into a corner with others’ expectations of how you think and act?
Do you feel that in striving for success, you’ve missed the boat on fun and connection…or that you’re not wired for it in the same way as other people?
Do you worry that you’re only seen in one dimension and are struggling to fully enjoy the success you’ve created?
Would you love to experience life differently – and rewrite the terms of engagement in your favour?
Find…Salsa Success Without Ruining Your Professional Image
FIND…Something That Will Change Your Life FOREVER
No one ever thought I was meant to be a dancer.
Even though I always LOVED to dance from childhood, I showed no particular talent.
I was a highly introverted, socially anxious, slightly overweight shrinking violet who always felt like a social outsider.
When I started taking dance classes as an adult I was so self conscious and so lacking in self-esteem, it seemed like an impossible uphill climb.
After a while I realised it wasn’t that I was rubbish – just that no teacher had really given me the time, the tools, or the technical input that I needed to move past all the mental, physical and emotional blocks I was struggling with.
Eventually I found a private teacher who had an approach that made sense and actually helped me build confidence instead of destroying it.
I finally turned the corner and started on the journey to become the vibrant, confident Salsa dancer and coach I am now.
The transformation took many, many years.
There was a lot that I had to figure out on my own…putting together not just the pieces of the dance puzzle, but the personal growth needed to put myself out there.
But if I’d known then what I know NOW, I would have got there much sooner.
Now I’m sharing the precise steps in the form of this unique twelve month Salsa dance and personal coaching programme.
I believe Salsa dancing is the most incredible way to connect with each other as humans and discover the truth of who we are – powerful creators capable of so much more than we realise.
Find Yourself Instead Of Following Unhelpful Advice
Learning to dance Salsa can hold the key to powerful transformation.
It’s a journey which will enable you to experience yourself differently – whilst feeling more “you” than ever before.
If you’ve fallen out with the idea of fitting in with everyone else just to be accepted.
Or if you are fed up with the typical advice from confidence coaches and online personalities who preach about what to say and what to do, how to read people and be charismatic, which all sounds really great on YouTube, but can’t help you in real life when you need to step up, but are crumbling inside,
Or just feel like you are under pressure to be something that feels somehow “wrong” for you,
There’s one simple, but mostly overlooked solution…
Create a New, Conscious Relationship With Yourself
Maybe you’ve already realised that it’s extremely difficult to ACT differently if you don’t FEEL different.
And feeling different is generally the result of DOING things differently.
It’s a bit chicken and egg – feelings drive behaviour often without conscious thought, but then the poor outcomes of that behaviour result in feelings which cement crappy beliefs about who we are and what we are capable of.
In order to get different results, you have to disrupt your habitual behaviours. And the only way to do this successfully is to permanently corrupt the programme files in the brain which uploaded them, and replace them with better ones.
You already know that telling yourself to be different doesn’t work…as there always seems to be other forces at play deep inside which easily pull you off track at vulnerable moments.
You don’t need years of therapy, raking through past trauma – you can free yourself through dance!
This Doesn’t Have To Be Boring Or Hard
Salsa dancing is an incredible way to hack this feedback loop – because it works on many levels of our being all at once.
I believe it connects and integrates the physical, emotional, conscious and subconscious in a way that most coaching approaches miss.
Your body holds the key – it carries past experiences in your posture and movement patterns which will show up at key moments of stress and challenge, and keep you locked into tension, immobility and even pain.
Dance teaches us to move with intention – to own the space we are standing in, open up our posture, and to show up with presence and poise.
We get to experience ourselves as we wish to be seen, which in turn changes how other people perceive us.
Maybe more importantly it teaches us to truly let go – to surrender fully to the music and the moment.
It enables us to create new neural pathways driven by powerful and dynamic movement which embodies who we are at a core identity level.
Our physiology is deeply affected by rhythmical movement and the patterns in music in ways which it is IMPOSSIBLE to replicate by other means.
Wouldn’t you love to be spontaneous and fully present in the moment without worrying about how you look or second guessing what you say?
Structure Gives You Freedom
Many Salsa teachers shy away from structure and syllabus as they believe that it limits creativity and expression.
However this traps their students into mindless copying and remembering vast sequences chronologically. They then have to figure out for themselves how to improvise once they are already on the dance floor.
It rarely goes well, and instead of blaming a flawed system, people blame themselves.
I believe in the opposite approach – my structure creates a logical, progressive framework which lays out the precise steps needed to take someone from copying to creation in a way which feels safe and achievable.
I’ve developed a set of core principles which form the bedrock of my methodology and underpin every stage of the client journey.
F.I.N.D a Way Which Actually Works
My F.I.N.D Principles will teach you how to find the belief, movement, skill, focus, harmony, flow, charisma and freedom you need to become a competent and confident Salsa dancer.
They simplify the whole process, make the learning curve smoother, enabling you to progress much further.
They are not just principles for learning dance – they are principles which have served me well in life also.
The best thing is, they make the journey all about being more YOU, not more like me.
Read on to find out more about how my process works:
The Programme
How it works, what’s involved and what to expect.
My Philosophy
“Life is a Dance and Dance is Life”
It means that life should be a series of fun encounters and explorations where we get to experience all sorts of possibilities, and raises the question of how much of the dance (or life) is pre-choreographed, following patterns laid out by others, going round in the same circles…or created intentionally by us in real time, and how present are we?
Also dancing is a lifestyle choice which has many health benefits and is a highly valuable social currency in that ANYONE who achieves skill is automatically perceived as more attractive, and charismatic.
However few people stay the course – firstly because it’s not easy – and secondly because many of the secret struggles and doubts people have about themselves outside of their professional domain tend to show up on steroids when they start.
The philosophy behind my “FIND Yourself” programmes is that through Salsa, you can find yourself by learning to get lost in music and finding that freedom to truly express yourself – without fear of looking and feeling like a fool.
The Process
The ultimate 12 month voyage of dance and self-discovery…FIND Yourself in SALSA is a Dance Transformation by Design.
I created it to help successful, perfectionist high-achievers find the confidence, connection and creative expression which has eluded them – maybe for their entire lives.
The Promise
To maintain momentum and inte
FINALLY feeling comfortable in your own skin.
KNOWING you belong and owning the space you’re standing in.
BELIEVING that you don’t need approval or validation from others.
EXPERIENCING true connection whilst living life on your terms.
DANCING – knowing EVERYBODY is watching and enjoying the fact.
The Principles
F.I.N.D is an acronym and references the essential ingredients which give my programmes their power, and elevate them above the typical mainstream dance class.
F – Foundations (Rolling everything back to first principles)
I – Introspection (The inner inquiry required to create internal shifts which enable true alignment with self)
N – Neuroscientifically Guided (Works in harmony with your brain to reduce stress, optimise learning and creativity, whilst accelerating progression.)
D – Discovery (Experiential learning which promotes autonomy and helps you move from consumption and copying to creation.)
Principle 1 - FIND Belief
How far you get with anything hinges on how you set yourself up mentally and emotionally. This is how we begin changing your relationship with yourself so you can navigate past all the default, habitual patterns which are keeping you stuck.
Here we explore the concept of “Inner Rhythm” which is the key to
You’ll improve your internal conversations by learning how to manage your inner critic. This will create a sense of calm and grounding, reducing anxiety and improving mental clarity enabling you to discover your Inner Rhythm.
Principle 2 - FIND Motion
Prepare your body for expressing the music, and for the physical demands of dancing. You’ll gain more mobility, flexibility and coordination.
The foundation skill of weight transfer will take you from stepping to dancing.
We’ll cover some fundamental Salsa steps and techniques and delve into the key rhythms within Salsa music which give its unique energy and flavour.
Principle 3 - FIND Focus
A plan is only useful if it can survive when it meets with reality. This is where we create a powerful practice habit so you can manage your own dance journey effectively.
You’ll discover how to find the discipline needed to show up for yourself without relying on a “carrot and stick” mindset, instead discovering the internal drivers which push you to raise your own game with an excellence mindset.
Principle 4 - FIND Skill
Developing solo dance skills is the most underrated part of partner dancing, yet it will enable you to navigate complex Salsa figures with infinitely more speed and flow. Spins, fast footwork, are just a part of the equation – we’ll also work on style and movement quality.
Improving coordination and balance are life skills – not just for dancing. The PROCESS of skill building and experience of success it brings is an essential piece of the confidence and charisma puzzle.
Principle 5 - FIND Harmony
Connection in dance is a deep, deep subject but my systematised approach will break down all the nuances of non-verbal communication so you can lead or follow with sensitivity and assurance.
Connection occurs in every level of our being – spatial, physical, mental, emotional and energetic and you’ll learn how to use all of these to your advantage in dance and in life.
Harmony is a musical term and allows different notes, flavours and characters to co-exist, retaining their own identity whilst contributing to an effect much greater than each could achieve alone.
Principle 6 - FIND Flow
Salsa is an improvised dance and learning to improvise in real time is a key skill. Through a series of fun exercises you’ll learn how to access the flow state which enables you to use the moves and combinations you already know to make new material on the fly.
Being fully present in life requires spontaneity and adaptability which are only possible when you feel comfortable in your own skin, and certain that you have the tools and range of responses to meet any situation.
Through this principle you’ll start to feel better about uncertainty and lose the need to over-analyse, over-plan, or over-control what’s happening around you.
Principle 7 - FIND Charisma
This is where we work on honing your Salsa Superpowers, working with your aesthetic tastes and creative preferences to develop a style that’s coherent and uniquely yours.
It’s not about copying the cool things you see others do – it’s defining your own brand of cool and being confident about showing up with it. It’s being able to direct people’s attention and influence their actions through your own presence and certainty.
Charisma is nothing to do with knowing how to act or what to say – it’s feeling grounded within your core identity but also being able to engage with what’s happening around you in a way that feels natural, effortless and authentic.
Principle 8 - FIND Freedom
The final stage of the programme but the beginning of your onward dance journey! Here we will pull everything together, look back at how far you’ve come and look forward to a future where you have freedom of the dance floor, and freedom to express yourself fully in real life too.
The Playbook
Unlike traditional dance lessons which are typically taken on a weekly basis, FIND Yourself in Salsa is a full immersion experience. It’s designed to promote more autonomy over your journey, and provide more flexibility for individual needs, whilst offering the opportunity to progress as far and as fast as you wish, even if you do not live near to my studio.
For this reason it’s NOT for those who need to be spoon fed. It’s for high agency individuals who are on a mission to connect with, and unleash their inner dancer in order to unveil their true untapped potential.
This said, clients will enjoy a relationship with me which isn’t “on the clock”. I will be fully supporting you in between our studio sessions via phone, text, email and video call.
To maintain momentum and intensity over a twelve month time frame, we will need a few different modalities.
Shown below is my MINIMUM commitment to you, but the reality you experience will stretch considerably beyond this.
The Signature Retreat
Spend seven days as my personal guest in a blissful paradise as we work on your dance skills from the ground up, and the inside out.
But it’s not JUST about dancing. It’s about creating the time and space to reconnect with your body and inner self.
You’ll be amazed what can be achieved in 10 days by implementing my powerful F.I.N.D principles which enable you to find within yourself everything you need to be a confident and technically accomplished Salsa dancer.
Prepare to go from cowering on the sidelines to owning the floor, embodying natural, unforced charisma and
The most memorable journeys follow a unique path – less-travelled perhaps, challenging in places, but ultimately rewarding.
The VIP Intensives
Once a month we’ll get together for two full days of working on you:
- Your body
- Your mindset
- Your dance skills
- Your connection
- Your creativity
In particular we’ll be focusing on the partner dance skills, but you’ll get whatever you most need to move you forward.
The location will usually be my Essex studio, but in certain circumstances I may choose to travel to your area.
Days and times of the VIP days will be by arrangement according to our schedules.
The Unlimited Support
You will only take full ownership of what you learn by working on it outside of our time together.
How, when and where to go about this is all covered within the programme, but it will be the most powerful thing you can do to extract maximum value from the programme.
By giving yourself time, you learn how to be a work in progress instead of a perfectionist.
You’ll have full access to my online platform where you’ll find video tutorials and detailed breakdowns for every part of the process – and of course I’ll be checking in regularly.
The Pledge
All my programmes come with a guarantee.
Is This For You?
(It won't be for most)I only work with 3 clients on this programme at any given time. Below is an indication of the types of people I enjoy working with, and who enjoy my approach the most. None of this is absolute of course, as everyone is different. No prior dance experience is required or even desired.
Who This Is For
- You are highly successful but crave an outlet
- You would love to dance but fear the discomfort of the learning curve
- You don’t consider yourself a “natural” dancer
- You’re probably single/separated/divorced
- You’re open minded and a free thinker
- You have ownership over your time and scheduling, and have some free time available
Who This Is NOT For
- You are life and soul of the dance party already
- You have no reservations about letting your hair down in public
- You are too busy to commit
Hi I’m Shulagh
I believe everyone is a natural dancer…and dance is a powerful method of transforming how we feel about ourselves.
But it’s not easy to get past the labels and rules we’ve already placed around ourselves to re-imagine who we can be – both in private and in public.
I’ve built my career by helping my clients to find freedom and renewed zest for life – and Salsa dancing was both the tool and the catalyst.
I’m not the youngest, the slimmest, the prettiest or even the best dancer. I’m not the one with the stunning Instagram profile full of breathtaking dance videos…mostly because I’m not really an Instagram kind of person. I value privacy and don’t care to document every moment of my day.
I also believe the truth of a person is not found in the highlight reel – it’s who we are behind the scenes, in those moments of challenge and how we show up for ourselves daily.
But because I’ve invested a great deal of time and energy into helping others, and aim for substance over style, I do believe I have the most carefully crafted, effective and fulfilling route map for those wishing to elevate their experience of life through dance.
I have a very unique methodology…one which doesn’t require you to flounder around in a large hall full of random sweaty strangers.
So there’s no need to put yourself out there where the masses are.
If you’re serious about using Salsa dancing to help you dance through life, hit the button to complete the application.