DANCING WITH ENAAKSHI KOTWAL

My name is Enaakshi Kotwal, I teach belly dancing. My journey with dance began very naturally. As a child I would listen to songs, create my own choreographies and dance, I simply loved dance and music. My mother noticed that and enrolled me for Kathak. From the very beginning dance gave me happiness. If I was in a dull mood dance would brighten it. If I was tired and sad and the same day, I had my dance class, my tiredness would vanish. As we get energy, after we come in contact with divine, is what, dance does to me. Dance in fact is divine energy, otherwise why would one experience bliss and tears of joy when one dances or does anything which one loves. I didn't choose teaching dance as a profession because I had to, I chose it because I knew deep down that my life would be incomplete if I took a different path. I thought I better give it a try, then regret when I am on my death bed. I tried my hand at corporate jobs and I was extremely good at them, but i always felt so...

As a Belly Dance teacher, I feel that any dance form is self empowering and provided you do it with all your heart, it finally leads you to self love and I say this from experience. What is self love? Self love, in my experience is loving and accepting yourself the way you are. It's not as easy as it sounds. Self love is a journey within, it is our growth as a human being. Self love is accepting, who you are as a person, and with all the traits, even the ones which you dislike. Self love is telling yourself I can do it, when everyone around you pulls you down. The journey is difficult, but once you begin to understand it, it becomes interesting because self love will open up your life, it will lead you to a very happy space, where you will be happy irrespective of your circumstances and you wouldn't need validation from others. Self love will finally lead you to discovering yourself. So how does belly dance lead to self love? When a student comes first time to...