Libido Lounge Podcast: Episode 54 – How to Feel More Pleasure Through Movement

Introduction to the Libido Lounge

Dr. Diane: Welcome to the Libido Lounge where we focus on all things love, lust, and libido. We believe that fabulous sex is as important to health as exercise and good food. Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode on the Lounge. I’m so excited about the conversation we’re going to have today. I’m bringing on one of my friends, Jennifer Joy Jimenez, and we’re going to talk about body shame, dance, and techniques you can use to feel more confident in your body, to get into body sensations, to actually feel pleasure in new and profound ways, which of course translates into better libido, better relationships, better connection with yourself, with your partner, and so much more.

Meet Jennifer Joy Jimenez

Dr. Diane: I want to introduce Jennifer here. Jennifer is the founder of Transcend Dance, which is a powerful movement exercise that we’re going to talk about today, designed to help you get into your body more, to help you feel more confident, and so many more things that I know Jennifer will tell us about. She’s also the founder and director of the health and well-being division at the Brave Thinking Institute. Welcome, I’m so excited to be here with you today. Thanks for joining us, Jennifer.

Jennifer: It is my absolute pleasure, and I’m super grateful to be here today.

Exploring Transcend Dance

What is Transcend Dance?

Dr. Diane: Let’s open with this concept of what is Transcend Dance? How were you inspired to create this, and what are we really doing from a standpoint with this type of visionary movement that is bringing us into our body, helping us become more full in our body and more alive? Can you set the stage with what we’re talking about exactly with Transcend Dance?

Jennifer: Thank you for asking. One of the easiest ways I have found to describe Transcend Dance is it’s like taking the mindfulness of yoga off the mat and infusing it in joyful, free-form movements. What do we mean by free-form? Most people, when they think of the word dance, think of Zumba, ballroom, jazz, ballet—a very technical dance. That is my background; I came from the professional dance world. But conscious dance or free-form dance is really about unlocking your inner dancer within. We’re all born dancers. Have you ever seen a baby that, when music comes on, they can’t help but shake their little tush? Rhythm, movement, and being free in our bodies—if you look at three-year-olds, four-year-olds, five-year-olds, as long as they’ve had a pretty normal upbringing without a huge amount of trauma, they’re in their bodies, moving freely.

The Loss of Bodily Connection

Jennifer: Somewhere along the way, we lose touch with really living in that free, connected, embodied state. Statistically, it’s said that 90% of women hate their bodies, and one in three women have been abused in some way. So, it is no surprise that we leave our bodies; it hasn’t felt safe, pleasurable, or good to be in the body. Conscious dance, and specifically Transcend Dance, is a set of dance opportunities where we come into the breath and allow the inner dancer within us. I like to say that we all have an inner physician within, an inner wise being, yet we don’t give ourselves a whole lot of time to unlock that part of us that is available to heal us, to free us, to feel that sense of liberated freedom.

Client Experiences with Transcend Dance

Jennifer: Clients often say in their very first class, “I haven’t danced like this since I was a child. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this liberated or free.” It doesn’t matter if they were told they have two left feet. You don’t have to have rhythm; you’re not following anyone else’s dance steps or moves, so there’s no complication in it. It really is just about feeling amazing and free in our bodies.

Breaking Free from Patterns

Unlocking Possibilities in Movement and Intimacy

Dr. Diane: One of the things you get me thinking about as you’re describing this is in sexuality and sexual relations, I see so many times where partners get locked into one movement, like, “Oh, it looks this way, we do step A, step B, step C, we reach the grand finale, and it’s over.” When you’re talking about an infant and that free-form movement, infants aren’t thinking, they’re just moving. Do you feel like Transcend Dance can unlock more possibilities, not only in life but also in our intimate relationships, to break us out of those patterns?

Jennifer: Absolutely. I’ve worked with thousands of people from all over the world who tell me they not only feel more confident in their body in everyday interactions—from the boardroom, being able to stand up and be their full confident self—but also in the bedroom, where they get unlocked and freed from stagnant, stiff, tight movement patterns. When you live in the fullness of your being, it unlocks freedom, sensuality, and connection in ways you wouldn’t even begin to describe.

Jennifer’s Personal Journey

Jennifer: I’ve been married 29 years and had one sexual partner, which is uncommon. I met my husband when I was 16, but I’ve seen myself grow over these years from a very curious and sensual woman to, as a professional dancer, getting into controlling and abusive ways with my body—starvation, control, deprivation, and over-exercising, which is normal in the professional dance world. Then, getting pregnant with my daughter and having a 50-hour labor, even though I trained for it like I was going to climb Kilimanjaro, was my doorway to this work. After all that dedication, I felt so disconnected during that birth process. I wasn’t taught to let my body lead me.

Healing Through Conscious Dance

Reconnecting with the Body

Jennifer: In birth, in lovemaking, in sensuality, it’s not about telling the body what to do; it’s about letting the natural wisdom of the body teach you, show you, guide you. After that 50-hour labor, I became a sponge, a hungry student, finding every book and mentor I could. That’s where I found conscious dance. The first whole process was healing my own disconnect from my body, coming home to my body, even healing the trauma the birth was for me. That was the early years of creating Transcend Dance, pulling from some of the most famous, well-known, world-renowned mentors of this modality.

Marrying Mind, Body, and Spirit

Jennifer: I was raised by a thought leader mother who taught me that thoughts become things, that we’re co-creators of our lives, swimming in universal spiritual energy. But she’s from the Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra generation, very thought-driven. I’m wired differently; I’m a kinesthetic learner. I want to feel it and move it to know it. I took all that I was learning and began to marry this mind-body-spirit connection, bringing in conscious dance, universal spiritual principles, and simple breathing and movement patterns that opened me up to a whole other experience of my own body. I started having some of the best sex I’ve ever had, not even calling it sex but oneness, connection, and dancing in the bedroom.

Transformative Birth Experiences

Jennifer: When I had my second two babies, my son Joel in two hours start to finish, and my son Walken in 90 minutes, there were moments during those births where it was pleasurable. There was harmony and connection where I was dancing with the baby, allowing my cervix to open. That led to understanding all different connection points with my body, taking myself as my own laboratory and then rolling it out with clients.

Client Success Stories

Reigniting Intimacy

Jennifer: One client hadn’t had sex for over a decade. She came into my transformational coaching, retreats, and classes, and Transcend Dance was a key piece to help her come into her body. She wanted to reignite things in the bedroom. We found she was running a lot of unconscious masculine energy, a default mode many women have learned. We taught her tools to soften into receiving energy. Within 60 days, she shared that her husband came home from work, grabbed her, whisked her off into the bedroom, and they had an amazing intimate experience. She needed some support to make it pleasurable after so many years, but attracting him came from an embodied experience.

Building Confidence

Jennifer: Another client, Benjamin, was introverted, clumsy, and self-conscious, told his whole life he couldn’t dance. He started Transcend Dance practices and blossomed, becoming confident enough to move and dance on stage in front of a hundred people. It translated into his work, increasing his income. So much can open up when people come home to their bodies.

Guiding the Body

Letting the Body Lead

Dr. Diane: I really want to emphasize the concept of letting the body guide you. People often get into this “duty sex” where it’s mechanical. I taught a class last week on having the right kind of sex, the kind that is body-led, allowing your body to feel what it likes and how it responds. Another thing I like about your work is this sense of allowing various body parts to lead. What is it like if I lead from my heart, my yoni, my bosom?

Jennifer: What came to my mind was my own process of getting to know my pleasure centers—not just my sacred center, yoni, or breasts, but the inside of my elbow or the inner part of my wrist. Knowing that is my responsibility. It’s not anybody else’s job to know what it feels like to be in my body, what I like, where I want to be touched, and when.

The Dance of Self

Jennifer: One of the stages in Transcend Dance, stage four, is the Dance of Self. Through a sensual song, we meander through the space, feeling the whole space—no front to class, no mirrors. You start moving your head, shoulders, and move towards pleasure, which is counterintuitive. So much of the Western fitness world is “no pain, no gain.” You let all that judgment out, love moving your body, and it feels good, unlocking a sense of aliveness and pleasure.

Navigating Pleasure in Relationships

Communicating Needs

Jennifer: My husband’s from Mexico, a Latin lover; sensuality and intimacy are his love languages. He has no problem going straight to the sensual parts. I love Dr. Christiane Northrup’s books, Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom and Secret Pleasures of Menopause. They open us up to so much more to look forward to in our postmenopausal years. As a 49-year-old woman in that transition, I’ve learned our energies are moving outward, while men’s are moving inward. I’ve had to remind him to kiss me here, there, be patient, and it’s okay. It’s my responsibility to live a turned-on life so I can bring pleasure and sensuality.

Dr. Diane: The turned-on woman really will save the world. Because of societal influences over centuries, pleasure and asking for what we want have been seen as bad. We’re finally at a phase where it’s culturally encouraged to voice our pleasure and let our partners know, even after 29 years, because our brains work differently. We have to take personal responsibility for learning our body and feelings.

The Power of Sensual Dance

Dr. Diane: My own experience with sensual dance movements and classes has been one of the most fundamental things for getting in my body and having the confidence to say those hard things. We’re about to wrap up, and I want to make sure everybody knows that we have an amazing gift that you’re giving away, a free class to try this, experience it, awaken their sensuality and confidence. We’ll have all the information on how to get a hold of Jennifer and work with her in the show notes.

Final Thoughts

Dr. Diane: Is there anything else you want to leave our audience with? Anything so important that they’re remembering in the context of movement, dance, getting inside their body, and having the confidence to take charge of their own pleasure?

Jennifer: The biggest message is it doesn’t have to take a long time. Coming from the professional dance world, I used to dance eight hours a day and had this paradigm that it had to be a certain way. As a mother and entrepreneur, I’ve learned that standing up from our desk, putting on a song that ignites joy—those songs where you can’t help but sing and tap your toes—ignites happy hormones. There’s so much science: dance increases circulation, mental acuity, emotional boost, and is our best antidepressant. It helps muscles and bones. A daily dose of dance can keep the doctor away. My encouragement is just to dance.

Dr. Diane: I love that it doesn’t have to take a lot of time. Committing to an hour a day lasts about three days. I dance all my emotions—anger, sadness, fear, anxiety, happiness—bringing it to dance. It’s amazing; I have my special songs for when I’m feeling angry and need to get it out.

Closing and Community Engagement

Dr. Diane: I want to remind all our listeners that in 2024, we’re doing short 20-minute episodes, but for those with the largest downloads, best shares, and highest engagement, we’re inviting them back for a deep dive. Please download this show, share it with your friends, let’s get Jennifer back for a deeper dive on all the health benefits related to libido. This is sexy season, and we have a lot of raffles going on. If you review us and send a screenshot of your review, we’ll enroll you in our raffle with almost 20 different giveaways, including courses by Susan Bratton and tons of free content for supporting us. Thank you all for listening, thank you for being here on the Lounge, Jennifer, it’s a pleasure.

Jennifer: Thank you for having me, so great to be here.

Dr. Diane: That’s a wrap, we’ll see you next time. This is Dr. Diane, your libido doc, reminding you to always feel sexy, be classy, and stay a little badassy. You can find me on YouTube, on Instagram, and check out our Modern Libido Club for so much more!