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Skate Your Story™
The ice is your canvas.
Your life is your story.
Your blades are your brush.
Skate Your Story™ is a groundbreaking method introducing figure skating as a mind-body-spirit healing art form, and a way to recognize, define, process, and move through hardship and life challenges
through skating.
Created by Dr. Anna Ruth Johnson, Professional Figure Skater, American Ice Theatre-Certified Choreographer and Naturopathic Doctor, Skate Your Story™ is a specialized mentorship program that integrates components of Dance and Movement Therapy, Somatic Healing, Embodiment Practices, and Expressive Arts Therapy into figure skating to create a one-of-a-kind methodology that empowers, inspires, and liberates.
Through the active, experiential process of skating their story, participants are able to identify and express their emotions through movement, create beauty where there may have been pain, and reframe hardship in order to heal and move forward - in both life and skating.
"When I started working with Anna through Skate Your Story™, I was in a very difficult place with skating. I wasn't sure where to go from where I was, and wasn't sure what the future looked like for me. Through SYS and Anna's mentorship and guidance, I can honestly say I have been able to receive so much clarity about both my skating journey and my life as a whole. I can't say thank you enough - this has changed my life." - SYS mentee
"Skating has always played an integral role in my life, and I started SYS in hopes of being able to capture that and encapsulate it into a memory I would have forever. Through Skate Your Story™ and working with Anna, I was able to do just that - but so, so much more. Working with Anna helped me realize on a deep level what, specifically, about skating has been so healing for me throughout my life. This understanding is something I will treasure for the rest of my life both on and off the ice." -SYS mentee
"I was dealing with a lot in my life when I started working with Anna. I had gotten back into skating as an escape from life stuff after some time away from the ice, and I was at first not sure what to expect because, in skater speak, I had 'lost everything' and couldn't do what I used to be able to do on the ice. But ironically, despite my inability to land jumps, or perform level 4 spin combos, I was able to find a love for skating that was totally independent of what I could 'do,' which was truly a first for me. My enjoyment of skating used to be completely based on my ability and how good a practice went or not - it gave me a sense of worthiness, maybe? This was so very different. My SYS piece had no jumps, no spins, and barely any elements at all - and it is far and away the most meaningful piece of work I have ever performed on the ice.
Working with Anna through Skate Your Story ™ helped me find that new love for skating, but also helped me to develop a different, healthier view of my own self: I am worthy, not because of what I do on or off the ice, but because I am a living, breathing, loving human being. And that is enough. It will always be enough." - SYS mentee
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