Rising Stars: Meet Suzette Summers

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Suzette Summers.

Suzette, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Louisville, KY, was progressive; people were still confined in the social constructs that kept them from exploring the in I’m going to take you back decades… In my early teens, I began meditating on a giant boulder that looked out at the ocean in front of my house in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

I remember a moment back then, getting quiet and listening to what my heart was guiding me “to be” when I grew up. Very distinctly, I remember wanting to be a “medicine woman.” Almost instantly, my teenage ego jumped out and laughed at the notion, but the heart has been my compass for a long time, and no matter how many times my logical mind told me it wasn’t possible, my heart guided me toward home.

I loved the freedom dance gave me to express myself when I was young. I remember choreographing a dance and performing it for my family. I took dance classes briefly as a child but was never formally trained.

In my early twenties, I saw a documentary about trance dancing that would take place in African tribes, and I felt that this was an important practice that most of our world had lost. At this time, I also became aware of Gabriella Roth’s contribution to promoting Ecstatic Dance through her style of 5 Rhythms.

In 2016, I attended an ecstatic dance held by someone in town. While I appreciated the free movement and expression, I wanted to intertwine more of my medicine of circle weaving into the experience. I felt in my bones that finite possibilities were available when they explored their bodies, minds, and spirits. I felt like dance was one of the tools to help free people from their limited thinking. I believed this freedom would allow them to “raise their vibration” and, ultimately, raise the vibration of the entire planet.

I started an Ecstatic Dance Visioning Council on Facebook, and soon afterward, I entered a conversation with my friend, Holly Clark, who also felt a similar need to bring Ecstatic Dance and expression to our community. Around this same time, I was beginning to integrate shamanic practices more fully into my life, so before the first Ecstatic Dance Journey that we offered, I journeyed with my spirit guides and helpers, looking for direction and guidance as to how I should weave the circle, the intentions of the Ecstatic Dances, and the ways to help people feel safe, held, and able to open to the guidance of their bodies, minds, and spirits.

Holly and I first danced in a women’s healing center called “Full Circle.” Gradually, more people joined us, and we moved to different spaces, alternating who facilitated and arranged the music. Holly became involved with other interests and stopped attending dances. At one point there was a solid group of us meeting regularly, though they seemed to want to take a different direction than the one I was guided to pursue.

In 2017, Gabriella Goana (owner of The Inner Warrior) asked me to bring an Ecstatic Dance Journey to MyPath Fest.

Over the years, my Facebook Group, “Raise The Vibration Ecstatic Dance Louisville,” grew. Today, I host between 1 and 3 Ecstatic Dance Journeys a month and share this medicine at MyPath Fest, Kentucky Yoga Festival, and The Goddexx Gathering, as well as lead private events such as Galentine’s, Conferences, and Celebrations. This year, I will lead an Ecstatic Dance Journey for the Eclipse at Eve of The Eclipse Fest at Way of the Heart Woods in Indiana and the Born Free: Twins Breech Conference in Louisville, KY. This past year I launched my first training “Sacred Wild Initiation & Mentorship: Ecstatic Dance Facilitator & Circle Weaver Training.”

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth road, and yet there has been a lot of grace I have experienced along the way.

In the early years of offering Ecstatic Dance Journeys, someone in our circle asked me not to open the circle the way I did because some people may not like it. I sat with this comment, considered it, and refused to stop leading the circles the way I did, and I am grateful that I stood up for myself, as well as the spirits and guides that directed me in weaving sacred space. I have been told countless times by people who have attended other Ecstatic Dances that they felt safer and connected in the spaces I weave than others they have experienced. I believe it is because of the intention behind how I open and close the space and the support I receive from my spirit guides.

COVID-19 and the years that followed also made it challenging to dance. My last dance of 2020 was the day before full lockdown occurred, and I didn’t host another dance for a year.

I have doubted myself, questioned the value of my offerings, and experienced people overstepping my boundaries. One of my biggest challenges is maintaining strong boundaries and standing up for myself and all the effort and resources I have put into the community I have grown and continue to nourish.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Ultimately, I am a healer. What does this mean? It doesn’t mean that I “fix” people. I believe that you are already whole and well, it is only that you need to re-member the parts of yourself that are fragmented, lost, or forgotten, and love them back into unity.

I heal in various forms: Bodywork, Biodynamic craniosacral (Touch of Presence), Shamanic Healing, Sacred Circles (Talking Circles, Ceremonies, Sister Circles), and Ecstatic Dance Journeys.

I am an artist of the Spirit, a certified spiritual and energetic life coach specializing in heart-centered work. Through compassion, seeing the truth of who you are, and helping you to remember that for yourself, I guide people to love and accept all parts of them so that they can shine their unique light on the world.

We all originate from the same source: Divine, Light, and Love. In this world, we are taught that we need to “be” something or “do” something to be “good enough,” but I believe that we are all inherently worthy of love and value, not because of some outward accomplishment or appearance, but simply because of our mutual source.

When we accept and love ourselves fully, our natural gifts flow from us with grace and confidence. This is how the world heals–by remembering– and sharing that remembrance with others. When we shine our light, we give others permission to do the same.

I am most proud of the love and acceptance I offer the world and how I weave circles that feel safe, empowering, and encouraging to people. I love that people feel free to express themselves and be vulnerable with themselves and each other in the spaces I create.

Ecstatic Dance Journeys are community ceremonies where we weave sacred space and collectively allow a curated set list to guide a body/mind/spirit journey. All parts of you are welcome in this space–joy, sadness, anger, fear, play, stillness. People dance, stomp, cry, laugh, yell, shake rattles, spin, howl, and roll on the ground and are encouraged to explore their bodies, minds, and spirits in new and unique ways that most events do not create space for. I am honored to hold a space where participants can process and surrender to explore their inherent freedom.

What sets me apart from others? I think it is how I connect to spirit, my spirit guides and helpers, and how I allow love to ultimately guide my way in the world–it’s not always what it sounds like.

Love sometimes means boundaries and firmness.

How do you think about luck?
“Luck” is a funny word because it implies random good fortune. I am not sure it is luck as much as forming authentic connections with people with similar vibrations and visions. I am still building and growing; for me, it is slow, mindful, and deliberate. One of my most impactful opportunities was offering an Ecstatic Dance Journey at MyPath Fest in 2017.

This opportunity gave me the confidence and experience to offer Ecstatic Dance Journeys to more people in the way I was originally guided to in my shamanic journeys. Was this luck? Hmmmm…. maybe… but I think it was more of mutual vision and similar vibration.

Pricing:

• Ecstatic Dance Journey: $20-$25 per person
• Shamanic Healing Session: $150 for a 2 hr session
• Personal Coaching: $100/hr

Contact Info:

• Website: www.suzettewinonasummers.com
• Instagram: @sacredwildhealer
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SuzetteWinonaSummers
• Other: linker.ee/sacredwildhealer

Image Credits
Tatiana Rathke and Gabriella Goana