Dance Your Way to Sustainable Leadership, with guest Irene Anggreeni

The People Impact Podcast

Aug 3 2023 • 28 mins

Irene Anggreeni is a dedicated coach who specializes in mental health topics, fostering better self-care and sustainable success for both leaders and their teams. As an advocate for mental health, she works to remove the stigma surrounding it.


Her own life experiences have been formative in shaping her approach. Her work is deeply heartfelt and driven by her personal story.


In her pursuit of validation as a valuable member of society as an engineer, she pushed herself to the brink until she was diagnosed with clinical depression. This diagnosis marked a turning point, leading her on an uphill journey of self-healing.


Embracing this transformative experience, Irene retrained as a dance movement therapist and coach. This transformation gave her valuable tools that she is now passionate about sharing with others. Her approach emphasizes holistic self-care: how do we take care of ourselves and our emotions in a way that involves our whole being, not just our analytical minds.


She is still actively growing through these challenges, in a life-long process of integrating mindfulness, kindness, compassion, and self-connection in her daily life. That is also what we extend to other people, particularly as leaders that support and serve their teams, creating an environment where team members can learn and grow ensuring that their team have the chance to learn and grow. Demonstrating self-compassion is essential as it positively impacts how leaders carry forward their responsibilities and model how we can work together effectively.


A significant outcome of this approach is increased psychological safety. With openness and reduced fear of speaking up or asking questions, healthier dynamics and clearer communication lead to improved overall performance. When people feel safe to experiment and try new things, creativity and innovation flourish within an organization.


Before self-regulation can happen, you need to be aware of awareness of your internal state. Irene emphasizes the use of movement: when you recognize the sensations and emotions triggered within your body, you have the ability to channel them physically, through things like shifting your posture and conscious breathing.


It will bring you a sense of grounding and space and it is a way to escape the cognitive mind that wants to take over 100%. Sometimes words are not enough, or they get in the way. A lot of leaders know a lot. And sometimes, there’s sometimes missing – you need more than just knowledge.


Tap back into the nonverbal creative self that you are, too. Reclaim your body. Tap into it as your resource. Reconnect with your inner self and enhance your well-being. And dance more 😊


More about Irene:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/irenevanjava/https://www.linkedin.com/in/irenevanjava/

Website: https://leadersthroughdepression.com/

get Irene’s free Mindful Actions e-book from this page: https://leadersthroughdepression.com/actionbook


More about us:

Lisa Dempsey – https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisakdempsey/ - https://www.leadershiplabs.eu

Marjolijn Vlug – https://www.linkedin.com/in/marjolijnvlug/ - https://www.marjolijnvlug.nl

Reach us both at PeopleImpactPodcast@gmail.com