Tam Doherty, Independent Licensed Ishtara Teacher

The twists, turns, highs, and lows make us who we are. Loving and accepting all parts of our journey is how we feel our wholeness. Walking the path together, in community with one another, helps us all move forward.

My name is Tam, and I want to thank you for being here. I’m grateful you’re taking the time to explore Ishtara and considering me as your teacher and guide. I’m deeply passionate about this work and the innumerable gifts it has to offer us. It would be an honor to work with you and move along this path together.

My life path, with all of its twists, turns, highs, and lows, led me in perfect divine timing to Ishtara a few years ago.

I started dancing at the age of three, and a mere hobby transformed into passion and dedication by the time I turned ten. As a teenager, I dreamed of a career as a performer and choreographer. I aspired to move people, to help us better connect with ourselves, our emotions, and one another, by sharing stories of the human experience on stage.

It was in pursuit of this dream that I chose to study dance as an undergraduate. Shortly after the onset of my freshman year, societal pressures and industry standards concerning women’s bodies put me at war with my own. The dance program amplified the negative, subconscious beliefs I’d inherited about myself as a girl, causing me to struggle with my self-worth, body image, and anxiety. I ultimately decided to remove myself from the dance program to protect my health and well-being, putting my dreams on pause for the foreseeable future.

I spent the better part of the next ten years on the winding road to recovery. I received professional help from therapists and licensed nutritionists. I educated myself on mindfulness tools and adopted a meditation practice. However, it wasn’t until I started dancing again that something shifted. Movement was a catalyst. I soon realized the thing I was protecting myself from was the one thing that could truly set me free.

I began seeking movement-based modalities for healing and found Ishtara in 2021. Through this practice and the support of the Ishtara community, I have found my way back home to my body and the truth of who I am as a human and being. I’ve come to believe that working directly with our bodies is the fastest and safest way to make lasting change in our lives. In the past few years, I’ve found greater peace, compassion, joy, love, strength, vulnerability, and more.

As a teacher, I desire to create a safe space where you can return home to your body and share the story you find there. I desire for us to continue learning to love all parts of ourselves, so we can know and feel our wholeness. I desire for each of us to be met with unconditional love and compassion in our vulnerability and to meet those needs for ourselves if we are not met by others.

I’m greatly looking forward to meeting you whenever our paths cross next, and I hope I have the opportunity to welcome you to the Ishtara community and dance alongside you soon.