I'm your host, Britney Jones Cooper.

Welcome back to build Dancer and actor Jenna Dewan joins us today to chat about her new book gracefully.

You in the book, she opens up about her personal journey from spirituals practices to relationships and career help readers find their own voice and balance in this crazy, crazy world.

Please, that we welcome Jenna Dewan.

Thanks for having your back.

Yeah.

I mean, how cool is it to see your cover?

This big book comes out today, right?

This is really Yeah.

This is such a crazy moment for me.

Yes, I'm an author, like it's wild.

You're an author, and I can tell that it was a labor of love pun intended.

Yeah, um, because it is part memoir, but part self help.

I mean, it really is all these things together.

So why was this?

The format that you wanted to share your story in it just naturally evolved into this format.

It's sort of It started as a poetry book.

Actually, they came to me and I said, What?

I really love poetry and love to do a book on poetry and then just kind of kept evolving and Then it became what I'm gonna add This personal story in there and then I want to talk about my life is a dancer.

And then I want to talk about how people ask me how I meditate and find balance.

And then lots of stuff happened in my life.

And it was hard not to bring that into the book.

So it kind of became, ah, compilation of a lot of things all once.

How long did that take?

Two years.

Okay, Yeah.

If I fully understand, Understand writers right now, too with the whole you have writer's block or you have to wait for the inspiration or you write something and then three months later, you revisit and you want to change it up.

So I was just took me a little bit longer, and I had to kind of go back and change certain things and take things out and add things in and was a real process.

I think, especially with a book like this.

I was like, How did she choose what to put in what to leave out?

Because there are just so many little tidbits.

So with that hard to do sort of focus in on certain parts of your life.

Yeah, it was, but it was also, um it kind of naturally happened.

Definitely.

There's certain moments where you're like, Well, I won't talk about this story or this story, and then you get down to a new I have this many pages, and this is important for me to say.

This feels really right.

This feels authentic.

This I want to share and help others.

This this I want to keep private.

We're just a lot of it's like a little dance pun Intel down and think dance.

I did not realize how spiritual you are.

How How much of that informs who you are in this world?

I mean, I think for so many people have just seen you on social or in movies.

And it was I feel like I know you better now.

Um, yeah.

So when did that spiritual journey start for you?

Young?

I was very, very young.

Um I didn't grow up religious or really even have ah, spiritually parent or anything that I just always loved it.

And I always sort of felt a connection to something mystical.

I would talk about it a lot I would gravitate towards even at one point was begging my mom to take me to church.

She's like, Why, like none of us go to church?

This is such a strange request.

But I just like to the idea of what I think is a connection and I'm wouldn't Sam religious.

But I've always just sort of had that inclination.

And then, as I write about in the book, when I was in my twenties, I was dancing with Janet on tour and the rennet Jack Jan Jackson.

Yeah, Jack is so another Janet.

I just wanted to clarify.

Yes, yes, yes, I know for the young'uns air like who?

Like Janet Jackson.

Um, so she had a masseuse on tour that was very spiritual and sort of saw that side of me and opened it up, said Read this book.

And maybe like this and it became this like it was like I just Pandora's box was opened and I was like, remembering a lot of this going, Yes, that's what I've always thought, or that's what I felt.

And it's always been a huge priority, a major value in my life, and I'm happiest when I'm connected in that way, and I just I call it the flow.

I like to stay in the flow if you talk about setting your attention for the day, medicating manifesting.

All of these buds were due here, but you really kind of break it down for people and how it's like, positively impacted your life.

I found that to be really inspiring as somebody who sort of starting that journey.

It's not like a really good entry point.

Thank you.

Yeah.

I mean, like everybody.

There are times in life where I'm not, you know, perfect.

And I'm not meditating and setting intentions.

But I know that I'm now in a point where I'm kind of doing it subconsciously, Even if I'm not saying my intention for the day is this.

It's just I know that that's the flow I get into.

And I It makes my life infinitely better in all ways, and it helps you through everything.

Do you have a manifestation story like something that you really sort of?

You looked for two and then it happens.

So many, um, so many.

I agree this is a random one, but recently I had always so I wanted to play a superhero for a long time.

So I had a vision board and I had, like, a Catwoman character who'd like, Ah long, you know, Patton black leather cat suit on.

And I always had this picture in my mind of what that was gonna be.

And little No, that wasn't an action movie.

But I just filmed my TV show soundtrack for Netflix, and he wrote this entire scene in where I'm in a black patent leather cat suit and I'm dancing.

I'm not necessarily fighting, but I was still I was like, I had this weird moment.

I was like, Oh, my God, this happened like it was so specific of me to think of that particular feeling that I wanted.

And it was even though it wasn't Catwoman or Supergirl was the same feeling.

It was sort of, you know, boss in charge.

Powerful, sexy, um, dominating woman.

You know, it was like this kind of character that I got to play.

So in some weird way, I mean, even showed him the picture of the vision board.

But that's like what I've learned about manifestation all those things.

It's never like what you actually Sophie Leiby.

It's the fueling.

And it's sort of like a general.

That's the trick.

Yeah, Yeah.

It's like focus on the feeling.

And then generally, how it does manifest is what you wanted even more that fits you even better.

You also talk a lot about journaling, um, and journaling, like every night before bed.

I'm interested.

Like, what is that process?

Like going back in re reading and sort of like processing who you were at one time versus now, huh?

I journal quite a lot for a good period time.

They're at bedtime, and then you go through periods where, then you're you try something else.

You know, I was doing breath work for a minute.

I wasn't necessarily journaling like I wanted to or that I was.

I found another practice.

Um, journaling really helped me turn off the brain and sort of get it out on paper.

And and I would see it written call.

That is how I feel.

And I still have moments where I'll just be going on like, Oh, I have to wait the sound after journal this and I'll just kind of free in a free flow kind of come out.

Would you ever let your daughter you journals?

01 day.

Like when she's grown?

Oh, yeah, I think I could I could I be edit?

We'll do.

Some were gassing.

She's like Mom Wiser Sharpie all over the place.

Yeah, over 18.

Think and read it.

Um, I like I said, I feel like I got to know you a lot better from this book, which I think a lot of your fans will appreciate.

And part of you opened up really honestly about your separation from Channing Tatum.

So what was that decision?

Like choosing to tell your story this way.

Um, for me, it was people coming up to me and saying, I'm going through a really hard time in my life.

How old do you handle that?

How do you You seem like you're doing this with ease or with Grace or to me.

If we're not.

What are we here for?

If we're not sort of helping others along the process and my story is my story, it's no one else's.

But I felt that sharing sort of how I we all are adult challenges every single of us and how I dealt with that and really chose to turn inward and try and make myself a better person at the end of the day and learn about myself on what I wanted in life and how I wanted to come out the other end of this.

Um I just felt like I would want to read that, you know, I wanted I wanted to hear that story.

So I just thought sharing what my truth was would possibly help somebody else and how difficult it was.

Especially since you know, it always happening around when world of dance.

This really amazing thing was coming into your life.

And personally, you have a whole different battle You're fighting.

Yeah.

It was a world of dance.

Really Was a a blessing, though, because it came right, a perfect divine timing.

And I had helped me.

It helped me focus on the work and have a motivation every single day.

That was sort of keeping me just once up in front of the other.

And it was wonderful the way that worked up love that show, by the way, um and we see that you're expecting Yes, thank you.

Thank you.

Is your daughter Everly excited to be a big system.

She is so excited.

She's she's too excited.

She tells everybody.

She's telling me what to eat and what not to eat.

She's like anyone that'll listen.

She'll come up to be like my mom has a baby in her belly and she lifts it up and shows everybody and she kisses it before she goes to school.

It's adorable.

She told us she'd been waiting her entire life for this.

She said.

I never wanted to be an only child.

I've been waiting my entire life for this.

We're, like, really all six years.

Wow, a long way so long that she leaves like this really confident, sensitive sort of The way you write about her is so loving.

And it seems like you try to just piece so calm in parenting.

So is that how you and Channing are approaching co parenting as well?

I mean, I I like to think I'm I don't think I've ever been his patient as I am as I am with Evie.

There's something that happened when with me, when I became a mother, where I just really listened to her, and I'm able to be present with her and I have way more patients and I ever did in my entire life.

I would never say that Prior to being a mom, I was patient, and now I know I have patients with her, so I just try and kind of yet incorporate that through everything.

Everything I do and I, she's my number one priority always will be.

And what's best for her is what I think of every single day.

And how much does are.

How much has your spiritual practice sort of helped you through the last two years?

Still got its been essential.

It's grown.

Actually, um, it became It's always been really important to me, but it also became something that was my lighthouse.

It was the thing that really caused me to have faith because I think when you are going through a lot of changes in life, you have to sort of believe in something that this is meant to be, or that there's a reason for this.

And I just always knew it.

I said I I kinda had a feeling this thing.

I know this is all happening for a a better reason and the way you talk about diet and your plant based diet?

Unitarian?

Um, I've never really heard before because you have all of these sort of tools that you use to help you through stressful moments like, yeah.

Holy Basil.

Yes, and sailor.

Nothing like what we talked about.

Just how you learned these things about these foods and how you got him into dealing with, like, stress.

I went to Peru for a few weeks and lived with an indigenous tribe down there.

Um, big lived in a hut.

It was there was no, you know, nothing.

Um, but what I was really struck with with this how they viewed nature and we would take we literally took a walk in, like every single flower and plant was used for a medicinal purpose or an emotional purpose.

And they just had such respect for the different living beings that were in this forest.

And I kind of just was really intrigued by that.

And then through that, a lot of the women I met down there told me a lot about the different plants and about basil and how that's really good for heart healing and things that you know in other cultures they assume and use and do every day.

But we don't, you know, in America that's not something that we really focus on.

Um, it's the jump in You mentioned the holy Basil like there's like a salad to eat.