Somatic Therapy & Authentic Movement
Somatic Therapy & Authentic Movement in California

Somatic Therapy

Somatic therapy is a gentle, deeply transformative way to connect with your body to uncover a greater sense of calm, resilience, and aliveness. By tuning into the sensations, emotions, and memories that are held in the body, this approach helps you access a sense of balance and healing that can feel difficult to reach through thought exercises alone.

Somatic therapy focuses on building the skills and inner resources to regulate your nervous system. Learning to recognize and settle into a feeling of safety in the present moment, so that when challenging emotions or sensations come up, you can engage with them from a place of strength and self-compassion. This process allows you to reconnect with parts of yourself that may feel shut down or hidden, creating more room to live in alignment with who you truly are and who you want to become.

Somatic therapy often begins with becoming more aware of the stories and beliefs we’ve internalized over time - ideas we might have genuinely believed in but that don’t really reflect who we are today. By working with our body, we tap into a natural, grounded source of insight that’s different from intellectual understanding alone. Your body carries the memories, feelings, and wisdom of your life experiences, your hopes and dreams, as well as your deepest joys and sorrows. This approach lets you listen to these layers with patience and openness.

In somatic therapy, you’ll explore how to reconnect with your inner life force - those natural impulses, feelings, and strengths that may have been suppressed over time. As children, we often learn to quiet certain feelings and ways of being in order to fit in or feel safe. This shutting down happens in the body, creating a disconnect that somatic therapy gently seeks to restore. By reconnecting with your bodily wisdom, you can begin to feel more whole, rediscovering parts of yourself that were once put away but are still vital to your sense of well-being and authenticity.

Through this body-centered approach, you’ll gain greater access to your inner resources and find a new relationship with old, painful experiences. With this sense of grounding, you’ll feel more free to make choices that reflect the person you are today and what you want most in your life.

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.”

- Martha Graham

somatic therapy California

Authentic Movement

Authentic movement is a gentle, deeply intuitive practice rooted in dance therapy that offers a way to reconnect with your body and uncover the full spectrum of your inner experience - from joy to pain and everything in between. Through this process, you can learn to feel more at home in your body, embracing each sensation and emotion as it arises.

In authentic movement, we start by closing our eyes and moving from within, allowing the body to express itself naturally. This can involve not just movement, but also sensations, emotions, images, and even sounds that come up. The practice encourages you to follow your impulses and desires, letting your body tell its story in a way that feels both powerful and approachable. Being seen and supported by others while also developing your own inner witness helps to create a safe space for exploration and self-acceptance.

This practice brings to life a deep wisdom and creativity within you, allowing for greater self-expression and compassion toward yourself and others in your life. Many people find that authentic movement strengthens their connection to their body and mind, increasing their ability to navigate all kinds of experiences with greater ease, patience and understanding.

Authentic movement can be profoundly therapeutic on its own, and it also serves as a valuable addition to other forms of somatic and relational therapy, helping to deepen self-awareness and the healing process.