Body-oriented psychotherapy helps you work with your whole self—body, mind, emotions, and nervous system—to create lasting change and greater ease in your life. Rather than focusing solely on thoughts and narratives, we bring attention to what's happening in your body: your movement patterns, sensations, energy, breath, and how you orient to space and ground. This "bottom-up" approach (body-to-thinking/cognitive-mind) helps you learn to recognize and respond to what your system is actually communicating. Every thought, feeling, memory, and emotion involves physical changes—shifts in muscle tension, breathing patterns, posture, and internal states. When you learn to work directly with these bodily experiences, you can transform your relationship to difficult feelings and cultivate more ease, even in the presence of pain or discomfort. The two primary somatic modalities that inform my work are UZAZU Embodied Intelligence and Body-Mind Centering®.

Somatic movement therapy is distinct from psychotherapy and focuses specifically on body awareness, movement, and embodied practice. You might choose this approach if you want to: • Work specifically with body or movement issues • Explore or deepen embodiment practices for your growth and wellbeing • Use UZAZU or Body-Mind Centering as a primary modality • Focus on somatic work without ongoing counseling or psychotherapy What to Expect In our first session, we'll discuss your movement, embodiment, or wellness goals along with any related physical, mental, or emotional concerns. Sessions might include guided movement, visualization, resource development, working with props (yoga straps, bolsters, balls), or hands-on guidance to help you experience aspects of your body's structure or movement patterns. Sessions can be active and dynamic or quiet and restorative, depending on your needs. We'll talk, too—conversation is an important part of identifying and integrating the changes you're seeking. I draw from UZAZU Embodied Intelligence, Body-Mind Centering®, polyvagal theory, improvisational dance, yoga, and other somatic approaches.

UZAZU is a powerful movement-based modality that helps you work directly with states that feel stuck, overwhelming, or out of balance. Using guided movement, body posture, spatial awareness, and nervous system regulation, we identify underlying patterns that contribute to life challenges and create clear pathways for change. UZAZU helps you get unstuck, develop new capacities, and integrate shifts into daily life in practical, embodied ways. When UZAZU is central to our work, I'll invite you to complete the UZAZU Self-Assessment at the beginning and periodically throughout to track changes and clarify what we're working toward. As a core team member and lead trainer for UZAZU, I work closely with founder Dylan Newcomb on curriculum development and clinical applications. Learn more at UZAZU.org.(http://uzazu.org/)

EMDR is an evidence-based therapy that helps reduce distress related to past trauma, painful memories, or anticipatory anxiety about future events. Using bilateral stimulation (alternating visual, auditory, or tactile input between left and right sides of the body), EMDR helps the brain reprocess disturbing memories, images, beliefs, emotions, and body sensations. Over time, this leads to relief about the past and new, more adaptive beliefs about yourself and the future. EMDR can help with: • Processing past trauma or difficult experiences • Reducing anxiety about upcoming events • Building internal resources and strengths • Shifting limiting beliefs I was trained in EMDR early in my career and have presented workshops locally and nationally at EMDR International Association conferences. It remains one of my primary therapeutic modalities.

Polyvagal theory explains how your autonomic nervous system influences your feelings, behaviors, and relationships—often outside of conscious awareness. Understanding this framework helps you recognize why you respond the way you do in certain situations and gives you tools to shift those patterns. Together, we explore how your nervous system states (safety and connection, mobilization, or shutdown) show up in your life and learn practical ways to regulate and shift between states. I teach body-based exercises that activate the "safety and connection" branch of the vagus nerve, helping you move out of distress more quickly and land back into a sense of calm and connection. I've collaborated extensively with Deborah Dana, a world-renowned expert on polyvagal theory, including co-presenting workshops at Kripalu and Omega Institute, co-authoring a chapter in Clinical Applications of the Polyvagal Theory, and co-developing the Polyvagal PlayLab workshop series. I continue to offer workshops to helping professionals, focused on using somatic approaches to learning and working with the autonomic nervous system.

Ego State Work (Parts Work) I often work with a "parts of self" framework, helping you engage with aspects of yourself that feel conflicted or difficult to integrate. I draw from Internal Family Systems (IFS) and the Model of Structural Dissociation. Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) This gentle method works with the deep brain's defense responses by attending to subtle movements of the head, neck, face, and shoulders. It's effective for alleviating trauma patterns and integrates well with other somatic approaches. Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT / "Tapping") EFT is an energy psychology technique you can use both in session and on your own between sessions. I often teach Henry Grayson's EFT-A (adapted version), which focuses specifically on processing emotions.