WISDOM OF THE MOVING BODY

Somatic Experiencing®, Somatic Movement Therapy & Authentic Movement
with Paula Josa-Jones, MA, CMA, RSMET, SEP

The body is an archive: a breathing reservoir of thought and movement, earth and air, water and fire.
Movement is the body's language and voice. Breath is the body's anchor.
When you invite the body to move without judgment or hurry, you are opening to the body's wisdom.

A recipe for entering the body:
Attention: because the body is precise.
Listening: because the body is subtle.
Kindness: because the body is tender.

Somatics is the study of the self from the perspective of one's lived experience,
encompassing the dimensions of body, psyche, and spirit.
Thomas Hanna

Somatic Movement Therapy deepens our connection to the body through conscious movement and stillness, breath, touch, sound and imagery. Grounding experience in the body gives us a clear and vibrant sense of our sensual connection to the earth, each other and ourselves. By cultivating an improvisational spirit of exploration and play, we open to greater expression and expansion. Moving mindfully restores qualities of connectivity, openness and integration by dissolving the separation between inner and outer experiencing. It is an effective and gentle way of working with trauma, injuries and physical limitations.

Somatic Experiencing® is a body-oriented approach to the healing of trauma and other stress disorders developed by Dr. Peter A. Levine. SE engages both body and mind, focusing on regulation and repair. By listening to the body and becoming curious about our emotional responses, we gain balance and calm. By establishing effective defensive responses, we create better boundaries and a feeling of greater empowerment.

These body-centered therapies focus on the sensations that lie beneath our feelings, and uncovering our habitual responses to these feelings. Clients develop increased tolerance for difficult bodily sensations and suppressed emotions, helping them to gain access to greater resilience and expressivity, learning to stay in the present moment.

Each method helps students and clients in some way to:
  • focus on the body both as an objective physical process and as a subjective process of lived consciousness.
  • refine perceptual, kinesthetic, proprioceptive, and interoceptive sensitivity that supports homeostasis, co-regulation, and neuroplasticity
  • recognize habitual patterns of perceptual, postural and movement interaction with the environment
  • improve movement coordination that supports structural, functional and expressive integration
  • experience an embodied sense of vitality and create both meaning for and enjoyment of life

    These practices are for:
  • Those who want a more conscious and compassionate relationship with their bodies.
  • Individuals recovering from injury, physical or emotional trauma.
  • Individuals recovering from addiction.
  • Children and adults on the autism spectrum.
  • Therapists wishing to bring more body-mind awareness to their practice.
  • Those seeking an integrative, therapeutic approach to exercise and fitness, read more here.

    Paula's work also integrates:
    Authentic Movement, a contemplative movement practice that nourishes creativity and imagination through a practice of intuitive and spontaneous movement and SourceWork - guided bodily meditations for deepening and expanding movement awareness.

    Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), a way of describing, visualizing, interpreting and documenting human movement. LMA helps us understand where movement may lack coherence and connectivity, and to assess the overall physical, spatial and expressive map of one's movement. Paula also works with perspectives drawn from her study of Body-Mind Centering®.

    Embodied Equine Experiencing may be appropriate for those wishing to discover the powerful, integrative presence of horses. Paula's book, Our Horses, Ourselves: Discovering the Common Body is a guide to deepening communication and understanding through the healing presence of horses.

    Directory Listing: ISMETA

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    Contact Paula to make an appointment.