About Our Work Together
When Lea* came to see me for the first time…
… it wasn’t easy describing why she came. She told me that something wasn’t right, but she couldn’t say exactly what.
Lea said she loves her husband and her two children. She was a dental assistant and used to like her job. She had friends and used to meet with them for coffee or drinks once in a while.
“I’m so happy to hear that there are so many strengths and love in your life,” I said. Lea smiled, but I noticed that her eyes didn’t light up, her shoulders and fists were tight, and she was bounding her breath.
Lea’s body told me what she couldn’t say in words.
I sensed that Lea was feeling tense, unstable, and uncentered. I wondered if she was feeling sad, unhappy, unsatisfied. Maybe she felt guilty about her “negative” feelings from how she described her life. After all, everyone says that her life is perfect and she should be grateful.
As a movement analyst and a somatic therapist, I help my clients get in touch with their body sensations and recognize their movement patterns to have awareness and decide if these patterns are serving them or holding them back.
It was too much for Lea to put her feelings into thoughts and words in our first session. Every client has their own pace and their own needs.
Lea needed to recognize how the situation affected her body. She already knew that she had headaches, strep throat, overeats, feels heavy, and her back hurts. But she wasn’t aware of the fact that she was holding her breath, tightening her fists, and crunching her eyebrows. She created a circle of thoughts, feelings, and body movements that feeds on itself, increasing tension and stress and making her less stable and grounded.
She wasn’t ready to face her emotional pain and create the change she was craving, but she could change her movement patterns.
I taught her some breathing and grounding techniques that affect the body and the brain (as they are one). When Lea came back a week later, I could see right away that she was more relaxed and more open to start the journey toward feeling self-containment and self-fulfillment.
Yaron* was 24 years old when we met in Israel.
He was a great student in high school and loved surfing. At 18, he went into the army (like all Israelis) and used computer programming skills that he picked up in school.
At 21, he was expected to go to school, find a job, and be independent. But he was so confused. Everyone expected him to study computer science, but he knew that wasn’t what he wanted to do in his heart.
He traveled the world, searching for answers, and returned even more confused. He always did what everyone expected of him, but he wasn’t sure anymore.
He said the situation was causing him sadness, and he felt as if he was disappointing everyone.
He didn’t know where he should go next. For the first time in his life, he had no path – and he realized that it was up to him to create that path.
These thoughts paralyzed him. He couldn’t make the next move and ended up moving back into his parent’s house.
I created an eight-week plan for Yaron. The plan included a lot of work at home by himself; somatic movement exercises for balance, grounding, and centering; combined with lots of leadership writing exercises that I also use when I work with managers and executives.
At the end of the eight weeks, he admitted that his passion was surfing and wanted to open a surfing school. He was scared because he knew that there were better surfers, and he was scared to become an entrepreneur. But he was strong enough to begin a journey of creating his true path.
I did not direct him to this path. I always believe that my clients know best what is right for them – they just need support and guidance.
I never judged Yaron. I helped him discover his inner and outer strengths and become confident, grounded, and stable enough to make decisions. I used specific somatic movement and coaching tools to teach him how to deal with change, create change, and make smart choices not initiated from fear.
Neal* and Maia* had three children.
They were exhausted. I could see it in their facial expressions, in their tight shoulders, and their breath. They were holding hands, but I didn’t feel that they were truly connecting.
Even though their older son was already six, they were still overwhelmed by the demands of parenting.
Neal and Maia started to argue right away, and Maia had tears in her eyes.
Nothing they tried so far worked. They ended up yelling all the time at their kids and each other. They tried a few online courses, YouTube parenting videos, and even a parenting coach, but those methods did not work for them.
Sure, Neil and Maia got some tools and tips for what to do when their kids have a tantrum or don’t want to go to sleep, but it felt like a bandage.
Those methods didn’t work because they didn’t view the family as a whole. They were only treating parenting issues.
Neil was a photographer. Before becoming a parent, he used to take long trips around the world. Maia was an artist and an art teacher, and now, she couldn’t find time for her art. Anyway, she didn’t feel inspired.
Neil and Maia felt they made sacrifices. They loved each other and the kids but felt resentment. They did not talk to each other about it because they wanted to be supportive. Their pain about what they lost grew inside, and they wondered if they would ever feel like themselves again and why no one told them what parenting is like.
I helped Maia and Neil create a safe, nonjudgmental place to share how they felt. We used somatic movement practice for grounding, centering, and connecting.
Every week (for eight weeks), I gave them assignments that guided them to re-evaluate their individual and family patterns and re-discover their passions and relationships. We used leadership and coaching methods to create a family healthy and balanced schedule and practiced positive solution-oriented communication.
I did not teach them simple tricks to deal with their parenting issues. I did not tell Maia and Neil what they needed to do and how. With my support and the communication tools that we practiced, they have created the right plan for their own family and had the tools to respond to changes in the future.
Maia continued to come because she benefitted from the somatic practice. After a few months, she decided to study movement and integrate it with the art she started working on again.
*Names changed to preserve client confidentiality.
My passion is to help you find YOUR passion.
I have always followed my heart and passion. I learned that I’m not a whole person when I shut down this part of me.
My passion has changed over the years, and I realized it’s okay to let go and start something new.
I learned to recognize the feelings and the body sensations that come to me when I deny following my heart or needing a new path.
I learned to express myself and my needs to those around me so that they can support me, and I don’t resent them.
I learned to search for and recognize that new things will make me happy. It was a process of research and growth. I researched somatic movement, leadership coaching, management tools, and different therapy approaches. It always took me back to the same place: kindness and empathy.
I offer my clients tools, exercise, and guidance, but most of all, a safe, nonjudgmental place where they can research what it is that they love. What makes them happy. What will make them whole again.
Some already know but have a hard time taking the first step. Some are searching, and that’s okay.
I will help you be kind to yourself and support you through your search and making the change. And remember – change of a part, changes the whole, so small steps are okay. The wheel is in your hands.
Let’s talk about the importance of movement…
Science is now proving what somatic movers knew for thousands of years.
We can experience, process, and analyze our environment through movement and body sensations, and not every piece of information has to go through the brain.
When we deny ourselves to experience the world through our body, we miss a big part of the experience.
We live in a world where we think of everything.
We use words when we think. Each word already comes with specific analysis, baggage, and bias which are different for each person.
The way we analyze things depends on our DNA and past experiences. Therefore, people can experience the same thing differently.
We don’t choose that. It is a part of growing up and developing skills, but it pushes us further away from our body and our body-mind-spirit connection.
Why should you regain your body-mind-spirit connection?
Body-Mind-Spirit is one. It is the WHOLE that is us. The separation is artificial and causes a lack of stability, lack of physical and emotional balance, and lack of centering:
- You will feel more grounded, stable, and centered.
- You will be more focused and able to get the details and the big picture of your situation
- When we use movement and body sensation, we create a process without judgment and bias.
- We used to think of everything and try to have our brains influencing our bodies. For example, by repeating a mantra. Did you know that your body can influence your brain? If instead of saying: “I’m strong and confident,” you will allow your body to feel strong and confident, your brain will react. It is an incredible process that goes back and forth.
- Talking about our feelings is sometimes hard. Movement allows us to express ourselves without words.
- Talking, facial expressions, breathing, crying, and laughing are movements. We use movement to communicate and explore the world. Lungs expanding and shrinking, blood flowing in our body, and our heart pumping are movements. Movement is life itself. If you want to make a change, this is where we start.
Here’s how I can help…
Getting started…
When we meet for the first time, I will ask you to tell me about yourself and what brought you to me.
When you answer, you’ll notice that I’m doing more than just listening. I’ll be looking at you and observing your movements.
I will notice your breath, your facial expressions, the connection between how you move and what you say, and I might even try to move like you. It helps me relate to your experience and better picture what you are not expressing with words.
Discovering your strengths…
I strongly believe in the strengths-perspective, which means that we will focus on everything that is supportive and positive in your life before focusing on the issues that brought you to me.
The work process will reveal your inner strengths and outside recourses that you never took advantage of. Often, clients are surprised by how much change they experience in that early stage of our work together, only by changing their perspective on the situation.
Every pattern of your behavior, thinking, and feeling was created for a reason. It supported you at some point in some way. Those patterns are what keep you stable and allow you to move. I would never suggest that you lose the support you have developed all those years without having some other support ready to serve you.
When you discover all your strengths and resources, you will no longer depend on patterns that hold you back or don’t support you. You will be able to create new habits and feel stable and grounded. That is when you will be ready to make your move.
This is why helping you reveal all your strengths and resources is a priority for me.
Uncovering your values, desires, and beliefs…
Once you feel supported and empowered, it’s time to begin the journey of change and growth.
To ensure that you are going in the right direction for yourself, you need to consider your beliefs and core values.
Sometimes, we are scared to admit to ourselves our true values, and we make decisions that don’t reflect our personality.
You might be surprised by what you find about your core values. We will get there together using a combination of somatic movement exercises to achieve stability, centering writing assignments, and discussions.
I will not judge your values. I believe that every client knows what is best for them. I’m here to give the tools and a safe place to research.
Harnessing the tools available to you…
Through your journey, we will research and empower every existing thing in your life to support your progress and growth – your skills, creativity, sense of humor, friends, family. I will give you the tools to grow those skills and resources and use them.
Training you to respond to change calmly… and with agility.
While I will help you grow your existing skills and learn a new tool, we will focus on what change is from a somatic point of view.
Change is actually movement. When we move something, we change its location. Breathing, blood flowing, the earth spinning are all movements. They are all changes. Without movement, there is no life. Without change, there is no life.
We will work together to comprehend this idea while practicing different movement exercises and management functional tools for dealing with change and making decisions.
Some of my beliefs that will guide our work…
Growing up, I imitated how everyone around me moved. I did that for years before I realized why I was doing it.
It was one of my natural talents, and it helped me understand the people around me and make connections. I never knew that I was using physical empathy as a part of how I experience others.
When I began to work as a therapist, I used my talent, but it was incomplete. It was more of an instinct.
When I started studying and practicing movement analysis, I learned about the science and the sense of this tool.
Physical empathy allows me to connect to my clients through their movement and body sensations. If we all practice physical empathy and help our children maintain this naturally born ability, we will have a more compassionate and kind world with wonderful leadership.
Everyone deserves to enjoy emotional and physical balance. And everyone should experience daily joy, passion, and laughter. I want to help you create a present and a future where you can be kind to yourself, feel whole, and experience happiness.
I believe that you know best what you need and want. I have the experience and the knowledge to help you discover what it is and how to achieve it.
Any pattern can be changed if you choose to change it. You might have heard before that some patterns were created before a certain age cannot be changed. This is not true. You can change any pattern with the proper guidance, perspective, and tools.
I believe that mind, body, and spirit are one. The separation is artificial, and it was created by western culture to make it easy to study and comprehend the complexity of humankind. But as science advances, it proves that our body-mind-spirit is one and that process can begin and end in any of those parts.
When you change a part, you change the whole and the other way around. So, you can start small and enjoy the chain reaction of the change.
About Me
I’ve always liked to move!
Dancing, running, jumping, playing… that’s my thing!
Over the years, I’ve traveled the world and became a dance teacher and Capoeira instructor (that’s a martial art combining elements of dance and acrobatics). Would you believe that I was a national Israeli Capoeira champion?
Some of my more interesting life experiences…
I’ve offered Capoeira and movement therapy groups for children, teens, and parent-child groups. The first group was an experiment during my social work studies. Along with my college, I facilitated a unique group of 9-11 years old boys with severe behavior and communication problems inside their school. The project became one of my favorite parts of my work.
We extended the work to Capoeira therapy groups specializing in divorced father-son relationships. I learned so much about family relationships, connections, interactions, and great communication tools. It allowed me to work on my creativity and group facilitating skills.
I was a medic and a field-hospital instructor in the Israeli army. This was where I took my first steps learning about anatomy and my first steps as a professional instructor and senior instructor working to develop teaching and learning skills for the medical instruction department.
I’m a certified Scrum Master (project manager with the Agile approach in software development). I fell in love with the Agile method and the Scrum tools I was exposed to while helping my husband manage his software development and leadership business. Agile and Scrum value and promote supportive leadership, significant interactions, and positive communication. We both love it so much that we run our home using Agile and Scrum, and we even have a YouTube Channel where we talk about it and share our family’s stories and experiences.
When we work together, you will find that Scrum tools help organize processes, plans, goals, and interactions. We will practice communication skills that will help you communicate to yourself and others what you really want and need to create a positive effect.
When I’m not in the office…
I have been married for over 20 years and have three kids and a dog.
I also LOVE horses, the beach (where I grew up), and nature.
I know you want to change…
…but taking that first step can be hard.
Maybe you are unsure what you want to change or how to change. Maybe the change itself is what’s holding you back, and perhaps you are not sure that those around you will understand and accept your decisions.
Change can be scary. I know. Revealing our existing patterns can be scary. I can relate.
But it’s when we are conscious of how we think, feel, and move that we get to the source of our problems. We must be aware of what’s driving us to decide if we want to change it.
With the right tools and support, I believe deeply that anyone can create change in their life.
Are you ready to start your journey?
Give me a call today for your free consultation. Let’s talk about how I can help: (201) 639-1406.