What Is Somatic Movement Education?

Somatic Movement Education is an open, creative, and individual-centered approach to movement, healing, and self-awareness.

It explores the relationship between body, mind, movement, and touch—supporting you in reconnecting with your body in a way that feels safe, curious, and responsive.

Rather than “fixing” the body, somatic work invites you to listen to it.

Your experience becomes meaningful information.
Awareness becomes a resource.
Choice becomes possible.

What Is Somatics?

Somatics is the practice of turning attention inward to notice internal sensations, movement patterns, and nervous system responses.

It includes:

• Interoception (awareness of internal sensations)

• Proprioception (awareness of position and movement)

• Exteroception (awareness of your environment)

These awareness-based practices support:

• Nervous system regulation

• Reduced pain sensitivity

• Greater ease and adaptability in movement

Somatic work is not about pushing through—it’s about expanding your options.

When you have more options, you are less trapped in habitual pain patterns.

What Is Body-Mind Centering® (BMC®)?

Body-Mind Centering® is a somatic movement approach developed by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen.

It explores anatomy through lived, embodied experience—not just intellectually, but through sensing and moving.

In BMC®, you might:

• Sense muscles, bones, and organs from the inside

• Explore early developmental movement patterns

• Work with breath, fluids, and connective tissue

• Shift pain patterns by introducing new sensory input

This work doesn’t bypass pain—it changes your relationship to it.

What Is a Somatic Movement Educator (SME)?

A Somatic Movement Educator is trained to guide others in exploring embodiment through movement, touch, and awareness.

As an SME, I:

• Support you in building awareness and agency in your body

• Use trauma-sensitive, consent-based approaches

• Help you explore movement with curiosity—not force

• Co-create a safe, compassionate, and responsive therapeutic space

This is not about me telling your body what to do.
It’s about helping you learn how to listen to it.

How This Integrates with Pelvic Physical Therapy

In somatic pelvic therapy, these principles support people experiencing:

• Pelvic floor tension

• Chronic pelvic pain

• Postpartum recovery

• Trauma-related holding patterns

• Stress-related symptoms

We work with:

• Breath and nervous system regulation

• Gentle movement and repositioning

• Awareness of organs, tissues, and internal support

• Expanding movement options—not forcing outcomes

This is a slower, relational approach to care.

What a Session May Feel Like

You might:

• Ease into movement with guided awareness

• Explore breath, posture, and subtle shifts

• Experience hands-on work (with consent)

• Notice sensations with curiosity rather than judgment

Micromovements count.
Imagined movement counts.
Breath counts.

Over time, awareness builds—and with it, more choice.

A Different Way to Understand Pain

Persistent pain can change how your body feels and responds:

• Sensations may feel amplified or unclear

• Movement may feel unsafe

• The nervous system may stay on high alert

Somatic work gently invites you back into movement—at your pace.

Not by pushing through pain,
but by expanding your relationship to it.

Is This Right for You?

This work may resonate if you:

• Want a trauma-sensitive approach to physical therapy

• Feel disconnected from your body

• Live with persistent pain or pelvic floor tension

• Are looking for a more collaborative, whole-person approach

You don’t need to have it all figured out to begin.

Call to Action

If you’re curious about working together, I offer:

• In-person pelvic floor physical therapy in Oakland

• Virtual pelvic floor therapy across California

• Somatic movement sessions for deeper nervous system support

This is an invitation to move differently.
To listen differently.
To relate to your body with more compassion and choice.