#19: Melissa Michaels — Bodying More of Ourselves & Attuning Together
Episode description and synopsis
Movement is a universal language that not only supports us in bodying ourselves, moving through trauma and cohering our body-minds, but also accessing ways to be in relationship with others and the more-than-human. Melissa has been a dear friend and guide on my own path to wholeness and it was such an honour to dive into a dancing-dialogue together.
Supporting us in our journey to embodiment and bodying more of ourselves as leaders and stewards of the emerging future, we explore why and how movement is so crucial in coming home to ourselves. How might movement as a practice support us in cultivating coherence and attunement, as embodied leaders?
We dive into the theme of cohering our body-minds and processing trauma stored in the nervous system, dance as a practice for life, building capacity by going so deeply into the body that we can go out without losing our ground, as well as the importance of community in these practices as instruments for attunement.
This is a juicy one! My hope is you get as much joy from Melissa and I’s dance as we did.
Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts
Guest bio
Melissa Michaels, Ed.D., is the Founder and Director of SomaSource Educational Programs and Golden Bridge, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving and empowering the lives of people through body-centered initiatory processes, mentoring, and community action.
She is a first-generation teacher of the 5Rhythms®, mentored by Gabrielle Roth herself, and a Registered Somatic Educator and Therapist (ISMETA). Her doctorate degree is in Education, Leadership & Change.
For the past 30+ years, Melissa has been creating movement-based cross-cultural educational opportunities focusing on the potential that is available at major life thresholds. Mapping the journey from trauma to dynamic well-being, her work utilizes the expressive and social arts to establish body and heart as resources for authentic expression and diverse community connections. Rooted in rhythm and fueled by breath, this work inspires the sacred union between Spirit, flesh, psyche, and deed.
Melissa is the author of the book, Youth On Fire: Igniting a Generation of Embodied Global Leaders
Show notes and links
- Golden Bridge (website)
- Gabrielle Roth’s 5Rhythms (resource and practice)
- Peter Levine – In An Unspoken Voice (book)
- Somatic Experiencing – Peter Levin’s Pioneering Trauma-Healing Approach (resource and practice)
- Melissa – Youth on Fire: Birthing a Generation of Embodied Global Leaders (book)
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Also published on Medium.