
Embodied Somatic Practice for Beginners
Reconnect to your body. Regulate the nervous system.
Discover what’s already yours.
Monday’s | 7:00pm–9:00pm
May 19 & 26 and June 2 & 16
This is for you if you are ready to go beyond insight.
Therapy often begins with powerful realizations. We name our wounds. We uncover how we adapted to survive. We begin to see how those patterns still live in us today and interrupt our relationships and our ability to feel alive and go after what we want. But for many, that’s where things stall. Despite all the insight, the shifts you seek still feel out of reach.
Sound familiar?
Authentic Movement is a practice of liberation through the body.
It is an intuitive practice where you learn, over time, to follow your body’s inner impulses in a safe, non-judgmental space. There are no steps to learn, no choreography, no right way.
What To Expect
Guided somatic meditation (including inner child meditations)
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Building a relationship to the body through light guided somatic movement and Authentic Movement practice
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Creating sacred space through our group altar
and ritual practice
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Therapeutic support and feedback for group members
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Weekly group discussions
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A maximum of 8 group members
When Talk Therapy Isn’t Enough: How We Get Stuck
Therapy is an important aspect of recovery but needs to be paired with a practice that honors the wisdom of the body and the soul
1. You feel disconnected—from your body, others, or Spirit. You know how to talk about feelings, but you don’t feel them. You feel “floaty,” alone, or far from your body. Without embodiment, healing can stay intellectual—never reaching the parts that most need love and presence.
2. You’re stuck in coping habits you’ve outgrown. You keep turning to behaviors that soothe but don’t connect: overworking, alcohol, shopping, self-isolating. You’ve explored these in therapy, but something deeper—something relational or spiritual—hasn’t been met yet.
3. You’re in your head—but your body is still bracing. You know your history. You’ve analyzed your triggers. But your body is still waiting for safety. Change hasn’t landed in your nervous system—or in your relationships.
4. You get overwhelmed—or feel nothing at all. Big emotions flood in—or disappear completely. You’ve learned how to talk about emotions, but not how to expand your capacity to feel them.
5. You feel burned out, flat, or spiritually disconnected. You’ve lost your spark. Life feels dull. You may be surviving—but not thriving. Something sacred feels missing. This isn’t just depression—it’s disconnection from your deeper self, and from what lights you up.
6. Your body carries what talk therapy hasn’t touched. You still experience chronic tension, fatigue, or pain. The story has been told—but the body hasn’t been met. As Peter Levine teaches, healing trauma requires a somatic experience of safety and release.
7. You’re longing for something deeper. There’s a part of you that knows—healing isn’t just cognitive. You want to feel alive, connected, and whole. Not “fixed,” but truly met. Traditional therapy gave you tools. Now you want transformation.
The Gifts of Somatic Practice
Through the sacred lens of Authentic Movement and somatic presence
Welcoming the Fullness of Inner Experience
In Authentic Movement, we follow the body's impulse without agenda. Through this sacred listening, we expand our capacity to be with grief, longing, fear, and joy.Softening the Freeze Response
Freeze is the most misunderstood survival state—often mistaken for numbness, depression, or shutdown. As Peter Levine teaches, freeze is not a failure—it’s the body’s intelligent way of protecting us when neither fight nor flight was possible. Through slow, attuned, unforced movement, we begin to give the body space to complete what was never safe to feel. As Gabor Maté reminds us, healing is a return to connection—with self, sensation, and life itself.
Embodied Choice and Inner Authority
Authentic Movement cultivates self-trust. As movers, we learn to discern the difference between compulsion and inner truth. Choice and preference become more clear.Staying with What Hurts
This practice invites us to remain present as pain, fear, or overwhelm rise. Not to manage or soothe them away, but to let them move through gesture, sound, or stillness — and to be met with reverence.Being Rooted in the Now
Authentic Movement anchors us in what is real in this moment — the breath, the floor, the sensation in the hand. The practice is embodied presence.Softening the Inner Critic
As we are witnessed in our truth, shame begins to dissolve, and our full humanity becomes a source of dignity, not distortion.Relational Healing Through Witnessing
To be seen without fixing, guiding, or interpreting is a deeply reparative act. In this mutual field, mover and witness both receive: connection, insight, and the medicine of presence.
“Gretchen has a rare ability to create an environment of beauty and safety for her participants. The culture she cultivates within her groups forms solid, deep, and open bonds between its members, allowing us to take risks and do things we never imagined we had the courage to do. She creates a space where we can be seen in ways we never thought possible—held with love, without judgment, and encouraged to step fully into all of the parts of ourselves.”
~Kelly Jo
Investment
This 4-session offering is a space of deep embodiment, sacred witnessing, and soulful healing. All payments are reimbursable it you have out of network coverage for group therapy and individual therapy. I will provide a superbill that you can submit for reimbursement. Please reach out if you need sliding scale or a payment plan.
For Current Clients
If you are currently working with me in individual sessions, the cost for the full 4-session journey is $575.
For New Clients
If we have not yet worked together, the full investment is $975-$1,175, which includes:
The 4-session group journey
2–3 private 1 hour sessions (scheduled before and/or after the group) to support you in preparation, integration, and deepening the work. These sessions are an essential part of the container and allow us to enter the space with presence, intention, and support.
Please contact me if you need a payment plan.
These gatherings are not drop-in. They are a committed circle designed to hold and honor the depth of the work.