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A DANCER, MEDITATOR, EARTH LOVER, SPIRIT SEEKER, SOUL TRAVELER. Yoga changed my life…. It can change yours too… We all long to live more naturally, to experience peace and joy. We all feel emptiness from time to time and yearn to connect to something bigger than ourselves. When we tune in and listen carefully to the notes the body is playing, when we get closer to our inner rhythm, we can start to live with authenticity, with more creativity, in touch with our inner wisdom, our inner guide. We may discover that what we longed for, is within. We are whole and complete just the way we are, there is no need to fix or mend. We feel this interconnectedness with the world around us. We are at home. The temple is our hearts.
I was born and raised in Israel where I lived most of my life and raised two sons. I am now a proud grandma of two beautiful twin girls. I’m a Dance Movement Therapist (MA), a registered Yoga Teacher with E- RYT 200 certification and a Vipassana practitioner.
With the perspective of a somatic therapist my approach as a teacher is holistic, of body mind, and spirit connection. Yoga is a practice of transformation. Transformation in all levels of our being and all aspects of life.
My goal is to cultivate a peaceful experience for my students, to guide them safely through the asana practice in a natural flow, and through organic transitions between poses. To offer a space to explore, to be free and creative, to move towards self acceptance, self love, to develop self worth. To have a sense of wonder, to be playful, joyful, to be Here and Now.
I see myself as a life long student, fascinated by the richness of the Yoga philosophy. I am a forever yoga practitioner, a seeker of truth… just like you, I am on the path… looking forward to share with you my love for this beautiful wisdom that Yoga is.
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What is Dance Movement Therapy?
Dance is the most fundamental of the arts, involving direct expression through the body. Dance/movement therapy bridges creative expression with psychological theory (Loman and Merman, 1999). Based on the assumption that body and mind are interrelated, dance/movement therapy is defined by the American Dance Therapy Association as “the psychotherapeutic use of movement as a process which furthers the emotional, cognitive and physical integration of the individual” (Stanton-Jones, 1992). Dance/movement therapy effects changes in feelings, cognition, physical functioning. The use of body movement as a cathartic and therapeutic tool was seen in primitive societies. For these societies dance was as essential as eating and sleeping, providing individuals with a means to express themselves, to communicate feelings to others and to commune with nature.
Dance Movement Therapy focuses on movement behavior as it emerges in the therapeutic relationship. Expressive, communicative, and adaptive behaviors are all considered for group and individual treatment. Body movement, as the core component of dance, simultaneously provides the means of assessment and the mode of intervention for dance/movement therapy.
Practiced in mental health, rehabilitation, medical, educational and forensic settings, and in nursing homes, day care centers, disease prevention, health promotion programs and in private practice.
Effective for individuals with developmental, medical, social, physical and psychological impairments.
Used with people of all ages, races and ethnic backgrounds in individual, couples, family and group therapy format.
Grounding
Pooh looked at his two paws. He knew that one of them was the right, and he knew that when you had decided which one of them was the right, then the other one was the left, but he never could remember how to begin.
Milne, 1961
Grounding describes the energetic contact with reality. In order to have good energetic contact it is necessary for energy to flow freely to those areas of our bodies with which we make contact with the world: the sense organs, the arms and hands, legs and feet, the skin and sexual areas.
The person who is well grounded is said to have ‘his feet on the ground.’ He feels the connection between his feet and the ground he is standing on. Grounding represents the individual’s contact with the basic realities of his existence. Grounding involves getting a person to lower his center of gravity and by that to feel close to the earth. This results in increasing his sense of security.
Some people make mechanical contact but they lack a feeling of energetic contact. This should be done through exercises that develop vibrations in the legs. The vibratory phenomenon increases sensation and feeling in the legs and feet and thus helps to achieve true grounding. These exercises should be done on a regular basis in order to achieve and maintain the feeling of security and a sense of being rooted that comes along with the position of being well grounded.
Grounding serves the same function for the organism’s energy that it does for a high tension electrical circuit. It provides a safety valve for the discharge of excess excitation. In the human body the buildup of energy could also be dangerous if the person is not grounded. The individual could split off, become hysterical, or experience anxiety.
Grounding helps a person become more fully identified with his animal nature which includes his sexuality. The lower half of the body has much more instinctive functions than the upper half which are not so consciously controlled. When we pull ourselves up from the lower half of the body, we lose much of our natural sense of rhythm and grace.
If one is well grounded, his body will be naturally balanced, upright and firm and his energy will flow freely.
Breathing
Breathing is important for emotional and physical health. Breathing is necessary for life as oxygen provides the energy to move the organism. Oxygen also keeps the metabolic fires burning and so inadequate breathing affects the circulation which influences the vitality of the organism. As a therapist I find that depression and fatigue are direct results of depressed respiration. In chronic cases of poor breathing, the arterioles become constricted and the red blood count drops.
Most people are poor breathers. Their breathing is shallow and they have a strong tendency to hold their breath in stressful situations. The result is an increase in their tension. Inadequate respiration produces anxiety, irritability and tension. Every difficulty in breathing creates anxiety. If the difficulty is severe, it may lead to panic or terror.
Why do so many people have difficulty in breathing fully? It is because breathing creates feelings they are afraid to feel. They are afraid to feel their sadness, their anger and their fear. As children, they held their breath to stop crying, they drew back their shoulders and tightened their chests to contain their anger. So the inability to breathe normally becomes the main obstacle to the recovery of emotional health.
Normal breathing has a unitary and total quality. Inspiration begins with an outward movement of the abdomen as the diaphragm contracts and the abdominal muscles relax. The wave of expansion then spreads upward to embrace the thorax. Expiration starts as a letting down in the chest and proceeds as a wave of contraction to the pelvis. In healthy breathing, the front of the body moves as one piece in a wave like motion. It involves the whole body.
Breathing is the basic pulsation (expansion and contraction) of the whole body; it is therefore the foundation for the experience of pleasure and pain. Deep breathing charges the body and literally makes it come alive. One of the self-evident truths about an alive body is that it looks alive; the eyes sparkle, the muscle tone is good, the skin has a bright color, and the body is warm.