The body doesn't lie. When we reconnect with the body, we find that it has much to say. But the body doesn't necessarily speak the language of logic or of linear thought. Because true reconnection with the body also connects us with something deeper, something beyond thought, we often find that words, at least the way we typically use them, can't quite capture the essence of our felt experience.

Giving the body a voice, through dance or movement, drawing, or poetry, frees it. The use of these expressive arts to free the body is what I call BodySpeak™.

Freeing the body not only releases physical stress and tension, but it also releases emotional energy that the body might be storing. When this happens our thinking frees up as well. Then we become open to creative possibilities we couldn't see before. We become open to something greater than we are - something we can feel, yet can't quite put into words.
​

How It Works

  • We will begin by helping you to quiet your mind, get grounded, and reconnect with your body.
  • Your facilitator will guide you in bringing your awareness to a place in your body that calls for your attention.
  • You will then be guided in "listening" to how that place wants to move - without judgment and without censorship.
  • You will be supported in "tracking" and following this movement as it unfolds. This movement becomes your "dance."
  • As you allow yourself to surrender to this dance, you will find that your body will move in such a way to release whatever you are ready to release in the form of physical or emotional tension.

Drawing works in much the same way. Once you are listening to your body, you will learn to allow it to choose a color. You will learn to allow it to create movement on paper. You will learn how to get out of the way so that what's inside of you can be expressed through your art. This is not art that's meant to be "good." It's art that's meant to be honest - an honest out-picturing of what your body wants to say in that moment.
The body speaks in metaphors. For example, we say we have "butterflies in our stomachs." We say we're on "pins and needles." We meet someone new and say that "sparks flew." Pure poetry. Tracking body sensations and the tone, texture, and quality of our felt-experience and describing it in metaphor, allows us to express with words, but without the rules of linear speech. And before we know it, we've made poetry.
Individual BodySpeak™ sessions and group workshops are conducted in-person or online via Zoom.
Individual sessions are 1.5 hours and cost $185.00.
Packages of 3 may be pre-purchased for $150.00 each if scheduled and used within a 4-week period.

Workshop prices vary. 
Please make sure you are on the workshop mailing list by clicking here.
​
Contact Shelly to determine if a BodySpeak™ session is right for you.
​
Suggested reading: My Best Dance Ever