Our bodies are the vessels we occupy from the start of our lives, but so many of us feel disconnected in this home we have within ourselves. If we live in our bodies, how can they feel so foreign to us? For a whole lot of reasons, we’re taught to ignore body wisdom even though it holds the most potent information about ourselves and how we move through the world.

 

How do we get acquainted with our body wisdom and why is keying into this innate knowledge so important? In this episode, we’re joined by licensed clinical professional counselor, dance/movement therapist and author, Erica Hornthal.

 

We talk about movement and body awareness and why it’s critical to our ability to be, live, create and heal.

 

When the body is the source of your pain, no one wants to revisit that. But we can’t escape our bodies. You’re bringing the place where the pain happened with you all the time, you may as well dialogue with it. -Erica Hornthal

 

Four Things You’ll Learn In This Episode 

 

-Our bodies never stop speaking

Human beings are always moving, even when we think we’re stuck in a freeze response, there is still so much happening within. How do we learn to decode what our bodies are telling us through even the smallest of movements? 

 

-How to find safety in your body

One thing that cuts us off from our innate body wisdom is how we’ve been conditioned to sit still and not “act weird”. How does this impact the movements we do make and how do we learn to move on our own terms again?

 

-Meet in movement

People don’t have to understand your body’s messaging to support you. How can we use mirroring to recognize, validate, and normalize what people are feeling? 

 

-Movement speaks where words fail

Before we can process a thought and speak it, our bodies have already felt and noted something. How do we use this to move through the world with more self-awareness? 

 

Guest Bio

Erica Hornthal is a licensed clinical professional counselor, board-certified dance/movement therapist, author, and the CEO and founder of Chicago Dance Therapy. Since graduating with her MA in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling from Columbia College Chicago, Erica has worked with thousands of patients aged 3-107. Known as “The Therapist Who Moves You,” Hornthal is changing the way people see movement with regard to mental health. Erica is the author of Body Aware and The Movement Therapy Deck. For more information, head to https://www.ericahornthal.com/ and follow @‌the.therapist.who.moves.you on Instagram.