Yoga for HumanKIND // Melbourne
2019-10-01 00:00 - 2020-04-30 00:00 (America/New_York)
Visit www.yogaforhumankind.org for more details.
#RightToEmbody
yoga for humankind PDF

Body as Voice Part III // Austin, TX
2019-10-11 09:00 - 2019-10-14 17:30
The Body as Voice: Restorative Movement Psychotherapy for Survivors of Trauma series is Alternate Route approved for those pursing their BC-DMT. It is also approved for CE’s for a vast variety of mental health and other professionals by R. Cassidy Seminars. The Alternate Route program is currently taught as 3, 4-day intensive trainings and is appropriate for those with some background in Dance/Movement Therapy, Somatic Psychology or other embodied approaches to therapy. For other professionals and disciplines, it is tailored in 3-5 day modules offered in a culturally appropriate frequency. Both the Poto Mitan Framework and RMP are described or referenced in several publications.
The three part series in Restorative Movement Psychotherapy is taught as:

Body-Mind, Beginners Mind: Focus on embodiment, self care, self compassion and self-practice. Emphasizes body and movement based stabilization sequences for working with traumatized clients.
Body Wisdom, Body Narratives: Focus on dyadic healing, reciprocal alliance; clinical intuition and clinical reciprocity to facilitate processing traumatic histories and wholistic integration.
Body as Voice: The Collective Body: Focus on group work, from small groups (including families) to large groups and community-based mental health. This “playshop” is a dynamic synthesis of Creative Arts, Dance and Movement, and Rhythm and Voice.

For more information on the next offering of this series, fill out the form below:

54 Annual ADTA Conference // Miami, FL
2019-10-18 09:30 - 2019-10-19 13:30
Amber is presenting at the annual American Dance Therapy Association conference on both Polyvagal-informed dance/movement therapy with asylum seeking survivors of torture, and the ancient roots of dance/movement therapy as reflected through Haitian sacred dance.
Calling Grace: The Science and Spirit of Dance Movement Therapy with Survivors of Relational Trauma
The socio-political landscape of the United States is divisive for immigrant survivors of torture. Torture, a direct assault to the body-mind, undermines humanity. The body becomes the betrayer. Working with survivors requires recognition of their traumatic past and their resilience, often rooted in faith, grace and spirit. Dance/movement therapy, uniquely positioned at the crossroads of science and spirit, is best practice for working with relational trauma. A practical theoretical framework informed by neuroscience and non-Western healing traditions frames an in depth case study highlighting the intersection of science and spirit to restore belonging, home in the body, and dignity. (NBCC CE hours; ADTA CE hours; NY LCAT CPE hours)
The Diverse Lineage of DMT’s Archetypal Roots: Isadora Duncan and Haitian Dance
This workshop honors history as repetition and invites innovation in healing through dance/movement therapy. Combining universal and diverse elements of movement healing, we explore archetypal patterns from the natural world as seen through the lens of Haitian sacred dance, Continuum Movement, and the therapeutic pedagogy of Isadora Duncan. The legacy of dance/movement therapy, reflected through these dance forms, validates the universality and diversity of embodiment through our relationship to nature. This universality makes the work relevant for diverse cross cultural populations. Casework, experiential sequences, and audio visual presentations from the two workshop leaders’ extensive fieldwork are included. (NBCC CE hours; ADTA CE hours; NY LCAT CPE hours)

Restoring Our Core // Sri Lanka
2019-11-07 00:00 - 2019-11-11 00:00
Restoring Our Core:
A Trauma Informed Approach to Body, Movement and Dance-based Therapies
November 7-11 • Holy Family Convent, Retreat Road, Colombo 4
In this 5 day intensive workshop, participants will learn non-verbal practices to restore well-being and balance for their clients and for themselves. Through a variety of breath, body, movement, dance and rhythm based approaches, participants will learn to access and utilize the body to heal and restore balance. This highly experiential workshop will prepare you to integrate movement, body, dance, creative arts-based therapies and “polyvagal play-labs” into your work with survivors of trauma.
For more information and to register, please contact:
thegoodenoughparent2018@gmail.com
0773411003

PDF flyer

Trauma and the Moving Body // New York
2019-11-22 19:00 - 2019-11-24 20:00
Trauma and the Moving Body: A Dance / Movement Therapy Approach
92Y Harkness Dance Center • 1395 Lexington Avenue • New York, NY 10128
3 Sessions, 15 hours – $325 until Nov 15 / $350 after
Friday, November 22, 7:00pm – 10:00pm
Saturday, November 23, 2:00pm – 8:00pm
Sunday, November 24, 2:00pm – 8:00pm
This course provides theoretical, scientific and contemplative rationale for the use of dance movement therapy with traumatized clients and as a restorative measure of protection, self-care and increased compassion.
This workshop provides a practical introduction and overview to the use of empathy, contemplative practices and physical activity in DMT work with survivors of trauma as well as for our own resilience and well-being.
This course is fully approved by the ADTA for Alternate Route credit for R-DMT. All Dance Therapy courses are eligible for CE hours. For further information about the ADTA, visit adta.org.
Register Here
Get CEs through R. Cassidy Seminars here

Contact: 212.415.5555 or achapman@92y.org
FLYER

Continuum at The Edge // Santa Fe, NM
2019-11-26 18:00 - 21:00
Moving through Uncertainty & Change with Grace & Ease
When • Tuesdays, 6-9pm • 9/17/19 • 10/15/19 • 11/26/19
Where • Puerta de la Luna, 546 Harkle Rd, Ste B, Santa Fe, NM
Cost • $35/class

Our bodies connect, contain and support our movement through life. In these times of increased speed, busy-ness, demand and undeniable climate change on our planetary home, opportunities to quiet and restore can seem fleeting.
Continuum is a movement and life practice that tones and relaxes our muscle and bone body, tonifies and balances our nervous system, clears our mind, sparks our heart and revitalizes our spirit. Originated by somatic pioneer Emilie Conrad, Continuum is medicine for our uncertain times.
The human body is dwelling place for our spirit. Born of Emilie’s encounters with the rich spiritual dance traditions of Haiti, the recognition that life is energy is the heart-center of this practice. Weaving together breath, sound and movement, Continuum restores the natural rhythm and landscape of our body-home, increasing our capacity to tend to our earth home. This 3 class series offers mindful movement in service of our well- being and inter-connectedness.

The Edge SF – PDF

Body as Voice Series // Nelson
2019-12-13 00:00 - 2020-02-24 00:00
Part I and II of Amber’s Body as Voice series in Nelson, NZ.
Part I: December 13-16, 2019
Part II: February 21-24, 2020
For registration and more information:
Hester, Nelson organizer, hester@snap.net.nz

Fluid Heart, Open Mind // Hawthorn
2020-02-14 11:00 - 2020-02-16 17:00
When: February 14-16, 2020, 11am-5pm
Where: Habitat Uniting Church, Hawthorn
Cost: $580/$520

Continuum is a movement practice that is inspired by sounding and fluid, moving sequences innate to your own body. It is mindful movement: increasing your awareness and focusing your attention on the deepest stirrings beneath each impulse, movement and action. By tapping into your body’s own sense of intelligence and justice, this practice is a portal for cultivating deep self-compassion and presence, for heartfull action in your own life and in the world.

As experience carves new neural pathways and expands the capacity of our brain, so innovations in our movement and action might increase our capacity to connect to the worlds around us.
Engaging in our heart’s call for connection and evolution’s gift of neuro- and Bioplasticity™, this 3-day immersion is an opportunity to explore your own uniquely embodied pathway to fully engaged and compassionate sensing, feeling, dreaming, creating, moving and living.

INFORMATION & REGISTRATION
FLUID HEART, OPEN MIND PDF FLYER

Ground in the Swirl // Online webinar offering
2020-03-28 14:00 - 15:30
Class Dates & Times (Mountain Time/USA):
THURSDAY MARCH 19:
9 am MT/USA
SATURDAY MARCH 21:
2 PM MT/USA

SATURDAY MARCH 28:
2 PM MT/USA

In a recent supervision session, a colleague in Italy suggested I offer the practices I shared with her in an online forum. Her exact words were “This can help us regain a sense of self amidst this crisis”.
Ground in the Swirl is a straightforward, practical class offering embodied, movement-based approaches to promote state shifting when a vastly evolving reality undermines our ability to be present. Experiencing fear, worry, anxiety, overwhelm, depression, stress, etc. is a normal response to a rapidly changing situation in which lives are threatened. The practices shared in this class will support participants to find more ease and support for everything we feel though the grounded wisdom of our body. Practices are grounded in Continuum, Dance/Movement Therapy, Somatic Psychology, Polyvagal Theory, and Amber’s extensive field experience.
The COVID-19 global public health emergency is rife with unknowns and uncertainty. We are all tasked with significant life change, more quickly than can be comfortable. We are all asked to cease our usual movements, and many of us will be forced to remain in one place.
These sessions won’t cover information about COVID-19; it will get “straight to the moment” and support us all to breathe, be still, move and find ground in the swirl.
If possible, have available a large physio ball, any kind of smaller ball of any material or texture, any kind of elastic or stretch band, dowels or even a stick.

I am a Somatic Psychotherapist and Dance/Movement Therapist with 23 years experience working with complex, interpersonal trauma, and 30+ years working with disasters and complex humanitarian emergencies through the lens of public health, mental health and humanitarian response.

Register for this webinar here.

Suggested donation: $10-$20. Donate here. If you are unable to pay, please just sign up.

Dreaming the Dolphin Sea // Bimini
2020-04-05 00:00 - 2020-04-11 00:00
RESCEDULE TBA
The ocean is home.
Home to the myriad of creatures who live beneath and swim through her fluid depth, home of origin for the human being and body. Blue Diamond Retreats and Wild Quest partner to offer an embodied exploration of the Ocean’s majesty, dolphin magic, and the mystery of Continuum.
This retreat, lovingly facilitated by Amber Gray and Rebecca Lawson, combines breath-inspired sound-streams and movement explorations to invite us into curiosity and flow, with daily wild dolphin encounters. Dolphins are bright, playful and intelligent beings! They literally sense the field and will interact and play when called by our resonant presence and love. Our dolphin dives become portals to dream us home to our hearts.
For more information & registration:
amber@ecentral.com
rebecca.amislawson@gmail.com

Dreaming the Dolphin Sea

Trauma & the Moving Body // Melbourne
2020-04-21 09:30 - 2020-04-22 16:30
Trauma and the Moving Body – Movement Therapy for Sexual Assault Survivors
When: April 21 – 22, 2020, 9:30am – 4:30pm RESCEDULE TBA
Where: Queen Victoria Women’s Centre, 210 Lonsdale St.
Registration
Exposure to traumatic events can imprint our bodies, minds and spirits with the fear and terror of past memories. Current neuro-psychiatric research has shown that when someone is traumatized, a majority of traumatic memory is implicit— or sensory-motoric and image-based. Many of the researchers endorse the use of non-verbal therapies for survivors to fully integrate the past with the present and restore well-being and balance.
For more information about this workshop please contact:
Sarah McGregor, Training Co-ordinator,
Statewide Sexual Assault Workforce Development
sarah.mcgregor@monashhealth.org
PDF FLYER: Trauma-and-the-moving-body-Melbourne-2020

The Embodied Yoga Summit
2020-04-22 00:00 - 2020-04-26 00:00
Amber is joining the Embodied Yoga Summit and a fantastic line-up of 40+ embodiment researchers and yoga facilitators in this free online conference.
“Explore how reconnecting with the body and learning to move with awareness can promote a deeper level of health, happiness and inner well-being than you ever thought possible.”
Register here.

Body as Voice Series // Auckland, NZ
2020-04-24 00:00 - 2020-08-16 00:00
This innovative, polyvagal-informed approach to working with trauma and the body has been taught all over the world, and has finally come to New Zealand.
PART I: August 16-19, 2019
PART II: December 6-9, 2019
PART III: April 24-27, 2020 RESCHEDULE TBA
PART IIII: August 14-16, 2020 RESCHEDULE TBA
For more information:
Jacquelyn Wan, AKL organizer, rmpst.nz@gmail.com

RMPST flyer

Ground in the Swirl: Embodied Movement for Uncertain Times // 1440 Multiversity Online Learning
2020-04-27 13:00 - 16:00
Amber joins the faculty of 1440 Multiversity to offer her popular class, Ground in the Swirl.
WHEN: April 27, 1-4 PM PST
WHERE: 1440 Multiversity Online Learning
REGISTRATION
Experiencing fear, worry, anxiety, overwhelm, depression, and stress is a normal response to a rapidly changing situation in which lives are threatened. Join 1440 Multiversity faculty member Amber Gray, PhD as she guides you through practices to help you find more ease and support through the grounded wisdom of your body.
In this straightforward, practical class, Amber will offer embodied, movement-based approaches to promote state shifting when a vastly evolving reality undermines our ability to be present. The COVID-19 global public health emergency is rife with unknowns and uncertainty. We are tasked with significant life change, more quickly than can be comfortable, asked to cease our usual movements, and many of us will be forced to remain in one place. Using techniques grounded in Continuum, Dance/Movement Therapy, Somatic Psychology, Polyvagal Theory, and more, this session will get “straight to the moment” and support us all to breathe, be still, move and find ground in the swirl.

Ground in the Swirl Online Series
2020-04-29 09:00 - 16:00
Ground in the Swirl Online Series
with Dr. Amber E. Gray
This virtual series is being offered following the enthusiastic response to our recent “one off” webinars.
Ground in the Swirl is a straightforward, practical class series offering embodied, movement-based approaches to promote state shifting, comfort and embodied presence when a vastly evolving reality undermines our ability to be present. Experiencing fear, worry, anxiety, overwhelm, depression, stress, etc. are normal responses to a rapidly changing situation in which lives are threatened. The practices shared in these classes will support participants to find more ease and support for everything we feel though the grounded wisdom of our body.
Practices are grounded in Continuum, Dance/Movement Therapy, Somatic Psychology, Polyvagal Theory, Mindfulness Practice, Yoga, and Amber’s extensive field experience. This series will allow more time to “elaborate” the theories, science and practical approaches shared in the 90-minute classes. Each class will offer a more in depth exploration of breath, movement, dance and creative practices to ground, calm, energize, reframe and connect. Each session will include space for optional sharing and checking in.
The COVID-19 global public health emergency is rife with unknowns and uncertainty. We are all tasked with significant life change, more quickly than can be comfortable. We are all asked to cease our usual movements, and many of us will be forced to remain in one place. This series encourages refuge and sanctuary in our bodies and our homes.
This series won’t cover information about COVID-19; it will get “straight to the moment” and support us all to breathe, be still, move, and find ground in the swirl.
Dr. Amber E. Gray is an award winning dance/movement therapist, a human rights psychotherapist, a Continuum teacher, a yoga instructor and therapist, and has over 30 years experience working with disaster, complex humanitarian emergencies, and 23 years experience working with complex interpersonal trauma. She has played a lead role in many large scale staff care programs. She originated Polyvagal-informed soma- and dance/movement therapy through long-time collegial idea-sharing with her friend Stephen Porges.
Class Dates & Times (Mountain Time/USA):
Wednesday Series
9-11am MT/USA
April 8, 15, 22 and 29
Register for the
Wednesday Series here.
Thursday Series
2-4pm MT/USA
April 2, 9, 16 and 23
Register for the
Thursday Series here.
PLEASE NOTE: You MUST register using the forms above to receive the link to the Zoom meeting. Making a donation is seperate from registration.
* This is the same series, being offered on two different days. Please select which series will work for you and register using the appropriate form.
It is also possible to sign up for individual sessions in either series. Follow the respective links above to register for a single session within the Wednesday or Thursday series.

Please register using the forms above BEFORE making a donation. Thank you.
Suggested donation for the series: USD $70-100
Suggested donation per session: USD $15-25

You can make your donation here. OR Venmo @Amber-Gray-13
If you are unable to pay, please just sign up.

You will be sent a Zoom link approximately 15-30 minutes before the class begins. It’s recommended you Zoom in from a place where you can sit, stand up and move a bit (i.e the size of your own personal “space bubble”).
It can be helpful to have multiple sitting options (a chair, a large physio ball, a cushion for the floor) as well as a yoga mat in case you need floor time, some blankets, and a few props (stretch bands, spiky massage balls, slo mo’s, dowels or sticks, etc.) NONE OF THESE ARE REQUIRED, and each session’s Zoom invitation will detail any props we might use for that particular session.

By registering through the Google Form you will also receive a link to the Zoom recording and slides after the session. The link will only stay active for 5 days after it is sent, so please download the recording ASAP if you would like access to it at a later date.

Expressive Arts Therapy and Traumatic Stress: Innovative and Embodied Approaches in the Age of COVID
2020-06-09 13:00 - 14:30
LIVE WEBINAR
Tuesday, June 9, 2020
01:00p to 02:30p CDT
Join renowned expressive arts therapy and traumatic stress experts, Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, and Amber Elizabeth Gray, PhD as they discuss how we can address these impacts with clients through innovative sensory-based and embodied approaches.
Information & Registration

Intimacy with the Unknown
2020-06-17 09:00 - 11:00
Intimacy with the Unknown: A Ground in the Swirl Sequel
“When nothing is sure, everything is possible.”
Margaret Drabble
The Ground in the Swirl series was a heart offering response to the immediacy of the COVID-19 crisis. Intimacy with the Unknown is an invitation to deepen the practices and processes explored in this series. As our global community enters into varying types of transition—the space between, rich with the fertile ground of uncertainty—mastering our bodies’ abilities to practice deep listening can anchor us. This Ground in the Swirl sequel is an invitation to engage practical, embodied strategies for self-regulating and adapting, while finding support through the ritual and ceremony of connection: Connection to our selves, one another, and the natural environment. As we embody strength, flow and ground, we expand our spheres of connection to weave support.
This series draws from practices and processes shared in the original series (likely with a few new ones as well 🙂) and “unfolds” them in the context of ritual and ceremony. These practices promote access to our bodies’ ability to be both physiological predictability and sacred refuge. Intimacy with the Unknown is an opportunity to dive deeper into the heart and soul of this work.
Times & Dates
Offered Wednesdays:
May 27 – June 17, 2020
9-11 AM MDT/USA; 11 AM-1 PM EDT/USA; 4-6PM Central Europe Daylight Time
Offered Thursdays:
May 21 – June 11, 2020
4-6 PM MDT/USA; 8-10 AM Australia EDT; 10 AM-12 PM New Zealand Daylight Time
NOTE: You can select your time zone on the registration form to confirm your local meeting time. See details below for registration.

Donations
Suggested donation for the series: USD $70-100
Suggested donation per session: USD $15-25

You can make your donation here. OR Venmo @Amber-Gray-13

Donations are separate from registration. You must register using the links below to receive the Zoom links.
Registration
You must register for each individual session you want you attend using the links below. If you wish to attend the entire series, you must complete the registration forms for each date listed. You will receive a confirmation email upon registering, and a second email closer to the date with any additional information for the upcoming session.
Recommendations
It is recommended you have the following available when we meet:

Candle and matches to light
Earth—either be near an outdoor place if you can; if not—have a potted plant or a bowl of dirt/sand/clay available
Sculpey, Play-Doh, or clay
Journal/notepad and pen/pencil
Things to draw and color (colored pencils, crayons, etc.) and something to draw on
Favorite moving/stretching/dancing music cued up (or at least know what song you feel like hearing)
A variety of sitting/lying down props (physio balls, mats and blankets, cushions, comfy chairs, stools, etc.)

Be in a space where you can move, even if from a chair and even if it’s just a little. Everything we do is adaptable to indoor/outdoor and small to big spaces, urban and wild places—just like we human animals.
We will not use these in every sessions and it is very likely you will be invited to gather other objects on a class by class basis. This is a beginning list for what we will want to access during out time together.

"Right to Embody" // Embodied Psychology Summit
2020-07-23 14:00 - 15:00
Join Amber and her beloved colleagues for the Embodied Psychology Summit. Amber will be presenting “Right to Embody” on Thursday, July 23, 2020 at 2 PM EDT.
This is a wonderful opportunity to learn with over 40 world renowned teachers and therapists to optimize humanity, connection, and well being.
The intention of the summit is to empower our world community with the wisdom of body and potency of somatics as a process for deep healing. We are specifically focusing on somatic therapy for healing trauma, stress relief (including race-based somatic stress relief), attachment and intimacy, embodied social justice, psychedelics in therapy, spirituality and healing, applied polyvagal theory, mindfulness, resilience, inner connection work, and so much more.
We all need this now more than ever.
Reserve your spot for FREE & immediately receive 10 bonus items.
REGISTER HERE

What the Spine Knows // CONNECTED
2020-08-08 00:00 - 12:00
Amber will be sharing her wisdom in Yoga for Humankind’s “Connected” on August 8. Learn more here.

Integrating the Body in Psychotherapy // Live Online Summit
2020-09-25 14:45 - 15:45
Amber is a featured presenter at PESI’s upcoming “Integrating the Body in Psychotherapy” live online summit. View the PDF here.
Trauma and The Moving Body
The most essential ingredient for client co-regulation is therapist self-regulation. That’s why this presentation will share embodied breath, somatic and movement practices that offer stabilization, grounding, and state-shifting for both client and therapist well-being.

Using Restorative Movement Psychotherapy and Polyvagal-informed Dance/Movement Therapy in clinical practice
Practices for regulation and reciprocity

Grounding and stabilizing practice
Enhancing interoception practice

Register for the event here.

Polyvagal-informed Dance and Movement Therapies // Barcelona
2020-09-26 00:00 - 2020-09-27 00:00
RESCEDULE 2021
Amber Gray bringing Polyvagal-informed Dance and Movement Therapies to Barcelona, September 2020
Facebook event

PDF flyer 1 PDF flyer 2

Spiralling Inward // DTAA Online Event
2020-09-27 09:30 - 12:30
Spiralling Inward: Interoception as a Dance and Somatic Movement Therapy Practice and Process
Date: Sunday, September 27, 2020
Time: 9:30am to 12:30pm AEST
Venue: An online workshop by Zoom Webinar
Open to: All qualified and student Dance/Movement Therapists, and Body-oriented psychotherapists, counsellors and psychologists interested in the practice of dance/movement therapy.
Dance movement therapy’s power lies in many aspects of the mind-body connection. As a psychotherapy, its unique emphasis on bridging the implicit and the explicit, the internal and external, makes it uniquely positioned to support clients enduring the effects of stress, uncertainty and trauma, and for our own embodied self-care.
This 3-hour workshop will combine science, spirit and experiential processes to refine and enhance our interoceptive abilities, a radical act of micro-empowerment. Micro-empowerments, a polyvagal-informed DMT principle and practice, are essential to restoring agency and relative safety for survivors of trauma. Likewise, therapists micro-empowerment practice promotes resiliency to counter burn-out and vicarious trauma.
Download the full Event Brochure here.
REGISTER HERE

Continuum & Continuurhythm® // Human Movement Conference
2020-10-02 08:15 - 11:30
Bathing the Bones: An Introduction to Continuum
Friday, October 2, 8:15-10:15 AM MT
Continuum is “moving medicine”. It is a movement and life practice originated by Emilie Conrad
that uses breath, sound and movement to awaken our innate, primal movement. Emilie Conrad
taught that all fluids are basically one element, resonating with all other fluids. They function as
a kind of umbilical cord supplying us with the pulsing undulations of life. Continuum movement
increases flexibility, motility, wellbeing, creativity, innovation, adaptability and vitality.
Our movement patterns have origins in the sea. Connecting to this fluid system offers levels of
nourishment, liberation and healing that restore, youthfulness, playfulness and ease. This
introduction to the Continuum will weave breath and sound together with movement sequences
to invite free-flowing, organic movement. Bringing fluid movement into other movement practices
can increase their potential for healing, strengthening and diversifying movement range.
Continuurhythm®
Friday, October 2, 10:30-11:30 AM MT
Continuurhythm® integrates Continuum, a fluid embodied practice inspired by the undulations of
human movement, Polyvagal-informed dance and soma-movement therapies, and sacred dance. Continuurhythm® offers a rhythmic, physically strengthening and spirit nourishing “workin” for whole body fitness. It is appropriate for movers and dancers of all levels of experience and fitness who want to connect to the deep roots of all movement, the ease and flow of wave motion – our inner choreographer.
View the schedule and buy tickets here.
Learn more about the Human Movement Conference here.

Right To Embody // The Embodiment Conference
2020-10-15 13:00 - 23:59
Amber is once again presenting her “Right to Embody” work at The Embodiment Conference on October 15 at 1 PM Mountain Time, USA.

This conference will be a rich opportunity to come home to your body, in our chaotic world. Many of the planet’s best teachers will be there, and it costs nothing to be a part of.
Reserve your FREE space at The Embodiment Conference

Spiraling Into the Wild // Online Advanced Workshop
2020-10-30 09:30 - 2020-11-01 13:30
Spiraling Into the Wild: Integrating Psoas & Polyvagal-Informed Continuum & Dance Therapies Advanced Collaboration with Amber Gray & Liz Koch
Dates: October 30 – November 1, 2020
Time: 9:30am – 1:30pm CT
Cost: $285.00 – $320.00
INFORMATION & REGISTRATION
Delve a bit deeper into the entangled dynamics of somatic psychology, movement therapy, and core integrity within an embodied dynamic nervous system and primal core psoas.
PREREQUISITE: This is an advanced collaboration course for professionals and is only for those already with a firm foundation in somatic explorations. Participants need to know they have the confidence, physical centering, and psychic anchoring to hold them in time and space. A clear sense of containment and a fluent practice in grounding is required. This course is not a fit for those who may be currently feeling destabilized, traumatized, struggling to heal, or in need of reestablishing basic nervous system or life coherency. We will be going deep in this course, not only conceptually but truly into the live wilderness of psyche and soma.
Photo: Kevin Bergen

Dreamscape: A Continuum Moving Inquiry // Online
2020-11-07 13:00 - 18:30
Art Credit: The Pitjantjatjara Community
WHEN: Saturday, November 7, 1:00-6:30 PM CT
WHERE: Online at home via Zoom
COST: $100 (inquire for student & COVID hardship rates: registration@ambergray.com)
This is an invitation to virtually explore Continuum for those who are new and those with experience. This dive is in preparation for “The Serpent’s Dream”, a depths retreat at Wood Haven ATX in Austin, TX coming this Spring. It’s also a thorough and complete stand alone Continuum mini immersion.
Continuum is a moving practice that invites embodied self-reflection, deep assimilation, and deep rest. In a world that moves quickly and is often impatient of our inner guidance and wisdom, we can lose the heartbeat of our own rhythm. Coupled with the current global environment spanning uncertainty, collective loss and fear, and the challenge and possibility of BIG CHANGE, we can lose our sense of center. Gathering wisdom about body knowing through our own deep listening in a breath, sound and movement- scape, this 1 day introduction to Continuum is inspired by earth, ocean, and a vast field of stars, inside and around us. This class will focus on sound, spirals, and stillness as medicine.
REGISTER HERE
Download the event flyer here.

Radical Freedom: A Continuum Approach to The Restorative Process with Survivors of Trauma // Embodied Yoga Online Immersion
2020-11-21 12:00 - 13:15
Saturday, November 21
12:00 – 1:15 pm (ET) // Translate into your Time
Free & Online
Continuum is a movement and life practice that invites inquiry and curiosity in mind, heart and movement. Radical Freedom is Continuum teacher, Human Rights Dance/Movement Therapist and Yoga Instructor Dr. Amber Gray’s polyvagal-informed adaptation of Continuum specifically for working with survivors. This session will integrate Yogaballah (Continuum-infused Asana practice) into an experiential exploration combining yoga Asana with Continuum breath, sound and fluid, moving explorations. Please have a mat, 1-2 blankets, cushions/bolsters as needed, water and something to write in and with, available. A small squishy ball (like a slo-mo) will also be helpful.
REGISTER FOR FREE HERE

The Potent Edge: A Creative Arts Solstice Ritual for Therapists
2020-12-21 18:00 - 20:00
Monday, December 21, 6-8 PM EST
With Dr. Amber Elizabeth Gray & Marianne Moskowitz
We live equally in the light and in the dark. Many of us live in contexts which privilege the light, and where darkness is frequently shunned. Just as the tiniest of seeds needs to bed down in the darkness of earth to grow, humans require resting into a fertile, dark void to regenerate, and foster creativity.
This two hour virtual ritual will equally honor dark and light through a reflective creative process. This ritual offering is an opportunity for therapists, healers and anyone confronting the suffering of others through their work to gather in a shared liminal space.
COST: $50 ($25 for Kint graduates)
DETAILS & REGISTRATION

Body as Voice Series // ATX
2021-06-03 00:00 - 2021-11-07 00:00
Body as Voice:
Polyvagal-Informed Movement Therapy for Trauma
Amber’s Body as Voice Series is coming to Austin, TX in 2021:
PART I: June 4 – 7, 2021
PART II: September 16 – 19, 2021
PART III: November 4 – 7, 2021
NOTE: Part I pre-requisite is required for parts II & III.
This intensive trauma and polyvagal-informed course series for clinicians and alternate route students provides a thorough introduction and strong attentional skill refinement for the clinical use of Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) with survivors of complex and interpersonal trauma. This course is an amalgam of structured practices, somatic and movement processing, and grounded theory, based on the instructor’s 25 years of ongoing work with survivors of war, torture, and political, racial, ethnic, historic and collective trauma who seek refuge. This course is an in process evolution of a moving, breathing, engaged approach to DMT and soma-movement therapies organically developed through a reciprocal alliance with clients who come from globally diverse socio-economic, socio-political, geographic, socio-cultural and socio-spiritual contexts.
This embodied human rights framework integrates the latest neuro-scientific wisdom with ancient traditional dance and rhythm-inspired healing practices from the instructor’s ancestral lineage. This approach to facilitating the restorative process for survivors of complex interpersonal and violence-based trauma has been described as “truly accessible for all cultures, with deep respect for all people” as shared in “a compassionate, humanitarian trauma-informed DMT course”.
Part I can be taken as a stand-alone course that provides DMTs (both experienced DMTs, and alternate route students) with the foundational skills to address the unique clinical needs of survivors of trauma. It also serves as the first in a three-part series on working with trauma. The series emphasizes dance/movement therapy and soma-moving therapies as a self-compassion practice for DMTs working with trauma; DMT practices to support safety, stability and reconnection, and embodied depth trauma processing, all based on a contemporary, evidenced-based approach to working with complex and interpersonal trauma.
For registration information, visit Embodied Neurobiology.
Learn more about this series.

Dancing the Wild Home 2022 // Tonga
2022-08-23 00:00 - 2022-09-01 00:00
When: August 23 – September 1, 2022
Where: Ha’apai, Tonga
Questions: restorativeresources@gmail.com
REGISTRATION
The Ocean is home. Considered the mother of us all in many sacred traditions, she absorbs more carbon dioxide than anything else on our planet. For every breath we take, we have the ocean to thank for offering the gift of oxygen, and therefore, of life. In these times of profound climate crisis, our health depends on planetary health. Planetary health depends on ocean health.
Whales are magnificent wisdom carriers of the ocean, with much to share about compassion and generosity. Our own bodies are 70-80% water; the remnants of oceanic living, still inside us and available to teach us about flow, creativity and resiliency. This restorative eco-somatic retreat combines daily whale and other ocean dwelling creature encounters (dolphins, turtles, manta rays), with movement, dance, breath and sound practices, explorations, and deep “dives.” We also support Tonga, an island threatened by rising and polluted waters, through inspired action to help us steward mother earth.
Amber Elizabeth Gray is an award-winning dance movement therapist, an authorized continuum teacher, a hatha yoga teacher and long-time student and teacher of Haitian sacred dance. Her expertise is in working with survivors of traumatic life experiences, and this retreat is an opportunity to heal and restore for those of us who feel strain from the busy-ness and demands of the world; affected by stress and trauma; concerned about climate change; or just wanting to connect to the wild and the magical. Each day will be a journey into the wildzenness of the sacred through continuum, restorative movement, yoga, sacred dance and whale encounters.
Cost & logistical information:
Double/shared rooms are USD $2875.00 per person. Singles are USD $3725.00 per person.
These costs cover accommodation; meals; daily (except Sunday) whale swims, boat and guides; daily (except Sunday) Continuum/mindful movement classes; and RT airport transfer with the group.
Initial non-refundable deposits of USD $500.00 per person for double/shared and single occupancy, are due upon registration.
Second payment of USD $1000.00 for doubles per person and USD $1500.00 for singles per person is due May 15, 2022.
The remaining balances of USD $1375.00 for doubles/shared; USD $1725.00 for singles is due July 15, 2022.
Refunds minus the non-refundable deposit are 100% refundable up to May 15 2022; 50% up to June 25, 2022 (60 days) and 25% up to July 25, 2022 (30 days). No refunds after July 25, 2022.
Singles will be released on June 15, 2022 and cannot be guaranteed after that date.
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PHOTO CREDIT: Jack Hatfield
