In one of those baby books where parents record things like first words, first steps, and first trips, there’s this written by my mother, “At 21 months, Amber was constantly asking us to ‘Sing, again!’  and dancing to whatever we sang.” I wish that I could see myself back then, not quite two years old.  I like to think that the request to sing was urgent and raw, that I had a craving for movement that was not about pleasing my audience, like when a child is told to say “cheese” for a picture.  Instead, something was coming through me; it just had to.  

I am a certified Laban and Bartenieff Movement Analyst.  This system provides me with scope and a range of ways to play with movement. In addition, I am a student of Continuum Movement, of Dream studies, and Depth concepts. I have a masters in Marriage and Family Therapy, but as a mentor in dream and movement explorations, I do not offer therapy.  My style is syncretic and surprising.  I am sensory oriented and like to make poetic leaps. I’m deeply interested in Psyche’s wildness and wisdom and will strive to hold space for your dreams in a way that supports what is coming through you.

I’m curious about patterns - patterns of a habitual nature, patterns in development, patterns forming and unforming. I’m curious about how we hold ourselves and the nature of our relationship with the gravity that holds us. The embryologist Jaap van der Wal speaks about our bodies as a process, a lifelong performance. We are not machines. In fact, as he said in a presentation about fascia, “We are never ready.” Our whole lives, we will go on shaping. The tensions between fixed and fluid, holding on and letting go, beginning, ending, and beginning again - these are moving to me.

I like to think about the intimate and vital relationship between our dreams and our bodies. How our dreams are born within us, move through us, and have the capacity to awaken, inform, and shift our perspective. They can teach us about patterns and what it is for us to quicken, to release, and to begin again. They can teach us as a collective about what it is to be alive now, today, in this moment in time, as the ground shifts beneath our feet.

I didn’t learn about dreams and dreaming bodies in school. Honestly, I can’t recall anyone growing up who spoke about their dreams. For many of us, when we finally come into a relationship with our dreams (which is to say that we come home), we recognize them as a profoundly valuable resource for our personal and collective lives.

Training, Education, and Life Experience

Laban and Bartenieff Movement Analysis Certification, Integrated Movement Studies

MA MFT, retired LMFT

Dream Tending Certificate, Level 1, Stephen Aizenstat, Dream Tending

Extensive Continuum Movement Training

Work that is informed by Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Liz Koch, Sarah Byrden, Susan Harper, and other members of the Continuum Teachers Association