Every Inhale Begins With an Uprising: A Right to Embody Playshop
Presented by: Dr. Amber Elizabeth Gray
When: November 20, 2021
Where: Berlin, Germany
Somatic Expeditions
October 6-10, 2021
Somatic Expeditions is a series of conversations and practices with over 10 somatic-awareness experts. Journey through the body into expanded awareness to connect with what’s alive and create new possibilities.
Click here to listen to the interview.
Roots, Rhythm, Reciprocity: Polyvagal-informed DMT for Trauma
October 9, 2021
Dr. Amber Elizabeth Gray
This one-day workshop on Polyvagal-informed Dance/Movement Therapy is an embodied introduction to the effects of traumatic experiences on the human body and our human experiences — from the individual to the collective. A combination of basic theory, neuro-scientific evidence and rich, varied somatic, movement, rhythm and dance-based experientials will support participants to integrate this trauma-informed wisdom into their work. Theory and experiential processes will be contextualized through case examples illustrating this work in a human rights framework to support survivors of relational, complex, and collective trauma through an empowerment-based reciprocal alliance..
The HeArt of Resilience at the “Embodying Resilience” Summit
July 11, 2021
Dr. Amber Elizabeth Gray
Resilience is often referred to as something we build. Resilience is actually a process that derives from, and supports, relationship, connection, and engagement. Those of us who directly steward the restorative process for survivors of trauma are exposed to stories, histories, and emotions that impact our own well-being and worldview and can amplify our own suffering. This presentation offers a reframe on Resilience as an emergent process that is relational, creative and embodied, and centers socio-cultural and socio-spiritual approaches to individual and communal resilience drawn from the presenters experience in conflict, post-conflict and disaster zones in a diversity of cultures.
Expressive Arts Psychotherapy and Trauma: Sensory-Based and Somatic Approaches to Trauma Treatment
May 11, 2021
Presented by Dr. Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, ATR-BC, LPCC, LPAT, REAT & Dr. Amber Elizabeth Gray
Join renowned somatic and 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, and ourselves, through innovative sensory-based, somatically oriented, expressive arts approaches.
Roots, Rhythm, Reciprocity: Polyvagal-informed DMT for Trauma
Saturday, April 17, 2021
Presented by Dr. Amber Elizabeth Gray
This one-day workshop on Polyvagal-informed Dance/Movement Therapy is an embodied introduction to the effects of traumatic experiences on the human body and our human experiences — from the individual to the collective.
Trauma & the Moving Body: A Polyvagal-informed Dance Movement Therapy Approach for Clients & Therapist
April 9-11, 2021
Presented by Dr. Amber Elizabeth Gray
This course provides theoretical, scientific, and contemplative rationale for the use of dance movement therapy with traumatized clients, and as a measure of protection, self care, and increased compassion.
Keynote Address
Presented by Dr. Amber Elizabeth Gray & Dr. Stephen Porges
March 13, 2021
Day 3 of the Collective Grief & Trauma Conference
Embodied Social Justice Certificate Program
April 12 – June 30, 2021
The Embodied Social Justice certificate program is a 3-month online program that explores how we embody unjust social conditions, how oppression affects our relationship with our body, and how we can harness the body’s wisdom in making our social justice work more grounded, responsive, and sustainable.
ISMETA: Engaging Embodiment Conference
Amber has been invited to present as a Special Guest at this upcoming online conference, Engaging Embodiment: Somatic Applications for Health, Education & Social Justice March 3-7, 2021.
This timely conference, organized by ISMETA, brings together more than 80 of the world’s leading Somatic Movement professionals to share how our work in Somatic Movement impacts Health, Education and Social Justice.
The HeART of Adaptability: Polyvagal Informed Practice for Mental Health Clinicians
Thursday, February 25
8:00 – 9:30 PM ET
The Dance of Interoception: A Path for Truth to Power
Amber is presenting her Right To Embody work again at the Embodied Social Justice Summit.
Join her Saturday, January 30th at 6 PM EST/US for “The Dance of Interoception: A Path for Truth to Power”.
The Potent Edge: A Creative Arts Solstice Ritual for Therapists
Part of the Kint Institute’s Virtual Training Series, 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.
Register for this workshop here.
Radical Freedom: A Continuum Approach to The Restorative Process with Survivors of Trauma
A free & online Embodied Yoga immersion on November 21, 12-1:15 pm ET.
Dreamscape: A Continuum Moving Inquiry
WHEN: Saturday, November 7, 1:00-6:30 PM CT
WHERE: Zoom
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.
Spiralling Inward: Interoception as a Dance and Somatic Movement Therapy Practice and Process
Learn more about Amber’s online event through the Dance Movement Therapy Association of Australasia on September 27, 2020.
Human Movement Conference
October 2, 2020
“Bathing the Bones: An Introduction to Continuum” & “Continuurhythm®”
Learn more about Amber’s offerings at the Human Movement Conference here.
“Right To Embody”
Amber is once again presenting her “Right to Embody” work at The Embodiment Conference on October 15. You can reserve your FREE space at The Embodiment Conference here.
Amber is interviewed about Continuum, sacred lineage and wild spaces by her dear friend and Continuum colleague, Sylvain Meret:
Liz Koch and Amber are collaborating in their advanced online workshop, Spiraling Into the Wild, November 30 – October 1.
Amber is a featured presenter at PESI’s upcoming “Integrating the Body in Psychotherapy”.
“What the Spine Knows”
Amber will be sharing her wisdom in Yoga for Humankind’s “Connected” on August 8, 2020.
Amber is offering a sequel to her popular Ground in the Swirl online series, Intimacy with the Unknown.
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. Intimacy with the Unknown 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.
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
Expressive Arts Therapy and Traumatic Stress: Innovative and Embodied Approaches in the Age of COVID-19
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.
Tue, Jun 09, 2020 – 01:00p to 02:30p CDT
Learn more here.
Dancing the Wild Home in Tonga
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.
Learn more here.
Watch Amber’s interview on the #ORadio here.
Ostrolenk speaks with Dr. Amber Elizabeth Lynn Gray, an award winning dance/movement therapist and a somatic/human rights psychotherapist. Dr. Gray has worked for many years with people who have survived human rights abuses, war, and torture. Dr. Gray details how various educational and career experiences, and ultimately her time in Rwanda, drove her decision to pursue her degree in Somatic Psychology and Dance/Movement Therapy. Dr. Gray details her creation of Restorative Movement Psychotherapy, a clinical counterpart of the Poto Mitan (Haitian Creole for “Center Post/Place) Trauma and Resiliency framework, and how her experiences have evolved her view of the body politic and the ways in which we dehumanize the body. The intersection of spirituality and science, of humans and the Earth, and humans and animals are a few of the spaces in which Dr. Gray is increasing her work.
Amber shares about her Ground in the Swirl series on Sharon Weil’s Passing 4 Normal Podcast. Listen to Finding Ground in the Swirl with Amber Gray here.
Amber’s Ground in the Swirl online series was a heart offering response to the immediacy of the COVID-19 crisis.
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
Amber joined the Embodied Yoga Summit and a fantastic line-up of 40+ embodiment researchers and yoga facilitators in this free online conference.
Listen to Amber’s recent podcast with Kate Shannon of Creative Therapies Umbrella
Dates: April 21st & 22nd, 2020
From: 9.30am – 4.30pm
At: Queen Victoria Women’s Centre
210 Lonsdale St.
Amber is speaking at the annual NASW-NM conference on Thursday, March 7, 2019
Amber is an invited speaker at PACFA’s annual conference, February 23-34, 2019 in Sydney, Australia
Jan 12, 2019: Trauma and The Moving Body at Pratt in NYC.
Click here for more info.
Watch Amber’s latest talk on Dance/Movement Therapy and Survivors of Torture at ADTA.
Amber is one of the featured clinicians who writes about her polyvagal-informed movement therapy in Dr. Stephen Porges latest book.
New Podcast Episode with Amber
Listen to Amber on the latest episode of the The Embodiment Podcast.
Experienced dance movement and trauma therapist Amber joins Mark to discuss humanitarian work, polyvagal theory, state sharing, self compassion and self care when you work with trauma, the new trauma rock stars, humour, and not wearing kid gloves. We also discuss simply “what works” in trauma, and offer practical trauma-related tips for any embodiment professional.
As the American Dance Therapy Association prepares to celebrate 52-Years as a professional organization, we are on a mission to educate and advocate for dance/movement therapy through our #GivingTuesday Grant.
If 1,000 people donated $5.20 to celebrate our birthday, we would raise $5,200 for the 2017-2018 Service Grant
Outreach to Refugees: Fostering Connection & Belonging
Donate NOW to the 2017-2018 #GivingTuesday Grant
Click the button above to donate to the ADTA.
Select “GivingTuesday: Outreach to Refugees” on the form, to support this cause.
The #GivingTuesday Grant is a partnership with the Marian Chace Foundation.
Body as Voice Training Series in Australia, December 1
Amber’s Body as Voice Training Series in Bologna, Italy, February 22
Amber’s chapter, co-authored with Dr. Stephen Porges, “Polyvagal-informed Dance Movement Therapy with Children who Shut Down” is hot off the press.
Click Here to Read Amber’s Most Recent Publication on her Polyvagal Informed Dance/Movement Therapy
Amber’s latest podcast: A Tool Kit for Post Election Distress Syndrome with Amber Gray. Have you felt immobilized by the results of this presidential election? Shut down? Off-balance? Somatic psychologist, Amber Gray, talks with Sharon Weil about how terror and fear affect the body, creating either a shutting down response or an impulse towards fight or flight action. She provides essential and helpful insight and tools for finding calm, restoration, and a return to mobility and social engagement after difficult events. These tools apply to any stressful, shocking, or life-altering change. Listen and find comfort in her words.
Polyvagal-Informed Therapy for Trauma, Attachment and Autism
Saturday, October 22, 2016 Hyatt Regency Bethesda (Washington DC Area)
BODY IQ is a festival that celebrates ourselves as living, pulsating bodies. Without the body there is no experience and without experience there is no ground for intelligence.
BODY IQ is a festival of and by the conscious body – ensuring discovery, exchange and unexpected synergies. International experts, artists and teachers gather distinctions and commonalities of somatic approaches, then disseminate them into a wide spectrum of applications, penetrating – from arts to healing to politics – many domains of human activity. BODY IQ aspires to be a platform that generates impulses for the knowledge, wisdom and wonder of the conscious, human form.
Listen here to Amber’s recent podcast in Sharon Weil’s changeability series.
Introducing the Kint Institute’s Creative Arts Therapies and Trauma Certificate Program
The Kint Institute is pleased to announce our post-masters certificate training program on the Creative Arts Therapies and Trauma, launching Fall, 2016.
The training program begins in September in New York City at the beautiful IAC building. Explore www.kintinstitute.org for more details, including training curriculum, application, as well as information about our cutting-edge faculty.
We are welcoming applications for our inaugural cohort of creative arts therapists and clinicians of other disciplines who are interested in the arts and trauma treatment. Please consider joining us, as well as sharing the website with colleagues who may be interested.
If you have any questions or want more information, don’t hesitate to reach out atinfo@kintinstitute.org.
Listen to Amber’s Interview at The West Coast Trauma Project
Body as Voice: Restorative Movement Psychotherapy for Trauma Treatment, July 13-16, 2015. Kinections, Rochester NY. The clinical use of Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) with survivors of trauma. First in a three part series. Discusses DMT theory, Center Post Trauma and Resiliency Framework and Restorative Movement Psychotherapy, and neuroscience as a growing evidence base for DMT with trauma survivors.
Click for more Info
Body as Voice: Restorative Movement Psychotherapy for Trauma Treatment, May 22-25, 2015. Vancouver, CA. This introductory “overview” workshop will balance theory with experiential learning to introduce participants to some of the core restorative components of the Center Post Trauma & Resiliency Framework (CPF) and its clinical counterpart, Restorative Movement Psychotherapy.
Click for more Info
Amber’s upcoming presentation in Beirut: Tending the Fire: Mindful Movement and Body-Based practices for Well-Being at the 9th annual NISCVT conference Towards a better well being: Inter-sectoral approaches in Mental Health, Galleria Hotel, Beirut, Lebanon, May 8-9, 2015. Click for more Info
Listen to Amber’s Interview with Sharon Weil on Passing 4 Normal
“Refugee Mental Health: A Challenging Need”. Amber is one of the invited speakers to Gulf Coast Jewish & Family Community Services National Symposium:
Click here for more information.
Check out Dance Movement Therapy with Refugee and Survivor Children: A Healing Pathway is a Creative Process, Amber’s latest chapter, published in “Creative Interventions with Traumatized Children” edited by Cathy Malchiodi, Guilford Press, 2014.
Click here for more information.
Amber’s chapter on Continuum Movement and founder/originator Emilie Conrad published in Inner Dialogues in Daily Life. This chapter is a personal account of Amber’s journey with Continuum Movement, and its bold and innovative originator and teacher, Emilie Conrad. The chapter also covers Ambers work in conflict and disaster affected areas.
Click here for ordering information.
Amber co-authors chapter on Refugee Mental Health Screening
Link to information on this first-of-its-kind book about refugee health