SOMATIC offerings
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Somatic Dance Practice
While most of us do not consider ourselves “dancers”, it is undeniable that the ancient art of dance has played a significant role in shaping our species and culture on the planet. For thousands of years wisdom and knowledge have been passed from one generation to the next through rhythm, song, and dance.
We danced to celebrate.
We danced to grieve.
We danced to initiate.
We danced to learn.A program called WildCore Movement has served as a powerful catalyst in my personal remembering of this ancient artform. It allowed me to take dance out of the singular category of performance and brought it back to the place enjoyed by our ancestors of connecting with the elements in our body.
For me dance is a personal and communal practice of letting go; letting go of perfection, letting go of rigidity, letting go of performance, and letting go of my limiting mind to remember my whole body’s innate intuitive nature.
So, what is WildCore exactly?
WildCore is a somatic movement practice that originated in Sandpoint, Idaho under the creative direction of, Brietta Leader, a renowned dance movement therapy instructor with over 23 years of experience in dance focusing on healing, prayer, play, and conditioning. I became a certified instructor in 2017.
During an offering participants can expect to experience a gentle weaving of simple choreography and free form conscious dance. There is a gradual increase in heart rate, hydration of the joints, and toning of the muscles; all of which bring forth a lasting feeling of fluidity and primal aliveness.
Through choreographed movement, embodiment, and metaphor participants have an opportunity to bridge the physical and energetic body. The result: untamed self-discovery unique to each individual.
Words often fall short of the felt sense. I suggest trying it out rather than getting stuck in the boxes of language.
My intention at every offering is to create a safe container of space, where we can let go of perfection and experience a true dance workout while also feeling free to relax into the movement our bodies need.
No dance background necessary.
Come as you are.View the events page and/or sign up to receive my newsletter to learn of these upcoming offerings.
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There is a growing sense that our innate maps are blurring. As our lives migrate indoors and our eyes adapt to the flat glow of screens, the vibrant sensory literacy we once held begins to languish. Where we once navigated by the shifting currents of air or the textured language of the earth, we now find ourselves reliant on a modern literacy of symbols and haste. When we lose the ability to inhabit the present moment, we lose the ability to decipher the quiet wisdom of our own bodies.
For several years, I have been a student of Somatic Groundwork, a movement practice developed by Kaila June Keliikuli. It stirred in me a cellular memory of a time when "learning" was a full-body experience. As I transition from student to guide, I invite you to explore this path with me—not as a finished expert, but as a fellow traveler curious about what happens when we finally slow down to meet the ground.
What is Somatic Groundwork?
Somatic Groundwork is a gentle and developmental movement approach that provides therapeutic, creative and functional benefits.
The movement system improves self-regulation, coordination, mobility/stability and feeling states. Yielding Practices, Unwinding Methods and Patterns of Connectivity are applied to basic movements in every Somatic Groundwork class.
These Approaches influence sensory processing related to interactions between the nervous system and tissue architecture/ fascial matrix.
In a Somatic Groundwork class, we explore basic movements— laying down, mid-level, and standing.
Somatic Groundwork (SG) commonly:
restores feelings of pleasure and ease
attunes sensory awareness
promotes self-regulation skills
reduces and/or eliminates low back, hip, neck and shoulder pain
relieves emotional overwhelm and angst
improves movement quality and function
helps to develop compassionate partnership with our body
offers recovery from chronic stress and overload
Ultimately, Somatic Groundwork is an invitation to reclaim a lost literacy—the ability to converse with your own living architecture and the world that holds it. It is a quiet rebellion against the frantic pace of the digital age, offering a gentle path back to what is essential, felt, and fundamentally present. By returning to the ground, we don’t just rediscover how to move; we remember how to belong.
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Lapis Sky Plant Immersions are a multi-sensory deep dive into the world of one wild medicinal plant. Not just any plant. We focus on the plants growing here in the back yards and public lands of our home - the Inland Northwest.
For some, Plant Immersions are a first introduction to a plant. For others they might be a visit with an old relationship. For all, they are an opportunity to open into a refreshed sense of wonder and awe about an ally living in close proximity.
Before we ask, "What can we use this plant for?" we take in the greater essence of the plant and its role in our ecological home place. This involves its growing preferences, energetics, taste, smell, and structure - all of which make up the plant’s unique signature and overall character.
Through the mediums of story and sensory exploration, the subtle qualities and notes of the plant become illuminated. Experienced as a weaving of:
guided meditation and story
focused breath
tasting herbal infused tea and/or honey
breathing in aromatic notes of flowers, oils, and resins
examining with our eyes and hands the plant’s intricate design
After acquainting ourselves with the plant we then move our physical bodies through a series of guided movement patterns highlighting the unique medicinal actions of the plant for both land and body.
This somatic approach to learning plant medicine is especially helpful for kinesthetic learners; those who assimilate and retain information best when there is a meaningful story and physical movement involved in the learning.
At the end participants receive a document recapping what was covered in the class as well as helpful notes about identifying the plant in the wild, the plant’s habitat, medicinal actions, organ affinities, harvest tips, and recipes for wildcrafting.
May these offerings kindle a lasting kinship with the plant—so that when you encounter it in the wild, you instinctively pause and give it a warm, knowing “hello.”
Recently Scheduled:
what is somatic?
The term “somatics” comes from the Greek root “soma” or of the body.
“Somatics” is an umbrella term for the expansive field of bodymind therapies, approaches, and change theories that access body consciousness as primary.
The more you look into this field the more you will discover there are many ways to practice somatics, stemming from various ancestral lineages and philosophies.
How I interpret Somatics:
When we think about the body somatically, we’re being with the physical body, the emotional body, the communal body, the ancestral body, and the land and earth as a body. The body in relationship.
Somatics is noticing and encouraging the understanding of how we are in relationship to all things. And we experience these relationships through the body.
How I apply Somatics: In my 1:1 sessions and seasonal group offerings, somatics is presented as a relational learning practice rather than therapy. We engage in active exercises that place sensory tracking at the center—following the felt sensations of the body in motion. While many participants do report feelings of healing and greater wholeness, my primary aim is to guide people to slow down, widen their sensory awareness, and learn to read their body’s patterns so they develop reliable, embodied knowing.
I completed the Interdisciplinary Movement & Somatics (IMSomatics) training and am a Professional Member of the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association (ISMETA). I meet their Standards of Practice and follow the Code of Ethics. For more information, see ISMETA.org
reflections
“I enjoy the diverse attendance at your offerings. Elders and young adults dancing together brings gladness to my heart.”
— Cindy L.
“Immersing myself in the sensory experience of a wild medicinal plant and exploring its uses, essence, and deeper meaning was a profound experience. The guided meditation that Korrine takes you through and then the gentle stretching and movements takes what you’ve just learned and expresses itself in your dancing. I so enjoyed the warmth and joyful conversations over a cup of tea before we parted. I am definitely going to the next offering.”
— robynne T.
“I always walk away from your events feeling more alive, at peace, and closer in relationship with the people and the plant of focus.”
— brianne S.
“In one evening, I learned more about this plant and created an intimate connection that has transformed my “seeing” into “being”.
— lisa K.
“At these offerings I am able to set down my perfection and held ideas of what it means to dance and feel rhythm in my body. I need more of that in my life.”.
— KendelL W.
Opening the senses
to the subtle language of the body
through herbal tea, story, breath, and embodiment.