"You can write a book from an intellectual place, but I love the deep, personal searching and the depth of the Memoir Lab and the spiritual, the somatic, the emotional aspect of this, as well as the classes which are such an intellectual learning and technique and structure, which I had never studied writing before. So that was amazing. But then it took me into this deep, deep process. The book that I'm writing brings all of those elements into the material, which is just a perfect balance for me as a writer, as a person. That's what I want to write. That's how I work with people, and that's what I want this book to bring to my readers."
Marta Aarli, Psychotherapist and Dreamworker
“There was a whole year of incredible personal transformation that happened through this writing process that is not only healing my past and my present, but it's also setting the tone for my future, and where I'm going.
I think perhaps what prevented me from doing this on my own before was that I worried that I would lose myself or lose my mind, if I went too deep into my stories. So, knowing that I had the support of our cohort and this program allowed me to just lose it when I needed to and then soar when I was ready.”
- Jen Peer Rich, PhD- Author, Speaker, Eco-psycologist
"My life has changed, but I have really become more authentically who I was meant to be in this lifetime.”
"There was so much unlearning that I needed to go through. There was a total coming undone process in my own journey.”
“If we don’t speak our unspeakable story, it’s doomed to repeat itself.”
- Melissa Kaplan, Author & Somatic Therapist
"In Somatic Writing, we alway start with deep breathing. And in those experiences, when we're connecting to our inner selves, I had, I wouldn't call them visions, but I've seen things that I also needed to work through. I clearly have ancestors who were slaves, and that's probably not that may generations removed. And my work with Melissa (SOmatic Writing's in-house Core Energetics practitioner) has been very, very deep. We've been working for probably seven months. Ive come to the other side now. And I've also connected with myself and my culture so much more deeply."
- Charissa Pizarro, Licensed Clinical Psychologist
- Kimberly Robb Baker, Writer, Community Builder, Mother
“The confidence I have now is from our Lab…. I was able to really find my voice and develop confidence.”
“Writing some of the chapters that I’m not sure I’m going to publish, and writing pieces in the Story Archeology class, made me a better writer… you don’t have time to think, and you go right into the deep waters.”
“I gathered so much power and steam from the Lab, and I am really so grateful to have had that kind of support.”
- Mary Suzanne Garvey, Painter and Author
“Tanya is not going to help you write that book you think you’re going to write. She’s going to help you write a better book that you had no idea was in you.”
“After going through Somatic Writing, we have the opportunity to choose. And that choice is courage.”
“Allowing myself to go through that portal of what I don’t want to write about opened up that deeper story.”
“I hear it from women all the time, “I should be able to do this on my own.” When they say that what they don’t realize is that they have internalized ideas that are really powerless for them, and will not lead them to the next stage they want to go to.”
“Each woman is going to have her own transformation and evolution through interacting with the work.”
- Dena Crowder, High Performance Coach, Speaker & Author
“That guidance was wonderful-the guidance to get out of my head and into my heart, while leaving enough in my head to be able to write."
"Somatic Writing felt safe to me to grow and to start to express some pretty personal, deep feelings."
"When people (cohort members) would read something I wrote, and they'd give feedback, it was invaluable. They helped me grow into a deeper, clearer voice."
- Stacey Kerr, MD, Author
“It felt like my soul recognized you”
“This book was knocking on the doors of my heart.. but I didn’t have the courage to write it. In that moment of soul recognition with you [Tanya], I knew you were going to be the midwife to birth my book.”
“I didn’t have this cogent awareness that our body holds our stories, and that we can access them through writing. I was really able to go back in time and access the stories that I hadn’t been able to tell – the stories of longing, of desire – that we often shame ourselves for.”
"I had been changed on a very deep level; the Uma that started writing the book wasn't the Uma who finished writing the book”
- Uma Girish, Published Author
"I started working with Tanya and her team, with a goal of writing the first chapter only, telling myself it didn’t need to be good and that I only needed to write my story for ME (in other words, take off the pressure of who will like this book?).
Well…it was such a powerful experience that now, a year later, I’ve written over 80,000 words (!?!) and have almost completed the first draft of my book - all about my individuation journey from my mother and the generational trauma in my matrilineal bloodline.
But it’s not just that I’ve written a memoir - I’ve undergone a profound, transformative experience whereby I’ve connected the dots even more than I ever had before on the threads of my life, whereby I’ve found parts of myself that I never knew even existed, whereby I’ve made peace with experiences in my life that I never thought I’d make peace with, and whereby I’ve crafted a work of art (yes, I’m going to brag and say this book is a work of art!) that I feel so proud of.
It is a story about what it means to be a daughter, about what it means to be a mother, about what it means to be a Jewish Ashkenazi woman with Holocaust trauma in your bones, about what is means to be “good” or “bad”...and how to reclaim all the parts of yourself.
And I absolutely would not have been able to do this without Tanya and her team."
hey know their craft well, and are brilliant and deeply supportive and they SEE you."
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Joanna Lindenbaum
Coach, Writer, CEO Applied Depth Institute
"I joined Somatic Writing in September 2022 as part of the 6-week Author Up! Group and then moved into Memoir Lab. Now, at the beginning of 2024, I am on the cusp of completing my first draft. In the process, I learned how to organize my many thoughts and stories; I learned how to build an outline; I learned how to structure the story as a whole. But what I did not realize I would learn was…how to connect with me.
From the beginning, Tanya, my coach Debra, the various teachers and guest speakers, and my writing cohort held me in a sacred circle of love, support and challenge. Collectively, in that container, through guided writing exercises and one-on-one sessions, I was pushed to go from the surface to the underneath. And then even further below that. When I wanted to cut the process short and quit, I was lovingly invited to keep going. And then I was invited to start over. That’s because, through this group, I cracked open. In this safe space, I found the courage to tell the stories I thought I would take to my grave. With their full support at my back and their cheerleading on my side, I wrote myself into myself. I healed decades and generations of trauma.
The words on the page are now the full truth about me. The truth about my power. The truth about my voice. And that is a gift I cannot ever repay to any of them. And they do not expect me to. All anyone at Somatic Writing wants for me is to finish my first draft; to allow it to be the best possible draft it can be; to heal; to grow; and to pass it on to the next person. And that is a truly radical and liberated approach. Somatic Writing reflects, indeed, the principles of inclusion and diversity—of voices, of people. It is a powerful and magical space that once I entered into it, it was impossible for me to emerge unchanged. That’s why today, I am a writer.
In particular, I want to thank Debra for holding my hand—because of her, I am giving birth not only to my story but also to me."
Hella Rader
Writer
"To say that Somatic Writing with Tanya Rubinstein changed my life for the absolute better would be an understatement and I feel like I’ve only just begun. The support and connection I felt in class allowed me to write the cavernous depths of my story with guts and great pleasure. There were tears but also lots of laughter. Being a graduate of a somatic therapy practice in 2018, I was familiar with body-based psychotherapy but for this model to be used as a conduit for a creative writing practice, it turned out to be just what I needed to dive all the way into my stories and allow myself to get all the way wet with feeling. It was not without stalls and resistance, however, the soft holding done by Tanya to keep going propelled me to continue and finish my first draft even after the class had officially ended. I am happy to say that I am now signed to a literary agency in New York City and am scheduled to go out to publishers early 2024. Above all, I have written a book and can now say that I’m a literary writer which ain’t too shabby".
Haneefah Wood
Actor, Writer, Somatic Therapist
Somatic Writing gives us the space and process to open up and believe that we all have an important story to tell, and the permission to be our truest, messiest, and most magnificent selves...then helps us get it all written down. It has been a gift of a lifetime to become part of this community of writers.
- Eva DeVirgilis, Actor, Playwright, TED Speaker
I have been coached and trained by over 50 writers across the world, some with huge international recognition, and not one has ever opened me to myself the way the Somatic Writing process does. Tanya is a powerful guide through the chaotic and often painful journey of writing and discovery. If you've decided to write directly toward the truth no matter where it goes and you've found it challenging, lonely or scary... this is the answer. If you are a writer or aspiring to be, and you want a safe and powerful container to find your voice in writing, I can't recommend Somatic Writing enough.
- Andrya Allen, Founder of Vox Verba & Writer
Somatic Writing's process is like nothing else I've encountered in any writing sphere. Tanya once said to me, "I can’t promise you safety here." In its place, I was supported in the ultimate radical soul liberation: the telling of my story.
Melissa Kaplan
Author & Somatic Therapist
The Somatic Writing program is one of the best investments I’ve made in my life. Somatic Writing is masterful at creating a nourishing structure that invites me to write from the deep places I’ve longed to connect with but couldn’t access on my own. The experience has far exceeded my expectations and is pure nectar for my soul.
Mary Suzanne Garvey
Painter and Author
For those of you who are still to be initiated into the potent healing magic of Somatic Writing's Memoir Lab, I want to warn you of a few things, before you step into this cauldron/crucible/sanctuary.
The Somatic Writing team are actually part healers, part shamans, and part good witches, cleverly disguised as writing mentors and coaches. Be sure you know what you are getting into before you put your money down.
Writing a memoir, or narrative nonfiction, is not for the faint of heart. Coming closer and closer to the real living energy of your life, the life that lives and breathes underneath and through the twists and turns of your story, will undo you.
You will be unravelled and forever changed, and you will not be able to go back to who you were before you began this journey. Your views and beliefs and perspectives will be turned upside down and inside out, and you'll find that the story of your life is recreating you, as you wrestle with it, through the days and nights of this Lab.
You will also be undone by the profound kindness, care and wisdom that reveals itself in Somatic Writing, and by your fellow writers and travellers in the Lab. They will offer you a kind of love and compassion which will seem unreasonable and unfathomable at times.
Shayla Wright
Founder, Wide Awake Heart, Spiritual Mentor
There are no words to express my depth of appreciation for the Somatic Writing process. Nothing else compares to its method: it is potent medicine and an answer to prayers!
Somatic Writing's team of talented coaches offered me the perfect combination of inner permission and tactical "how to" structure. Somatic Writing was the missing element in me finishing the book I've wanted to write for years.
– Dena Crowder, TEDX Speaker, Power Catalyst for Leaders, and High Performance Coach
Somatic Writing gives us the space and process to open up and believe that we all have an important story to tell, and the permission to be our truest, messiest, and most magnificent selves...then helps us get it all written down. It has been a gift of a lifetime to become part of this community of writers.
- Eva DeVirgilis, Actor, Playwright, TED Speaker
I have been coached and trained by over 50 writers across the world, some with huge international recognition, and not one has ever opened me to myself the way the Somatic Writing process does. Tanya is a powerful guide through the chaotic and often painful journey of writing and discovery. If you've decided to write directly toward the truth no matter where it goes and you've found it challenging, lonely or scary... this is the answer. If you are a writer or aspiring to be, and you want a safe and powerful container to find your voice in writing, I can't recommend Somatic Writing enough.
- Andrya Allen, Founder of Vox Verba & Writer
Somatic Writing is a journey to a deeper expression of self-awareness and personal truth. The experience of being led by Somatic Writing's faciltators into embodied spirit, provided a safe place for story-craft and story-sharing like no other I have had in supportive writing groups. I grew through the progressive steps toward embracing the author’s role and the memoir form, and still felt the spaciousness and call to experiment creatively. If you are a writer who also identifies as a seeker, I urge you to give yourself the gift of Author Up! It may be the beginning of new life for your writing, as it has been for me.
– Alyson Miller, Writer
Somatic Writing has changed the direction of my life. The practices, the community and the team have thawed my frozen insides. Honest storytelling and deep listening to other people's stories have been truly life changing experiences for me. They continue to heal me, undo me, and bring love back in my life in so many ways. I am beyond grateful. Thank you so much my cohort, Tanya, Courtney and the entire team of Somatic Writing
- Shruti Mehta, Writer and Mother
The process of Somatic Writing is a gift that will help you find the deepest truth, then hold your feet to the fire until you tell it to the best of your ability.
Being in the Somatic Writing group takes the isolation out of being a writer and also out of the past I’m writing about, in which I had felt so alone. It helped me find the voice I lost as a child and gave it the space to develop now.
- Diana Lightmoon, Psychotherapist & Writer
Somatic Writing has been life-giving to my writing project and to me as an author. Tanya and her team provide the strong community, gentle accountability, and reliably insightful feedback on the work--elements I've found in other writing spaces individually, but never from one single resource. In addition, the powerful magical practices and trusting of the body's wisdom has resulted in the best writing I've ever done. I also appreciate that this process seems to work equally well for writers at all experience levels and in different phases with their relationship to their work. I'm forever grateful for this experience, and I'm sure I'll be engaging further.
– Kimberly Robb Baker, Writer, Community Builder, Mother
Somatic Writing creates a deep soul-sustaining space where a writer's depth can emerge. It's extraordinary and rare, an oasis in an unrelenting world that often bypasses meaningful inner inquiry such as this. Somatic Writing's process is like a writer's life-line, something I always want to be connected to. There are places one can go as a writer in a facilitated group that one can't go alone. There is safety in numbers, but specifically well-facilitated numbers. Each class allows the writer to plunge into their material without fear of performing well or producing a product - which ironically yields better performance and product. I'm so happy to be part of these writing circles. I miss them when I can't come. They bring me home to myself. The ever-changing writing prompts provide soulful, soul-quenching, soul-safe, deep dives into the terrain. I love this precious environment and hope to be a part of it for a long time to come.
- Sarah Brown,
Award Winning Playwright & Author
Artists, healers, midwives…
The Somatic Writing team create safe, generative spaces for stories to be born and burst with life.
- Marsha Pincus,
Writer, Artist, Solo Performer
The Somatic Writing process is a masterclass...in learning to trust your voice. Our stories are important and needed, and the team's passion for those stories is a gift to the world.
- Denise Hinson,
Author & Somatic Therapist
I highly recommend the Somatic Writing process...Whatever is standing in your way can easily be overcome with the team's guidance and talent. Even good writers require the trained eye of an expert. The expertise at Somatic Writing will help you move from idea to reality.
- Ann Marie Houghtailing,
Solo Performer, Two time TEDx Speaker & Brand Story Consultant
More than a process, Somatic Writing allows you to turn in and hear the stories inside you that are still untold. Somatic Writing challenges you to dive to the deepest places within and supports you in finding the bravery needed to share what you have found there. If you work with Somatic Writing, get ready for a transformation, because that’s really what it will help you to do.
- Cynthia K. Holloway,
Psychotherapist & Performing Artist
My inner experience of shifting from writer to author's identity in Somatic Writing has been both terrifying and elating. Something quite magical happened in learning how to access my stories from a more body-informed place. Somatic Writing offers masterful practices rich in meaning and depth that helped me to excavate my layered stories and liberate my voice, cultivating the essential skills to write my book. The Author Up experience has moved me on so many levels as a writer, far beyond my expectations.
- Christina MacLeod,
Ma.Ed, Creative Depth Coach
The extraordinary Author Identity retreat was far beyond my expectations, and I’m not easy. The guests, presentations, meditations, and exercises were transformational.
The minute you opened with the breathing exercise, I felt the container—so powerfully. This initiation was something felt and operating inside me, a switch, a turn, a click, a psychological shift, the first seeding of something more real.It was a rare and special gift to have that constellation of energy, experience, social awareness, developed practice, and literary acumen in a single weekend.
- Shari B.
Somatic Writing offered us some potent alchemical writing practices during the course of Author Up! 2021 Fall series. I didn’t leave this course as the same writer I came in as. I didn’t leave this course the same person I came in as. Meaning, I learned how "writer" and "person" are one and the same. I don’t know of many writing courses out right now that actively work to heal that split. Thank you to the Somatic Writing team for the work that you do. May the seeds of these stories flourish and serve the re-enchantment of the whole.
– Merrit Wuchina, Writer
Life changing! I’ve been working on my book for more than 30 years. I had boxes full of research, sample book proposals, beginning chapters. But I could never get beyond…I was frozen in my trauma.
Somatic Writing allowed me to breakthrough and access stories that I thought had been lost forever. I’ve learned to write from and through the trauma held in my body, rather than my fact-telling brain.
– Elan Lambert, Social Worker, Writer
The Somatic Writing Lab has been an amazing experience on many levels. I don’t think I fully comprehended what I was getting into when I signed up–other than the distant possibility of a first draft of my memoir. But for me this class has been so much more. No matter what the focus of your story, it is woven from all aspects of your life. Likewise, the illumination and liberation that Somatic Writing process provides has carried over well beyond the writing of my memoir. If you yearn to really tap into your creativity and explore the deepest depths of your possibilities, consider this class. If you are ready to take a leap of faith, then I suggest you consider jumping into this! I recommend it without hesitation!
- Alicia M. Nemec,
Retired Commander, U.S. Navy, Attorney, Farmer, Writer
The Somatic Writing process is at once gentle and challenging. I have faith that it can coax out the real story that wants to be told. Tanya understands how we stop ourselves and how to bypass those obstacles. I've come to understand that the story doesn't have to be about "How I Became a Perfected Being;" it can be about the angst and doubt and messiness of who we really are.
- Juliet Calabi
Writer
The Somatic Writing process unlocked the code for creating a perfect environment to cultivate radical growth. I am a busy entrepreneur with a story to share. The team was able to cultivate my skills in a way that gave a framework and a timeframe to see this project through from birth to creation. As a professional coach myself, I know good coaching works, but the Somatic Writing approach that is equal parts pragmatic and creative, supported my effort in a way that would be unmatched by someone else. My time in the program has provided my work and my life a quantum transformation. If you're looking to level up in life and in your creative work, look no further.
- Hailee Bland Walsh,
Writer & Owner of City Gym
The supportive space created by the Somatic Writing team has allowed me to explore different entry points into my story and go far deeper than I ever imagined possible. I’m a much better writer since I began Somatic Writing.
- Cheryl Brown,
Political Community Organizer, Writer
Somatic Writing’s program has helped me uncover poetry and myths in my body, relationships, lineage, and soul that I had no idea were there. Each week I craft new narratives and rewrite old ones, composting and penning personal stories that are empowering, mystical, healing, and full of life. This process has helped me connect to my essence as a writer and as a woman.
- Sara Vos
Creative Director at Vos Holistic Services
Somatic Writing has changed the direction of my life. The practices, the community and the team have thawed my frozen insides. Honest storytelling and deep listening to other people's stories have been truly life changing experiences for me. They continue to heal me, undo me, and bring love back in my life in so many ways. I am beyond grateful. Thank you so much my cohort and the entire team of Somatic Writing.
- Shruti Mehta,
Writer and Mother
Working with Tanya has opened a whole new opportunity to express my passions. Her process has allowed me to connect with audiences in a deeper way. Rather than using a traditional lecture format that talks at people rather than to people, this writing process helps engage audiences create meaning and memorable connections. This inspires them to make the world a better place.... individuals and audiences are changed and they'll never look at themselves or the storytellers in the same way again.
- LaDonna Redmond,
Food Justice Consultant, Two-time TEDx Speaker
How could I ever do a solo show? Alone, I couldn’t. With Somatic Writing, I could. The faciltators guided me each step of the way, often me not even realizing what steps we were taking. This process will bring you beyond where you meant to go and where you thought you could go. Eventually, you revel in finding yourself going beyond even that.
- Maria Fadiman,
Scientist, Professor & Solo Performer
I love the structure that Somatic Writing offers—the guided visualizations, the way the process threads in spiritual wisdom with trauma-informed prompts, and the gentle encouragement to go deep and not be afraid of what emerges. This approach integrates key lessons around my writing and creative self: to practice self-compassion around wherever I am at in my writing process; to bring a sense of pleasure and discovery to my writing; and to trust in the support and wisdom that my body, my ancestors, and the earth gifts me with when I am still enough to listen.
- Yael Flusberg,
Yoga Therapist & Resilience Coach
My ongoing work withTanya is guiding me to change my life in a way that I have been longing to for years. Their practical points and steady belief in my work strengthens me in my resolve and ability to create a steady income. Through their mentorship, I am finally ready to be fully visible by sharing my soul with those who are ready to receive it.
- Joanna Harcourt Smith
Somatic Writing holds a sacred and vital space where writers can come more fully alive. The processes are profound and spiritual. They access not only the root stories of our lives, but also uncover and reclaim visions and dreams we may have long forgotten or lost. Somatic Writing builds community and welcomes the uniqueness of each of our voices.
- Teresa Whitaker,
Storyteller, Finding Home Productions
I am a beginning writer, having had the sense I was holding my most truthful stories, my most authentic stories somewhere deep within, unclear as to how to access the pain and the beauty that was quietly asking to be given a voice. Through gentle, safe, and yet powerful exercises, Somatic Writing helped me to find that access to those stories, slowly moving the fear aside so that I am now becoming more able to experience a deeper level of writing. Somatic Writing offered more than I could have ever hoped for, and I most certainly felt seen, heard, and endlessly supported. The program provided space and capacity to challenge myself to stretch further, to take risks in writing my stories. I continue to refer again and again to all I came to embody through Somatic Writing's teachings. The time spent in this Memoir Lab and with the community of writers on the calls was one of the greatest gifts I could have given myself. It has changed how I am able to know myself, and in that, how I am able to write. Thank you Somatic Writing, for all of what you bring to our world!
- Diane Green
Psycotherapist, Writer
Working with the Somatic Writing process was instrumental in finding the powerful story within me that wanted to be told. The Somatic Writing team are not only absolute masters at the creation of the book…but in helping me to release my fears that surfaced along the way. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
- Sandy Alemian,
Author, What Was God Thinking?
Somatic Writing created a creative container for my book project that allowed me to progress despite the periods when I lost momentum. The team's firm but tender guidance provided me with just enough structure to finish my manuscript. They promised I would feel differently about myself after its completion and I do. I continue to draw upon their suggestions for accessing my wisest self.
- Janet Pfeffer,
Author
One of the most beautiful & powerful experiences of my life!!!! Words can't express my gratitude. It's honest, authentic, life-changing work straight to the core. Take the Journey & know yourself better and see how your SELF operates in the world.
- Mel E.
Somatic Writing saved my life by helping me to reclaim my creative soul.
- Dana Williams,
Writer & Solo Show Performer, "Standing on the Gone Side of Leaving"
Without Somatic Writing I would never have been able to finish a script. It’s as simple as that. Writing is challenging. Every bit of support, inspiration, guidance is worth (story) gold. A thousand thank yous.
- Roberta Fox
I recently attended a Somatic Writing retreat. I found the course to be the right step for me. It supported me in moving forward with writing my memoir. The more profound exploration of emotional and psychological challenges kept me stuck for several years; in a short time, I felt the shift. I’m so grateful to have supported the writing community; Somatic Writing’s facilitators and writers were beyond what I could have imagined.
- Kumari Fabio