Erica Hornthal - Body Aware

Erica Hornthal is a longtime force as an advocate for the full recognition of movement practices into mainstream psychotherapy. As an inclusive ambassador for the healing power of dance and movement, she brings her vast experience into print form with Body Aware. I truly believe that everyone wanting to befriend or deepen their relationship with their bodies can benefit from working with this book. Written in accessible and friendly language, it will help you to see that dance is about much more than dance, and the healing journey involves much more than working with our rational minds.

Jamie Marich, PhD, LPCC-S, LICDC-CS, REAT, RYT-500, founder of the Institute for Creative Mindfulness and author of Trauma and the 12 Steps

Erica Hornthal, in this groundbreaking book, helps us appreciate the intersection of these insights: that changing the activity of the body facilitates larger personal changes. With an engaging blend of research, case studies, and practical exercises, she demonstrates that change can occur from bottom-up, and not only from top-down. For practicing mental health practitioners and their clients, this is a game-changer.

Brett N. Steenbarger, PhD, teaching professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, SUNY Upstate Medical University

Ericas dance therapy brings peace and joy to your heart.

Marc Weissbluth, MD, Professor Emeritus of Clinical Pediatrics, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University

Erica Hornthal brilliantly illustrates that showing up in this life begins by Simply Be-ing in our bodies.

Jessica Zweig, CEO of SimplyBe agency and best-selling author

Erica brings a deep knowledge of how we can better listen to what our own bodies are trying to tell usand how movement can change how we feel and experience the world.

Jennifer Stahl, content director for DanceMedia and editor in chief of Dance magazine

Hornthal has written an incredibly thoughtful and wonderfully poignant book that is both refreshingly insightful and extremely practical. Full of action-based exercises and scientifically informed strategies for healing both the most subtle and most prominent of emotional scars, Body Aware is a must-read for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of just how strongly linked our minds and bodies are. A fascinating read from cover to cover.

Helaina Hovitz Regal, journalist and author of After 9/11

Body Aware is just the prescription you need to reset your bodys state of alarm, resolve emotional and physical dis-ease, and cultivate and maintain the healthy synergy between your body and mind.

Dr. Russell Kennedy, THE ANXIETY MD, author of The Anxiety Rx

Pick up Body Aware and find a new best friend, your own wild and wonderful moving self. Erica brings what is elusive to mostthe power of moving with awarenessinto all aspects of your life. Youll feel enriched, encouraged, and gently challenged to expand your vitality and creativity with powerfully simple practices and shifts that bridge mind and body with new moves.

Kathlyn Hendricks, PhD, BC-DMT, best-selling author of Conscious Loving

Erica Hornthal, in her book Body Aware, has pointed us toward a fundamental truththat movement forms the basis for change, well-being, and growth. Because movement permeates everything we do and are, it can help us not only physically, but also mentally, socially, and emotionally. Hornthal importantly shows us how to challenge our entrenched habits of being and doing through movement, seeing it as a catalyst for liberation from that which is entrenched within us. This book does not proscribe certain movementsit assists us in finding certain movements within us and leveraging them for our and the worlds transformation. Well done!

Christine Caldwell, PhD, LPC, BC-DMT, Professor Emeritus of Somatic Counseling Psychology, Naropa University, and coauthor of Oppression and the Body

Body Aware presents a unique perspectivefrom that of a dance/movement therapiston the power of movement to enhance mental health and emotional resilience. Blending examples from her work with clients with a lively mosaic of options for personal practice, Erica Hornthal guides you through an introduction to befriending your body, and thus yourself, at a deeper level. With the many outer distractions of our multimedia world, this call inward provides a timely remedy for the soul.

Susan Bauer, RSME/T, RSDE, MFA, founder of Embodiment in Education and author of The Embodied Teen

Erica places the body front and center in Body Aware, an ode to health and healing. Having gone on my own ride with my body as a gymnast, professional ballet dancer, and now body-language expert, I appreciate that Erica captures the power and imperative we all face by shining a light on what our bodies have to say. For anyone who feels their body has been relegated to the shadows and neglected, this book is a must-read.

Rachel Cossar, CEO at Virtual Sapiens

Body Aware is a brilliant, compassionate, thoroughly researched, deeply important book. If you have a body, I highly recommend you read it!

Rebecca Pacheco, author of Still Life

Body Aware intuitively reconnects you to the most important parts of yourself through the body. A treasure of knowledge and exploration awaits you every step of the way.

Azizi Marshall, founder and CEO of the Center for Creative Arts Therapy

Copyright 2022 by Erica Hornthal. All rights reserved. No portion of this book, except for brief review, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the written permission of the publisher. For information contact North Atlantic Books.

Published by
North Atlantic Books
Huichin, unceded Ohlone land
aka Berkeley, California

Cover art Dollariz/Shutterstock.com
Book design by Happenstance-Type-O-Rama
Cover design by Mimi Bark

Body Aware is sponsored and published by North Atlantic Books, an educational nonprofit based in the unceded Ohlone land Huichin (aka Berkeley, CA) that collaborates with partners to develop cross-cultural perspectives, nurture holistic views of art, science, the humanities, and healing, and seed personal and global transformation by publishing work on the relationship of body, spirit, and nature.

North Atlantic Books publications are distributed to the US trade and internationally by Penguin Random House Publisher Services. For further information, visit our website at www.northatlanticbooks.com.

MEDICAL DISCLAIMER: The following information is intended for general information purposes only. Individuals should always see their health care provider before administering any suggestions made in this book. Any application of the material set forth in the following pages is at the readers discretion and is their sole responsibility.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Hornthal, Erica, 1983- author.
Title: Body aware : rediscover your mind-body connection, stop feeling
stuck, and improve your mental health with simple movement practices /
by Erica Hornthal, LCPC, BC-DMT ; foreword by Dr. Nicole LePera.
Description: Berkeley, California : North Atlantic Books, 2022. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021059172 (print) | LCCN 2021059173 (ebook) | ISBN