ECO-SOMATIC APPROACH TO RELATIONAL MOVEMENT:

Zuzzie Kapas is an inner exploration and self-discovery guide supporting individuals on their journey to dive deeper within. For over a decade she has been facilitating consciousness expanding personal and group journeys, honoring the body as a bridge between the worlds seen and unseen. 

In her workshops, participants get to expand their innate sensory acuity by observing their body and their mind during movement and stillness. Zuzzie offers rich somatic guidance with relevant and deeply personal imagery. Participants have an opportunity in this safe container to engage their curiosity and journey into the terrains of their psyche, gradually rendering the unconscious material conscious, allowing space to practice restorative relational experiences. Through a real-time psycho-somatic group journey participants get to face their deep-rooted patterns, heal fragmentation and build new neural pathways that support healthy boundaries and a cohesive sense of Self.

Zuzzie consciously chooses to work in natural environments that are engaging to the participants and offer opportunity for the practice of Inter-Independence, coined by her teacher Suprapto Suryodarmo. The practice includes developing a firm foundation in one’s own personal inner landscape through interoceptive awareness (experiencing as if from within), to gradually expanding the ability to sense the external world and maintain connection to the internal while interacting with the external. 

Participants have the opportunity to cultivate a greater connection to Self and participate in co-creating an environment that fosters inclusivity, acceptance, values vulnerability and supports relational healing of trauma. 

TRAUMA-INFORMED SOMATIC INFLUENCES AND TRAINING

Zuzzie’s journey with introspective movement started in 2010, when she started practicing yoga on a regular basis. in 2012, the depth of her personal inner experience lead her to complete her 200hr Yoga Teacher Training Certification at the Dallas Yoga Center. This comprehensive training included the foundations of Hatha, Vinyasa, Ashtanga and Iyengar Yoga, as well as the in-depth studies of the Yoga Philosophy, Sound Healing, the use of Mantras, Mudras and Pranayama.

Zuzzie continued studying Trauma-Informed Yoga and Yoga Therapy for women healing from sexual trauma and eating disorders and offered her services at domestic violence shelters, child welfare services, addiction/recovery facilities, private schools and yoga studios, continuing to grow as a teacher and facilitator.

Zuzzie’s trauma sensitive approach to teaching yoga was also enriched by her continuing education in a somatic movement modality Body-Mind Centering, a deep introspective practice concerned with human evolutionary patterns, pre- and post-natal developmental stages and the neuroscience of trauma and attachment theory. 

In 2014, Zuzzie expanded on teaching yoga and started facilitating Somatic Movement workshops founded on Body-Mind Centering, incorporating elements of Authentic Movement, Contact Improvisation and Dance/Movement Therapy. She traveled internationally to deepen her movement vocabulary by studying Contemporary Dance in Barcelona and Amsterdam, Contact Improvisation on Land and Water in Berlin, Intro to Dance/Movement Therapy in Rotterdam, Authentic Movement and Gaga in Spain and Joged Amerta Movement with master teacher Suprapto Suryodarmo in Central Java.

During the years 2015 - 2019, Zuzzie offered her EARTH :: BODY :: CONTACT workshops internationally at retreats and movement arts festivals. She also participated in various artist residencies globally which deepened her mytho-poetic awareness of human existence through movement and self-reflection. 

Beginning 2019, after settling in Southern California, Zuzzie continued to further investigate the applicability of her interdisciplinary work in the realm of psychological healing. She refined her group facilitation to include the most up-to-date information from behavioral neuroscience, trauma-informed somatic coaching, eco-somatics, and expressive movement arts, as well as evidence-based therapeutic modalities commonly utilized within the mental health treatment setting.

In 2019, Zuzzie continued her post-master’s specialization in Somatic Psychotherapy at Antioch University in Santa Barbara, CA and with the start of the covid pandemic, she began offering her services as a Somatic Integration Specialist at in-patient, higher acuity residential and intensive outpatient treatment programs, both in-person and remotely. Working under clinical supervision and as part of the treatment team, she continued to refine her understanding of complex trauma, dual diagnosis and psychotic disorders and continued to develop therapeutic activities tailored to patient needs accordingly.  

Zuzzie’s approach to movement facilitation became additionally enriched by well respected evidence-based somatic modalities, such as, Dr. Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing, Dr. Pat Ogden’s Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and Dr. Allan Schore’s Affective Neuroscience and Trauma Theory. 

Link to details about the clinical applications of Somatic Integration and Healing Practices can be found here. To learn more about aquatic healing sessions conducted in warm-water, please click here. Thank you for visiting Embodied Art Of Life.