ALL ARE WELCOME, THOSE SEEKING GREATER EMBODIED FREEDOM.
This includes all races, religions, ethnicities, sexes, gender identities and/or expressions, immigrant and refugee statuses, sexual orientations, national origins, languages spoken, body types, veteran statuses, genetics, ages, economic statuses, disabilities (visible and invisible), and any groups that experience marginalization.
I am committed to the work: the ongoing process of being called in, uncovering layers, deepening understanding, and enacting positive change. Mistakes such as biases, prejudices, stereotypes will inevitably be made, because I am human. However, I commit to promoting equity and reducing and repairing harm when it happens.
About Ariel Carson, M.AmSAT, SEP
I am a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and Alexander Technique teacher based in New York City. My personal study in somatic practices began over 20 years ago, and I have been certified to share this work since 2011. I received my 1600-hour AT teaching certification through Alexander Technique New York City (ATNYC) , headed by second generation teachers John Nicholls and Nanette Walsh. My primary teachers of Somatic Experiencing were Nancy Napier, Dave Berger, and Raja Selvam. I am an Associate Director of Riverside Initiative for the Alexander Technique as well as a faculty member there. I also assist Somatic Experiencing trainings, and am approved to provide personal sessions to SE students at the Beginning and Intermediate levels. I have assisted at The Juilliard School, and taught at Boston University where I earned my BFA. I previously worked as a teaching artist for the Leadership Program, teaching leadership skills through the arts to under-served students in New York City public schools. I have worked with U.S. veterans, activists, performers, social workers, and the LGBTQIA+ community, among many others. I am deeply committed to anti-oppression work, and ongoing personal study and growth. I also believe self-care is inextricably connected with communal and environmental care. I have been described as reverently irreverent. My preferred gender pronouns are she/her/hers. The native stewards of the land where I work and reside are the Lenape and Canarsee people.
Additional influences on my work include: Rev. angel Kyodo williams, adrienne marie brown, Resmaa Menakem, Prentis Hemphill, Lama Rod Owens, bell hooks, Malidoma Patrice Somé, Euphrasia Nyaki, Susan Lemak, Kathy Kain, Dorothy Pietracatella, Betsy Polatin, Shel Wagner Rasch, Francis Weller, generative somatics, Thomas Hübl, Ram Dass, Family Constellations, Polyvagal Theory, Linklater Voice, Body-Mind Centering, 5Rhythms.
Healing and growth are not linear, ups and downs are inevitable, but I believe our collective resilience depends upon our ability to ride the waves of our experience with integrity and grace.
My journey into somatics began with weekly Alexander Technique classes with my first teacher Betsy Polatin. Early on, we did an exercise where we observed how we moved to pick up a ringing phone. After a round of self-observation, Betsy helped us become aware of and release unconscious and excess tension in our bodies, and we were asked to repeat the activity of answering the phone applying her suggestions. That was a high contrast revolutionary experience for me as I realized how habitually I coordinated myself, and that I did not have to use so much muscular effort to complete the task at hand. Through learning a different way to answer the phone, I was presented with choice, where I had only been aware of a single option before. If I had a choice in the way I did something as mundane as answering a phone, I must have a choice in how I approached other activities.
This work clarifies for me over and over again that I always have a choice in how I respond and move about the world in the grandest sense. From how I pick up a phone, to how I walk down the street, to how I engage with the people and environment around me, I have a choice. I strongly value being able to offer my clients choice as well.
From the awkward uncoordinated sense of myself I had growing up, to the sense of presence, graceful coordination, unity, freedom, lightness, and calm the Alexander Technique cultivates, I am now ever more at home in my Self - body, breath, mind, spirit and all. What a relief!
Somatic Experiencing has given me faith in the body-mind-self's innate capacity to access healing from the inside out. By learning how to more deeply listen, observe, and be guided by the intersection of sensation, imagery, behavior, emotion, and meaning, old patterns of trauma and overwhelm come to rest and resolution. Our capacity for connection comes online. We experience more of what it means to be alive, and our increased resilience allows us to move through the inevitable ups and downs of life while remaining in the flow. My body has become both a resource and a refuge.
As the years go on, my own work in Somatic Experiencing and Alexander Technique continues to foster change within me and without on profound levels. It has helped me become a more adaptable and joyful person who now greets the unknown with an insatiable curiosity and a sense of possibility.
Call me at (917) 387-4931 or email me at ariel@wavesomatics.com to set up a session today.
I look forward to working with you!
Ariel Carson, M.AmSAT, SEP 🏳️🌈
All photos on main site by Kimberlee Venable.