RIP Stephen Sondheim and Your Aliveness

Last week, Stephen Sondheim died. The news hit me like a ton of bricks. In case you're unfamiliar, Stephen Sondheim was an American composer and lyricist, and influential contributor to 20th-century musical theater. I know his work and saw a few of his shows when I was little, West Side Story and Company, but the majority of his shows weren't so influential in my life. However, what impacts me the most is that his shows paved the way for the musicals I performed in as a kid Starlight Express, Fiddler on the Roof, Grease, Les Miserables, and those I've seen over the years, too many to count/list, that brought me to tears as soon as the lights went down, evoked every single emotion in me during the story and optimism about my own life as soon as they were over. Musicals, music, and artistic expression have been the places where I've felt the most alive.

When I listened to the story of Sondheim on NPR I started to remember how I felt at musicals. I remembered that aliveness and that desire to express myself. A few days ago, when I got the news of his death, I needed that reminder. I remembered that every time I sing with a song or dance a little bit, I feel more myself, more whole, and I get a jolt of energy, a surge of aliveness. That aliveness can get buried in me in the throes of everyday life which can now hold so much stress and anxiety.

I love how Sondheim's characters were so real, so nuanced and so much of a dichotomy, just like all humans, just like me.

That realness and expression are so important for healing Trauma. In Somatic Therapy, you get real with yourself, allowing your body to have a voice that it didn't have. Clearing trauma releases life energy. Your aliveness lives under the stuckness and anxiety you feel.

You may not like to sing or dance or even like musicals. However, you have a Somatic BodyHome that records all of your experiences and that desires to feel vital and alive. If you're struggling physically or emotionally with anxiety, depression, or feeling disconnected and stuck, your nervous system is likely holding trauma from your past that's holding you back.

When we work together we custom build a toolbox for you. You'll have somatic exercises to build resilience. You'll also have tools you can use when you're with other people and you get triggered or overwhelmed.

If you are resonating with this I invite you to contact me here to book a 30-minute complimentary consultation with me for private work. Sessions are online.

And, join a Somatic Movement (movement +nervous system regulation) class this week.

With LOVE, Courage, and Regulation
Dorie