Welcome

I’m Aliza (a-lee-za)

As a therapist, movement teacher, mother and human, I value connection and authenticity. I am grateful to work with people on their journey to deepen and expand into who they are and who they want to become.

In my half century of lived experience I have been through several challenging times and each have brought me to a deeper understanding of myself and the human condition.

The natural world is a healing and grounding force for me. Spending time in the forest, being near the ocean and rivers (or in them), helps bring me back to myself, regulates my nervous system and connects me with something bigger and greater than myself. I am grateful for my deep connection to nature, grateful to be surrounded and nourished by trees, plants, moss, water and mountains.

I deeply believe in the healing power of creative expression, movement, dance and embodiment.

Movement is my medicine. Dancing alone or with others, usually to music but not always, is true medicine for my physical, emotional, mental and soul body. Conscious dance allows the emotions and thoughts that get stuck in my body to move. Movement is the language of my soul. When I dance I reconnect to my joy, my grief, my longing- my aliveness. The body holds deep wisdom and movement is my teacher.

I love working with people to reconnect with their bodies and creative expression. Whether it’s breathing together, witnessing movement, art making, micro movements or dancing together- it can be a deeply grounding and transformative experience.

In my own life, dance, music and expressive arts have been powerful healing modalities. When I was in my twenties, awakening to what feeds me and who I am, I found healing, joy and transformation through dance and I knew that I wanted this to be my work in the world.

After about a decade of traveling and deepening my practice, I moved to the San Francisco Bay area in 2001 to start a Master’s program at the California institute for Integral studies. In the Bay Area, I found my people, my teachers, my tribe. After leading my own dance based expressive arts therapy groups for over a decade, I found teachers who inspired me to deepen my dance practice in a new way. My teachers- Kathy Altman and Lori Saltzman, Andrea Juhan, along with a group of other five rhythms teachers, started Open Floor. I am incredibly grateful to be an Open Floor teacher and part of the OFI Community as well as being part of the lineage of Gabrielle Roth/five rhythms.

Open Floor is a movement meditation and dance practice in which we learn through embodied expression and movement, how to live more connected, authentic and whole lives. For me, it’s dance meditation/therapy/healing/prayer. We work with 10 core movement resources- ground, pause, release, center, spatial awareness, toward/away, contract/expand, vector, activate/settle, dissolve, as well as 4 hungers- solitude, connection, belonging and spirit.

I have a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology and Expressive Arts Therapy from the California Institute of Integral Studies. I am a Registered Clinical Counselor in B.C. and an Open Floor movement teacher.

I work with individuals as a somatic/trauma/movement and expressive arts therapist. I believe in the body’s wisdom and innate ability towards healing and wholeness.

I lead open floor dance groups and classes where I hold space for bringing all of ourselves into the dance practice- moving all that we are holding, feeling and thinking. Some of my movement classes are infused with Jewish teachings and themes-and you don’t have to be Jewish to take part in these transformative sessions- the themes are universal.

I look forward to connecting with you!