Tanya Slattery on Mindfulness & Somatic Experiencing

Tanya Slattery is a structural body worker and SEP in Philadelphia. She has always been drawn to working with her hands—she had started adult life as a ceramic artist. She shifted to bodywork more than 20 years ago, and credits inspiring teachers to give her a sense of working at the cutting edge of her profession. Beyond pure technique, she values intentionality, and a focus on being in the moment, working as an artist, being open to what is new. Eight years after becoming a structural body worker, she took a ten-day Vipassana meditation retreat which reinforced her interest in mindfulness. Through this training, she realized that one need not have to be seated to meditate, and she sees her work as a meditation practice, now further deepened by her training in Somatic Experiencing.

Published December 2012.