The Movement Therapy Deck

An easy-to-use mindful movement deck with accompanying 64-page booklet-52 embodied practices to relieve stress, heal from trauma, and find emotional balance

An easy-to-use mindful movement deck with accompanying 64-page booklet-52 embodied practices to relieve stress, heal from trauma, and find emotional balance

Each trauma-informed mindful movement card features a simple exercise to help you reconnect with your body, release tension, and find grounding amid a destabilizing world-at your own pace, and in your own time.

Designed to be used in whatever way feels right to you, the 52 Movement Therapy cards can be incorporated into a daily somatic ritual or pulled as needed in times of stress, worry, or dissociation.

The deck is split into four themes, and each beautifully designed card is color-coded for easy use. Breath; Dance and Movement; Floor Work; and Sensory exercises work together to support your nervous system, cultivate joy, and connect you to your body in simple, powerful ways. You’ll learn to-

Be present in the moment by focusing on your senses
Encourage rest and recuperation with gentle floor poses
Calm and energize your body with regulation breath
Discharge built-up tension by moving your body in small ways through dance and movement
Nourish your nervous system by spending time outside or in nature

A companion guide explains each prompt, shares gentle instructions, and invites you to bypass the demands and negative chatter of your cognitive mind-to move, to pause, to dance, or to drop into grounded, embodied presence. The booklet also explains what movement therapy is, why it works, and how it can work for you.

Author Biography

Erica Hornthal is a licensed clinical professional counselor and board-certified dance/movement therapist and the CEO of Chicago Dance Therapy, the premiere dance/movement therapy practice in the Midwest. She has been recognized by Maria Shriver’s Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement as a woman making a difference in the fight against Alzheimer’s. Erica won a Global Excellence Award from Global Health & Pharma and was the 2020 Social Care Award recipient for Best Movement Therapy Center in Chicagoland.