Bodytalk: 365 Gentle Movement Practices to Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Body

Continuing the conversation started in The Body Keeps the Score and The Complex PTSD Workbook, this book is a guide to reestablishing connection to your body in order to process difficult emotions, improve mental health, and feel secure in your own skin.

Everything in your life comes down to how connected you are to your own body. When things feel out of alignment, overwhelming or ＂too much,＂ it’s a sign that you’ve already lost communication with yourself and the physical sensations within your body that let you know something is not right. Many of us have difficulty even fathoming what a healthy relationship with our body is. We are overscheduled, overcommitted, and overwhelmed, making it difficult to pay attention to what is happening in the present moment. Many of us have spent years disconnected from our physical sensations, and the thought of reestablishing a healthy connection to the body feels impossible and we don’t even know where to begin.

Through daily movement exercises and mindful reflection, BodyTalk will help readers form healthy boundaries and relationships with their own bodies in order to move through challenging emotions and feelings, as well as begin to find balance and a sense of vitality.

Over 365 days, you will be guided into more awareness as you’re gently challenged to connect and communicate with your body. Through a combination of movement exercises and body-centered journal prompts, you can find your way back to yourself--your worth, value, confidence, even identity.

Erica Hornthal, an internationally renowned dance/movement therapist, is a licensed clinical professional counselor, board-certified dance/movement therapist, and author with a thriving practice supporting individuals all over the world on a journey to re-discover their mind-body connection. She is the author of the Body Awareness for Mental Health Course (Human Kinetics, 2021), Body Aware: Rediscover Your Mind-Body Connection, Stop Feeling Stuck, and Improve Your Mental Health with Simple Movement Practices (North Atlantic Books, 2022), and The Movement Therapy Card Deck: 52 Mindful Movement Exercises to Regulate Your Nervous System and Process Trauma (North Atlantic Books, March 2024).

Erica’s area of expertise has caught the attention of multiple publications such as The Epoch Times, Dance Magazine, Martha Stewart Weddings, and PARADE. As an expert on the intersection of movement and mental health, she has appeared in hundreds of publications, podcasts, live news, and radio including WGN, NBC, The Chicago Sun Times, The Chicago Tribune, Buzzfeed, Bustle, Authority Magazine, Thrive Global, Medium, NBC News Better, Reader’s Digest, and Prevention. As a columnist for Dance Informa Magazine, 30 Seconds, and Thrive Global, Erica has built a following that embraces the power of movement for mental health.