Movement and Identity

by Marcia Bonato Warren

This trauma-informed approach to bodywork explores the ways in which varying facets of identity and culture manifest in the body, allowing a much more nuanced, person-centred approach to client care. Marcia Warren describes how our bodies interpret our identities, often informed by cultural norms, communication styles, trauma, and systems of power and oppression.Therapists and bodyworkers reading this book will have the opportunity to engage personally and professionally, learning to build on their own neuroplasticity in order to engage with compassionate curiosity rather than resistance when confronted with identity-based differences. Each chapter uses the Embodied Identity Feedback Loop, a mechanism representing three entry-points we use to process sensation, interpretation, action. This pioneering tool allows readers to examine their own somatic experiences, beliefs, behaviours, and choices, all of which is supplemented with journal prompts and questions.In guiding readers in how to interpret the body's expression of identity, this unique guide maximises the potential of therapists to foster change, increase empathy, and nurture connection through trauma-informed, somatically aware bodywork.

304 pages, Paperback

Published March 21, 2025

About the author

Marcia Bonato Warren, MA, MA, LPC (she/her) is a trauma-informed Somatic Counselor/Body Psychotherapist, Interculturalist and author with over 30 years of cross-cultural experience in the fields of somatic counseling and education, international educational exchange and Native American policy and advocacy. In 2015, Marcia developed her own therapy practice called Embodied Code-Switching®, which focuses on developing the resilience and unique expression of multicultural identities through somatic awareness. She works with individuals and groups in the areas of cultural awareness, social justice, and intercultural communication through a trauma-informed lens, and is passionate about developing the potential in human beings to embrace diversity through cultural embodiment and the sharing of stories and creativity. Marcia is proud of her heritage and the gifts of her ancestors and identifies as an enrolled member of the Santa Clara Pueblo of New Mexico and as Brazilian-Italian.

Reviews

[Sydney Trebus · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that is both revealing and deeply supportive all in one. Marcia beautifully walks you through various facets of being, learning, doing, healing, and embodying a multicultural identity. Sprinkled in throughout are poems, short entries, and stories of the unique road Marcia has traveled this lifetime, thus far. The majority of the book is an invitation into our inner processes, both of mind and body, and with an emphasis on how multicultural elements show up in the body. The design of the book is as a workbook, which allows you to step into curiosity regarding your own unconscious and conscious behaviors, movements, and ways of interacting.

Marcia is a gifted writer and hopefully just getting started. If you want a brief look into the essence of the book, here is a line that encompasses it for me:

“Perhaps by discovering more about ourselves, our personal journeys can become a “remembering” of how intrinsically bound we are to each other and to a larger existence, and to the inner knowing that we are never truly alone (even within ourselves).” - Marcia Bonato Warren