About primal Impulse

primal Impulse is an unusual approach to therapy. A calm chat in comfortably appointed office with soft pillows and tasteful lighting this is not!

Traditional talking therapy is a wonderful, productive, highly recommended approach. Movement therapy can be an exciting complement to talking therapy for clients wanting to change their relationship to their body.

Movement therapy is also an independent therapeutic experience: a physical and emotional approach to access the psyche, the shadow, the depth and undercurrent of a client’s self.

Combining the Expressive Arts Therapy tools of movement (based primarily on the Tamalpa Life/Art Process), drawing, and creative writing, primal Impulse works to access your innate, animal psyche.

Sometimes you will move very slowly, with intention, like the speed of spreading lava or freezing water. Other times you will move ecstatically, to the point of exhaustion. At times you will be comfortable; other times you will be uncomfortable, exploring edges of your inner self.

At all times you will be held safe by extremely competent and effective processes, contained by Steven the facilitator.

primal = having the character of the first

Impulse = spark into action

“Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin”

— Charles Darwin

“Our culture requires that we repress most of our anger, and, therefore, we are repressing most of our creativity”

— Rollo May

“Steven is encouraging, enthusiastic, gentle, knowledgeable, supporting, and kind”
— Client

  • Founder & Facilitator

    Registered Somatic Movement Therapist/Educator, ISMETA

    Tamalpa Practitioner 2019

    Certificate Dance/Aerobic Fitness 2017

    Graduate, Tamalpa Institute Teacher Training 2017

    As a man who discovered the physicality of his own body late in life, I find there is no better way to explore and play with primal physicality than through movement or dance. Releasing a bit of our inner animal through dance – in my view, the more chaotic the better – is a powerful therapeutic experience.

    As a Graduate of Tamalpa Institute’s Expressive Arts-based Somatic Movement teacher training program, I qualified in 2019 as a Tamalpa Practitioner and Registered Somatic Movement Therapist/Educator with ISMETA. My vision and intention is to bring you into awareness of your innate energy by helping you engage with your primal impulses.

    In addition to my primary training programs, my experience includes regular classes and workshops in 5Ryhthms, OpenFloor, Batsheva’s Gaga, Feldenkrais, Yoga, with Anna Halprin, and other movement modalities for a total of over 1,500 hours since 2013.

    In classes and workshops I employ a broad range of techniques including but not limited to the Tamalpa Life/Art Process, Developmental Movement principles, Body Mind Centering, Gaga Movement Language, Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement, Mindfulness, 5Rhythms, Skinner Releasing, Laban Movement Analysis, Bartenieff Fundamentals, Alexander Technique, and Axis Syllabus.

    I am a regular practitioner of High Intensity Interval Training, strength workouts and an avid runner. I inhabit the space where dance and intense physical activity overlap. I dance with abandon.

As a Registered Professional Member of the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association, I meet the high Standards of Practice and uphold the Code of Ethics.
For more information visit www.ISMETA.org

Client:

“Steven was helpful and gave lots of support”

Client:

“I felt empowered”

“The character of the individual as it is manifested in [their] typical pattern of behavior is also portrayed on the somatic level by the form and movement of the body. The sum total of the muscular tensions seen as a gestalt… constitutes the ‘body expression’ of the organism. The body expression is the somatic view of the typical emotional expression, which is seen on the psychic level as ‘character’”

— Alexander Lowen

FAQs

  • Please get in touch so that we can evaluate your needs, hear what type of session you are interested in, and for how long. It would be great to hear from you.

  • It was very hot the day of one of our photoshoots and that was the only way to proceed. At all times the client will do what is comfortable for them, especially concerning movement.

  • The launch timing of group sessions is entirely dependent on interest from the community and available studio space. To ensure this happens as soon as possible, please get in touch to register your interest.

  • Workshops will be possible when demand warrants. To register your interest, please get in touch.

    The most likely duration is a full weekend (Saturday and Sunday), but longer formats may also be tried.

  • Absolutely not! No experience with any therapeutic process or movement practice is required. You will be supported and guided with care and attention every step of the way.

  • primal Impulse movement therapy focuses on how the body communicates the inner emotional life of the client; the body has its own language, which is expressed through movement, tone, shape, and energy. primal Impulse works with those forces to interact with the inner self