Meet Elizabeth (Liz) Valdez Gilliland | Somatic Movement Educator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Elizabeth (Liz) Valdez Gilliland and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Elizabeth (Liz) Valdez, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
Honestly, I didn’t set out wanting to own a business. As a dance teacher for over 30 years, I always considered myself somewhat of an entrepreneur at heart, but I worked for other people or taught at studios here in Long Beach. I’d seen firsthand what it took to run a brick and mortar space, and that wasn’t something I wanted. I was comfortable teaching for others.

I also have 4 children, and for a long time they were my main priority. That changed when I received formal education in Somatic Movement. I realized there was a need for a designated space, somewhere intentional, where the body’s voice could actually emerge. Around the same time, my kids were getting older, and I saw an opportunity to follow my own dream. But first I had to allow myself to dream, and then find the courage to actually follow it.

A friend and colleague nudged me to start casually looking, and then a space opened up in a really serendipitous way. I just moved one foot in front of the other and landed at 2236 E. Broadway, my own little space.

I think I had a head start on the business side, too. My father is an aircraft mechanic, an immigrant, and growing up I helped him with his books and office work. I also helped run other studios over the years. So I guess you could say it’s been a lifetime of laying bricks one at a time. I was always being moved in this direction, but I didn’t take the leap until after I turned 40.

I create a space where women, and some brave men, can learn to be in relationship with their body through movement. We’ve been encouraged to attack the body with unrealistic expectations of what health and fitness should look like. I’ve made it my life’s journey to make friends with my own body, and to help others do the same. Helping them unearth the strength they already have within.
I teach and guide people to the tools they need to feel strong, capable, received, and seen. I hold space for you until you can hold it for yourself. That’s what creates community. It allows people to find their individual strengths and then show up in the world authentically, in their kindness and their beauty, so they can share their innate gifts with others. That, to me, is the only real power we have to fight against all the other yuck and muck out there in the world.

What should our readers know about your business?
The Movement LB is a somatic movement studio here in Long Beach, where I teach people to be in relationship with their own bodies through strength training, dance, yoga, breathwork, and foundational somatic movement patterns. My approach is rooted in IMSomatics and in Somatic Groundwork, a framework I learned from my mentor, Kaila June Keliikuli. I hold an ASMP credential through ISMETA, and I am currently working toward my 500 hour RSME credential as well.

What sets me apart is that I do not separate the somatic work from the strength work. So much of fitness culture treats the body like something to fix or push through. I teach the opposite. I guide people to notice what is actually happening in their nervous system, to build strength from a place of safety rather than force, and to trust the signals their body is already giving them. I use a consent based approach to touch, and I see my role as a guide, an educator, and a witness, not someone who promises to transform anyone. The transformation belongs to them.

Beyond the movement work itself, what I provide is community. A place to be seen and supported, where all bodies can claim their space. I offer workshops throughout the year, and I welcome other like minded professionals into the space to share their own medicine with my community.

I am proud of a lot of things. I built and delivered a full teacher training curriculum, the Somatic Weaving Cohort, that walks new teachers through setting a container, building anchors, nervous system literacy, and weaving it all together into their own teaching voice. I also created a client program called Make Friends With Your Body, which moves people through a foundation phase of yielding, grounding, and nervous system regulation before building into strength and capacity. Watching people move through that arc and come out the other side feeling capable in their own skin, that is the work I am most proud of.

It has not been easy. I spent over 30 years teaching dance for other people and at other studios before I ever considered owning my own space. I had seen firsthand what it took to run a brick and mortar, and for a long time that felt like more than I wanted to take on, especially while raising 4 children who were always my first priority. The challenges were less about any single obstacle and more about timing, courage, and learning to trust myself enough to take the leap. I opened the doors at 2236 E. Broadway in October of 2024, at the age of 44.

The biggest lesson I have learned is that you have to allow yourself to dream before you can have the courage to follow it. I also learned that the business backend, the structure and the systems, only works if it is in service of something real. I had that head start from my parents, who were both immigrants and both worked incredibly hard, but the heart of this business only came together once I trusted my own training and my own voice.

What I want the world to know is that this is not a quick fix studio. It is a place to slowly and honestly build a relationship with your own body, so that you can show up in the world as yourself, fully and authentically. That, to me, is the real work.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love True Nature, the bay, Manao Thai, and Guisados. I’m also a big fan of 4th Street, and walking along the bike path is one of my favorite ways to clear my head.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
s there a person, group, or organization you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many people who deserve credit in my story. First, my parents. My father, an aircraft mechanic and an immigrant, taught me what it means to work hard and build something with your own two hands. Growing up helping him with his books and office work gave me a foundation I didn’t even realize I was building at the time. My mother, also an immigrant, put herself through school with two young kids in tow. Watching her do that taught me what determination really looks like.
My partner has been a steady source of support, giving me the space and encouragement to follow this dream once I finally let myself dream it. And my 4 children, who were always my main priority, are honestly a huge part of why I waited until I had the courage to take this leap. They’ve taught me patience and shown me what it means to grow alongside the people you love.
My dance teachers and mentors over the years also deserve so much credit. They shaped how I move, how I teach, and how I show up in a room with students, long before I knew any of that would become the foundation of this work.
I also have to mention my mentor, Kaila June Keliikuli. Her work and her guidance shaped so much of how I understand and teach Somatic Groundwork. I wouldn’t be doing this work in the way I do it without her influence.
And finally, my community here in Long Beach, and my family and friends spread out across other states. Even from a distance, they’ve shown up, encouraged me, nudged me forward when I was just casually looking, and continue to hold space for this work and for me. None of this happens alone.

Website: https://themovementlb.com

Instagram: themovementlbc

Yelp: The MOVEMENT

Image Credits
Image Credits to Skylar Dose & edited by Meghan Scanlon