Meet Laura Fuller | Somatic Therapist and Educator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Laura Fuller and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Laura, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
I used to have something that felt like balance within my work. For many years, I spent half of my time doing somatic therapy and half of my time running my kids programs. This gave me a sort of balance. I could do deep trauma work with people and then go jump on a trampoline with a group of 4 year olds. I was witness to the most difficult things that can happen in life. But also to learning, progress, excitement, growth and the pure joy of aliveness.

When lockdowns happened, I was so grateful to have the skills to help. I was able to go right into full-time trauma work via Zoom. Often, for 13+ hours a day. Before the pandemic, through my own healing and learning, I was feeling the best I had ever felt. I felt like I was finally making it through some things. I was glad to have the capacity and abilities to help, but I was also very sad and scared. Circumstances and experiences triggered deep wounds of my own childhood. The difficulties of these times caused a powerful healing within the collective. I got to support as so much personal and generational trauma came to the surface. I was incredible to witness. And, it was also very hard. I was tense and torn apart. My work was good, and it was also the way I had learned to survive. The next few years became a journey of walking through the depths of my own physical, emotional, and existential pain.

I knew that the balance I had in the past was limited. I had left big parts of myself behind. As a teenager, teaching saved my life and gave me purpose. Losing it sent me back to 14 years old and questions of the value of my own life. Ayesha Siddiqi wrote, “Be the person you needed when you were younger.” And this is so important and this is what I did. But it’s not the whole story. Because giving will never become receiving. Eventually, I had to turn back for the parts of my self I left behind. The parts I did not think could be helped There are a lot of ways where I am building from existential rock-bottom. Reckoning with my own relationship with life and death and joy.

So, to answer your question, I think balance is connected to healing and growth. It is a continuous process of listening and response. Sometimes, things will be out of balance for a while, or in a balance that won’t be sustainable. The task is to be willing to change. To be willing to let go and take a next step forward towards what is calling your heart.

What should our readers know about your business?
I do Somatic Depth therapy. This means listening to the body to help resolve trauma and also to connect with the soul. I do this via Zoom and also in person. The in-person work can also include touch. Whether through physical touch or through words, it’s a paradigm of deep listening and honoring, opening to the wholeness of each person, and to the mystery of. life. I also teach online – yoga, Somatics, hypnotherapy, and breathwork – which are all low-cost or no-cost, in hopes of making this work accessible.. And I teach in-person on Sundays on the green at the beach – a yoga class and a kids gymnastics class with my co-teacher, Tessa Cisneros, and with our lovely teen assistants.

Right now, somatic work is trending in pop-culture. This is an interesting experience as it has been my life for so long. My work is different because it is not tool, or workout program. For me, Somatic is a whole other paradigm – one of trust in the wisdom of the body, emotions, soul, and earth, and one that sees the dignity of all bodies and situations. This work helps people feel better and I am continually humbled by the healing I get to witness. But – in a world where coaching, fixing, and getting somewhere have become popular – perhaps the most rare part of what I do is to hold people exactly as they are.

My introduction to Somatics came when I started studying gymnastics as a teenager. It was not just that I was twice the age of the other beginners, but also, I had been through a lot. When I started to move, I started to cry. Though my coaches didn’t really know what to do with this, I sensed that what was experiencing was valuable. Over 25 years, I developed a way of teaching that supported brain development and social-emotional development and programs that respected ,and delighted in, the humanity of each child.

I am most proud of these programs I created in the past. I also of my current online groups and the writer content I have done with them – I never thought I’d teach online! My road has not been easy! It has included a lot of shame, failure, and adversity. I have gotten through with a lot of grit, a lot of grace, and – finally – a little more self-compassion. I am grateful for all the healing I have gotten to do along the way. I am most excited for what I will get to build next. Though I don’t know what the next chapter will be, I am feeling more hopeful that there will be one. And I am curious to see how I will do it on the other side of this next layer of healing.

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?
My favorite spots in the city: my classes and playing on the green at Santa Monica beach. Hiking at Griffith and Elysian. Our cool theaters: The Vista and Vidiots. Dance class with Melissa Schade and Athletic Garage. And the ballet classes I take at Westside School of Ballet.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
With the loss and isolation of the last few years, my support system has gotten very small and also more important than ever. I dedicate my shoutout to my partner, Jennifer, my dog, Dolly, my mom, my dear friend and teacher Kristin Olson, to all my students and clients, and to my helpers and teachers..

I also want to shout out the various kind people that I have met along the way in local shops or in playing at the beach. These simple human interactions have become everything.

Website: www.lifemovesthrough.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifemovesthrough/

Image Credits
Rebekkah Drake (me and my dog doing therapy) Jamison Reeves (2 hands on Images) Tessa Cisneros (me and kids stretching) Jennifer Lynch (me and my dog doing yoga)