meet emily mitnick

Since my days as a peer mediator on the elementary school playground, relationship dynamics have fascinated me, and in the years since, I’ve followed my curiosity to explore how humans relate to the built, natural, and social environment, navigate relationships within organizations and with work, repair and transform through intrapersonal and interpersonal conflict, and heal the connection between mind and body.

In parallel to these academic-educational and professional pursuits, I’ve journeyed through the depths of self to understand my own experience of relating – to myself and all that lies beyond. The methods of self study that have simultaneously been the most illuminating, supportive, and healing have been rooted in mindfulness, present-moment awareness, and somatics. I view this work as an ongoing effort and a lifelong adventure.

I came to mindful somatic healing first as a student. Like so many of us, I was in a nearly constant state of anxious dis-ease and utterly confused because my life looked incredible on paper. I had everything I wanted, so what, exactly, was the problem?

I arrived at my first yoga class full of nerves and ready to be the best. Looking around the room, I was struck by all of the different bodies and how they were – and were not – covered. I felt embarrassed thinking about how long it had taken me to figure out what to wear. When we began to move, I was startled to realize I couldn’t even touch my toes. Not even close. I panicked, hoping the instructor wouldn’t notice. But he did. He walked towards me. I braced myself for criticism, embarrassed again. Instead he knelt down by my mat and gently told me to try bending my knees. Then, he placed two blocks under my hands, bringing the “floor” to me.

“How does your body feel now?” he asked.

"My body feels…better,” I said.

My body feels.
My body feels.
My body feels.

And my healing journey began.