Bodytalk - by Erica Hornthal (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Continuing the conversation started in The Body Keeps the Score and The Complex PTSD Workbook, BodyTalk is unique guide to reestablishing connection to your body in order to process difficult emotions, improve mental health, and feel secure in your own skin.

Everything in your life comes down to how connected you are to your own body. Your relationships, your career, even your self-worth and self-respect are all a reflection of the relationship you have with your body. When things feel out of alignment, overwhelming or "too much," it's a sign that you've already lost communication with yourself and the physical sensations within your body that let you know something is not right. The challenge is that many of us have difficulty even fathoming what a healthy relationship with our body is. We are overscheduled, overcommitted, and overwhelmed, making it difficult to pay attention to what is happening in the present moment. When the body has been a source of pain, anguish, and trauma, it feels impossible to return to it in a positive way. Many of us have spent years disconnected from our physical sensations, and the thought of reestablishing a healthy connection to the body feels impossible and we don't even know where to begin.

Enter BodyTalk, a unique guide to reestablishing connection to your body in order to process difficult emotions, improve mental health, and feel secure in your own skin. Through daily movement exercises and mindful reflection, readers can easily reestablish healthy boundaries and relationships with their own bodies in order to move through challenging emotions and feelings, as well as begin to find balance and a sense of vitality.

Over 365 days, you will be guided into more awareness as you're gently challenged to connect and communicate with your body. Through a combination of movement exercises and body-centered journal prompts, you can find your way back to yourself -- your worth, value, confidence, even identity.

Review Quotes

"Erica's book takes your hand as she gently weaves a vibrant connection between a head-centric focus--where most people live--and the actual location where energy, love and action emerge, as we move with awareness. You are in store for a magical journey of coming home to your body wisdom and befriending all the impulses and aliveness waiting to express your uniqueness in the world. Dive right in a find yourself anew."--Kathlyn Hendricks, Ph.D., best-selling author of Conscious Loving and At the Speed of Life

"BodyTalk is an approachable guide to rebuilding and deepening your relationship to your body: the most foundational relationship you have. Through daily movement exercises and other body centered explorations, you will learn how to feel more secure in your body, regulate your emotions and build confidence."--Dr. Nicole LePera, author of the #1 NY Times Bestseller How to Do the Work & How to Be the Love You Seek

"BodyTalk reminds us to incorporate movement and a sense of our body into every day. Having this daily reminder to connect within helps us regulate our emotions and our nervous system."--Dr. Russell Kennedy, author of Anxiety Rx

"BodyTalk takes readers on a transformative journey to reconnect with their bodies, minds, and emotions. Erica Hornthal provides easy-to-implement prompts for regulation, stabilization, and creative expression, offering practical strategies for deeper self-awareness and emotional resilience. This book provides a broad and powerful set of tools to help bridge the gap between our physical and emotional worlds, empowering readers to move toward healing and wholeness." --Britt Frank, LSCSW, SEP, licensed psychotherapist and author of The Science of Stuck and Align Your Mind

"BodyTalk is a love letter to the bodies we often overlook--the ones carrying exhaustion, tension, or unease yet yearning for connection and recognition. Erica Hornthal guides us back to ourselves, teaching us to listen to the stories our bodies hold with curiosity and compassion. Through its gentle practices and profound insights, this book creates a safe and nurturing space to heal, rediscover, and honor the resilience that lives within us all."--Dr. Scott Lyons, Founder of The Embody Lab

"BodyTalk is the road back home to yourself and the gateway to discovering all you can become. Erica's thoughtful prompts help unearth profound insights about every aspect of life--from communication and boundaries, to trust and regulating stress and emotions. With a whole year of support in these pages, the potential for healing and self-discovery is truly monumental. Erica leads with a one-of-a-kind warmth and wisdom. Her deep expertise and down-to-earth approach make it possible to cultivate life-changing skills and tangible growth in just short periods daily."--Alyson Stoner, actor, author, mental health advocate, and Founder of Movement Genius

"Erica Hornthal, a devoted advocate for the benefits of dance/movement therapy and making it more accessible to us takes on this challenge beautifully in BodyTalk. To befriend the body, we must learn to engage that conversation with it, a task that can seem daunting for many who have been impacted by trauma. Erica is that friendly guide who, through these practices, makes that conversation much less intimidating."--Jamie Marich, Ph.D., LPCC-S, REAT, RYT-500, founder of The Institute for Creative Mindfulness, author of Dissociation Made Simple

About the Author

Erica Hornthal, an internationally renowned dance/movement therapist, is a licensed clinical professional counselor, board-certified dance/movement therapist, and author with a thriving practice supporting individuals all over the world on a journey to re-discover their mind-body connection. She is the author of the Body Awareness for Mental Health Course (Human Kinetics, 2021), Body Aware: Rediscover Your Mind-Body Connection, Stop Feeling Stuck, and Improve Your Mental Health with Simple Movement Practices (North Atlantic Books, 2022), and The Movement Therapy Card Deck: 52 Mindful Movement Exercises to Regulate Your Nervous System and Process Trauma (North Atlantic Books, March 2024).

Erica's area of expertise has caught the attention of multiple publications such as Dance Magazine, Martha Stewart Weddings, and PARADE. As an expert on the intersection of movement and mental health, she has appeared in hundreds of publications, podcasts, live news, and radio including WGN, NBC, The Chicago Sun Times, The Chicago Tribune, Buzzfeed, Bustle, Authority Magazine, Thrive Global, Medium, NBC News Better, Reader's Digest, and Prevention. As a columnist for Dance Informa Magazine, 30 Seconds, and Thrive Global, Erica has built a following that embraces the power of movement for mental health.