Who are you, Odelia Shargian?
Great question! Let me tell you a few things about me….
I’m a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist and Educator.
I’m a mover, a teacher and a healer.
My work transcends titles like “Dance” or “Therapy”. I’m committed to healing.
And that healing takes place whether we are talking, moving, or resting.
It takes place one-on-one and in my group class.
It takes shape through laughter, play, emotional release, thoughtful conversation, and even in stillness.
And it takes place inside a space of radical acceptance, truthfulness, and deepest compassion.
WHAT do you do?
As a Somatic Therapist, I'm an expert at finding the one thing that's keeping someone stuck in a destructive pattern or stuck in a problem they can't seem to solve.
I’m a specialist at creating an environment that allows clients to deal with their pain and life struggles by including the body in the process.
Unlike regular talk therapy, Somatic Therapy gives you a pathway to resolve your issues at their core rather than just settle for coping or managing them.
As a Somatic Educator, I facilitate group body-inclusive mindful movement experiences to increase your physical and emotional well-being and to promote a positive relationship with your body.
*All of my offerings are HAES® aligned
WHERE do you do it?
I work both virtually and in-person in my studio in Tenafly, NJ.
I also facilitate group experiences off site upon request.
WHY do you do it?
I believe the body is our greatest teacher.
I believe the body has information that our mind has walled off, that all of our life experiences accumulate to create our physical and emotional ecosystem, and we must address them all if we want to transform the system.
We’re built to survive, but often what we need to survive doesn’t actually help us thrive.
We need our body to tell us what it feels, desires, and wants to let go.
The mind can’t do this work because it doesn’t hold that knowledge.
The body holds our past, and it’s up to the body to release and transform it.
And most of us need help doing that work.
My therapy offers something called “radical acceptance” which means our sessions are compassionate, open and non-judgmental.
Our work together will allow you to become vulnerable, which is where the healing process can begin.
I believe we can heal through sensual movement, playful invention, and communal connection.
Why should I care?
Human suffering has reached a high, with so many people living life by navigating from crisis to crisis and struggling with their mental health and with our broken societies, there’s a great need for healing.
Maybe more than ever before.
Our society is only as strong and resilient as its individuals, and it’s the job of each of us to manage our own mental well-being.
There’s only so much we can do to heal large numbers of people but we can heal ourselves.
The fastest path to human liberation is personal liberation, which means healing ourselves from our wounds and giving expression to our whole selves: body, mind and soul.
Why do so many people love you?
This work can create beautiful bonds. It’s intimate, vulnerable work and it’s incredibly rewarding.
Here is what some of my clients and students have to say about our practice:
“Our Somatic Movement Therapy session was a powerful experience - not only in the moment but also hours and even days later. I quickly came to realize how this practice has the potential to take me out of my thinking brain and begin to listen to the wisdom that my body contains.”
“Odelia is a natural and empathetic healer who has a profound ability to hold space and witness her client. I was able to gain insight in an hour session through somatic experience that may have taken years in talk therapy. She is warm, empathetic, and compassionate- her presence is absolute and authentic”
“I see how Somatic Therapy can be a powerful way for me to add a deeper dimension to my personal journey of self awareness and growth- maybe even to break through old, limiting patterns in a way that traditional talk therapy hasn’t yet been able to.”
“I’ve been in heavy grief and grief affects your body. Moving through it (with) movement has been very healing. I am so grateful for this class, grateful for this opportunity to be with others who are practicing movement together and being free together. It’s been beautiful. ”
“It’s been a great journey for me. I found that maybe there’s no such thing as being “good at” (movement), but just being in your body is so different. I (became) really aware of what I wanted to do and then doing it and not worrying about how I looked.”
I’m loving this, what should I do next?
If getting on a call makes you a little nervous, I have a free gift for you – no call required.
Grab my FREE portable therapy session HERE and you’ll be able to take me with you every time you are in need of a little bit of healing or some extra care.
Here’s a little bit about my journey:
I’ve often felt there’s a constant war going on in my head. Whether from body shame, feelings of worthlessness, or over-functioning, I’ve always struggled with anxiety, and a feeling that I was not living in the flow of my own life.
I realized early on that movement was a great way to calm my mind. I danced through my childhood and adolescence, but it wasn’t until motherhood that movement became a lifeline for me.
It wasn’t just any movement; it was mindful movement.
In the early days of parenting, I remember feeling completely drained. I felt I might suffocate if I didn't take care of my body and soul. Then I saw an ad in the local paper for an adult creative dance class.
I soon found myself in a high school gym with a teacher guiding us through freeform movement using vivid imagery and wonderful music.
I felt alive in a way that I hadn’t felt in a long time. It was so much more than a “dance class”. This class became my therapy, and it was profound.
I got to know myself in a completely new way. There were movements that came out of my body I didn’t know were possible, and it made me feel powerful.
Simultaneously, I found a peer-counseling group that taught me how to release pent up emotions stored in the body.
I’d been through therapy, but nothing had been able to tap into my body’s innate ability to heal itself like this. I became a believer in allowing the body to guide my healing and transformation.
Fast forward 6 years: a move to the US, a birth doula training, and a yoga teacher training. I was clearly seeking answers, and a way to serve other women.
After a long hiatus from dance, I took a Yoga Dance workshop. I was encouraged to move with true pleasure, and expression, without memorizing steps, or feeling there was a goal to hit.
The music was soulful and inspiring, and I burst open, heart and body.
The class was Shake Your Soul®, with Dan Leven. It was the first time I realized I could combine my love of dance and movement with my quest for expression and healing, maybe even as a profession. I took the training program.
The dual certification I got in Shake Your Soul® and Soma Soul® certified me as a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist and Educator.
When I graduated in 2006, very pregnant with my second child, I couldn’t wait to start teaching mindful movement classes and working with private clients.
In 2010 I founded Movement Bliss and started teaching in my own studio in Tenafly.
Students come from all over New Jersey, creating a beautiful community of women. Each student is kind, open-hearted, accepting, powerful and wise.
I learn as much from teaching as I learned from my training.
The group became a vortex of positive energy that kept building, attracting more soulful women to our space. The studio can feel like our own safe haven, a bubble of endless, unconditional compassion.
It’s a stark difference to the world we experience daily, and it’s become a place of deep healing, laughter, playfulness, and radical acceptance.
The more I healed myself, and others, the deeper the work became. My relationship to diet culture, misogyny, body shame, and toxic pressure to “fit in” stood out as my next mountain to climb.
As I’d done with every obstacle, I threw myself into learning everything I could about disordered eating, body dysmorphia, and shame.
I moved, read, spoke, listened, wrote, and drew about it. I spoke with experts, attended workshops, read every book I could find about how to reject the system built to control and diminish women.
I’m now certified as an Intuitive Eating counselor.
I’m determined to be a part of the solution, to help wake women up to their deep and constant worth that has zero to do with our size, weight, shape, age, or physical ability.
My work today transcends titles like Dance or Therapy. I’m committed to healing.
That healing takes place whether we’re talking, moving, drawing, or resting.
It takes place one-on-one and in groups.
It takes shape through laughter, play, emotional release, thoughtful conversation, and even in stillness.
And it takes place inside a space of radical acceptance, truthfulness, and deepest compassion.
