A complex world demands complex self-awareness.
“In a world that is often fragmented, this book arrives at the perfect time—it is a beacon of light, reminding us that our strength and beauty lie in the richness of our diversity.”
—Wendy Allen PhD, LPC, BC-DMT, Critical whiteness studies/anti-oppression scholar, Associate Professor, Dance/Movement Therapy, Lesley University
“Our identities live within us through their greatest interpreter: our bodies. Our histories and our cultures are held not only in our minds and hearts, but in the ways our bodies absorb, interpret, and react to the world around us. We have a partner in our experience, and one that speaks a language of its own.”
—Marcia Bonato Warren
In the News
Video
Embodied Code-Switching: Moving Between Cultural Environments as a Multicultural Person
Presentation and Workshop
Interview
Article
Fury as Millennial Worker Told to Stop Bringing In Wife's Mexican Lunches
Marcia was cited as an expert
About Marcia
Marcia Bonato Warren, MA, MA, LPC (she/her) is a trauma-informed Somatic Counselor/Body Psychotherapist, Interculturalist and author with over 30 years of cross-cultural experience in the fields of somatic counseling and education, international educational exchange and Native American policy and advocacy. In 2015, Marcia developed her own therapy practice called Embodied Code-Switching®, which focuses on developing the resilience and unique expression of multicultural identities through somatic awareness. Marcia is proud of her heritage and the gifts of her ancestors and identifies as an enrolled member of the Santa Clara Pueblo of New Mexico and as Brazilian-Italian.
About the Book
Through current research, personal narrative, and the integration of innovative and insightful tools and exercises, Movement and Identity: Multiculturalism, Somatic Awareness, and Embodied Code-Switching ® explores the ways varying facets of identity and culture manifest in the body, allowing for a much more nuanced, person-centered approach to client care. Marcia invites the reader to examine how our bodies interpret and express our identities, which is often informed by cultural norms, communication styles, trauma, and systems of power and oppression. This process is a journey, however, that starts within each of us first - for if we cannot accept difference and diversity within ourselves, how can we do so for others?
Key Benefits for Readers
How can we shift the experience of managing multicultural identities from challenges into “superpowers” that can create belonging, increase empathy, and bridge division into connection?
Learn
…more about the unique experience of multicultural individuals through research and professional experience
Feel
…how somatic awareness and nonverbal communication can support a deeper sense of cultural embodiment
Practice
… Embodied Code-Switching® therapy as a means of facilitating a conscious relationship with our cultural identities, expand personal choices, and move with greater fluidity between cultural contexts
Praise for Marcia
Movement and Identity offers the reader a blueprint for checking in with our mind, emotions and body from a cultural perspective with mindful embodied practices to support the varied experiences of moving through the world. This seminal work will be a resource for students and professionals alike for many years to come.
—Uğur Kocataşkın, MA, LPC, PhD(c), Associate Professor, Naropa University, Buddhism-Informed Contemplative Counseling Program
Work with Marcia
Marcia is passionate about developing the potential in human beings to embrace diversity through cultural embodiment and the sharing of stories and creativity.
She works with individuals and groups in the areas of
trauma-informed somatic counseling, education and supervision
cultural awareness and competency
social justice and intercultural communication
