Samba Healing Movement Therapy
Ana Carla Laidley, LMFT is a world-renowned Master Samba Instructor. She integrates Samba steps and body movements to assist people in reconnecting body, mind, and spirit. Her Samba Dance Movement Sessions promote emotional, cognitive, social, physical, and spiritual integration of the individual.
Samba Healing Movement Therapy is a practice of interconnection. In a safe holding environment, each individual expands spatial awareness, explores rhythms, patterns, and cycles in his/her corporeality. Through Samba dance each individual is encouraged and empowered to express, own it, and process his/her experiences with their body, inner self, and life's circumstances. Samba Healing Movement Therapy increases awareness of neglected parts of the body as well as of hidden emotions that may be hindering the person's level of functioning, self-acceptance, ultimate wellbeing, and healing.
The Samba Healing Movement Therapy utilizes the concept of active imagination developed by Carl Jung. Active imagination is a meditation technique wherein the contents of one's unconscious are translated into images, narrative, or personified as separate entities. It can serve as a bridge between the conscious "ego" and the unconscious.
Active imagination is a method for visualizing unconscious issues by letting them act themselves out. Active imagination can be done by visualization (which is how Jung himself did it), which can be considered similar in technique at least to shamanic journeying. Active imagination can also be done by automatic writing, or by artistic activities such as dance, music, painting, sculpting, ceramics, crafts, etc.
Samba Healing Movement therapy had the potential not only to facilitate communication between the conscious and unconscious aspects of the personal psyche with its various components and inter-dynamics but also between the personal and "collective" unconscious and therefore was to be embarked upon with due care and attentiveness.
Samba Healing Movement Therapy is provided individually or in a group.
TESTIMONIALS
And so your samba encounters help me reconnect with my inner happiness, my warrior spirit of resistance which is such a big part of samba. It also gives me a sense of community, which is so strong in our group ❤️ and finally it takes me out of my head and into my body, allowing me to cultivate my personhood and sense of humanity in a much more meaningful way than other therapy practices often allow me to do
JoanaFlor Tavares
I walked in expecting a dance experience but Ana turns Samba into an experience of spiritual growth and release. It feels like she talks directly to your soul as you follow the beat and her movements. The body and mind are reawakened and I walk out a more relaxed and empowered version of myself every time.
Veronika Young
I was feeling anxious leading up the day as I have a difficullt time commiting to solo activities I do not feel confident about. Reminding myself the above bullet points helped me get in the necessary mindset to get my car and drive to the BBCC on the day. Showing up and seeing everyone there to do the same work was relieving, I noticed immediately it had nothing to do with knowing Samba in the technical sense and everything to do with being curious with the vibrations, with the purpose of our session. We were there to sweat, and dance, and connect. I was relieved when the class started the majority of folks in the session were all just as focused at being in the moment.
Cin
Ana is a true healer and somehow is able to tap into the souls of all of us as we bring our whole selves to samba. Through connecting with the ancestral spirits and releasing stress through our physical bodies, she literally facilitates a rhythmic conversation between us all. We share, we laugh, we cry, and we DANCE. And we entrust her to guide us through it.
I was at one my lowest moments recently and in a tornado of major life transitions. Anna’s Samba Healing Workshop awakened me, centered me, and helped me reconnect and restore.
Adriane Frazier
For me, personally, Samba has helped me love and honor my body while freeing myself from the confines of the weight my body holds in society. As a young ballerina, I was flooded with complexes about my body that lingered well into young adulthood. It was Samba that freed me from these negative thoughts and allowed me to love my body, appreciate it and somehow be suspended from it. Samba made me love the art of dance again, thus it made me love myself again.
Love, Maya
Ana has created a safe space, away from judgment, away from ridicule, away from perfectionism, and body issues. Samba is for EVERYBODY. Every Body. Every part of our body.
Ana guides us to self-love and self-expression. In turn, we channel this energy to support each other and our communities.
People travel from long distances, over 40 miles to participate in her encounters because they leave feeling enriched and enlightened. There are times I leave class in tears after experiencing a catharsis I was not aware I needed. We thank our ancestors, we invite the future and we behold ourselves with love, light, and that amazing Samba energy that Ana guides us to in these encounters.
Marie Ann Sanchez
Ana Laidley's Samba Encounters are truly transformative. No matter your skill level, you can and will feel a shift in your personal well being. Attending Ana's Samba Encounters have allowed me to grow in all aspects of my life. My confidence, social skills, and mental health have all improved. When I am sad, happy, or anything in between, I can take class and leave with a sense of accomplishment and hope. I am extremely grateful for the safe, loving, and welcoming environment Ana has cultivated with her Samba Encounters. Her Samba Encounters are more than just dance, It's Healing
Kristena Hatcher
“Ana Carla’s Samba class is an incredibly powerful and healing experience. She has a way of not only bringing individuals together to build community, but also creating a safe space that encourages a level of vulnerability and spiritual cleansing around others one may have just met. I truly appreciated the experience and felt lighter as a result of taking her class.”
- Nicolea Pettis
Samba Queen USA (2015/16)
Anna’s samba healing class was nothing I expected! It was movement + healing + therapy and truly got me out of my comfort zone…. Which is a place where change actually happens!