Brenda Sorkin, GCFP
Guild Certified Feldenkrais® Practitioner,
Bones for Life® Senior Trainer,
Movement Intelligence Senior Trainer
Child'Space Practitioner,
Certified Trager® Practitioner
Director, Movement Dialogues LLC
4805 Park Road, Suite 200,
Charlotte, NC 28209
Cell: 704.650.7252 or email: Brenda@movementdialogues.com
Brenda Sorkin has enjoyed a career in movement education since 1985. She has a background in counseling with a particular interest in dreams and mythology, modern dance, qigong. With a lifelong interest in the unity of mind, body and spirit, she has sought to bring the value of movement education into everyday life.
Beginning as a student of Trager Psychophysical Integration and certified as a practitioner in this discipline in 1987, she retired as a tutor for The Trager Institute after 27 years. In 1993 she embarked on a four-year training program in The Feldenkrais Method with its neurological understanding of connecting natural movement patterns with diverse applications..
Brenda is certified in both the passive (table work) and active (self-directed movements referred to as Awareness Through Movement) modalities of The Feldenkrais Method. She has taught public Awareness Through Movement classes in Charlotte since 1994 and offers private Feldenkrais and Trager sessions.
Brenda has also certified by Senior Feldenkrais Instructor Ruthy Alon, Ph.D. as a Senior Trainer in her Foundation of Movement Intelligence programs which include Bones for Life, Walk for Life, Chairs, Mindful Eating and Solutions for Optimal Mobility. Brenda has been teaching Bones for Life classes to the public since 2002 when she reversed her own osteoporosis after taking the course.
Integral to the Feldenkrais Method is its focus on developmental movements. Brenda began advanced study with Feldenkrais Instructor Chava Shelhav, Ph.D. in this area in 2001 and completed her Child'Space program in 2012. After experiencing how much touch and movement impacts a child's life, Brenda sponsored the Child'Space training program - the Chava Shelhav Method in Charlotte to make it more widely available. Learn more at ChildSPaceCharlotte.com
Brenda also had the opportunity to work and travel with mythologist Betty Smith, M.A. author of The Greek Dialogues, Loved by a God and Conversations in South Pasture. Betty was the retired founder of Poiesis Seminars and led mythology seminars in Greece for over 30 years. Brenda offers various workshops that include movement and storytelling to open our imaginations to many perspectives that can emerge and help us in our daily lives.
Brenda works with a diverse group of clients, from infants to adults. Experiencing an autoimmune disease at an early age she discovered that movement approaches enhanced her quality of life and well-being. In turn, she has helped many with various health issues find a more natural way to restore health and vitality. Improving natural movement often provides relief from injuries and chronic pain, including back and neck pain. Brenda has participated in medical research using Feldenkrais to help those with multiple sclerosis and also works with psychotherapists to attend to the somatic experience in the psychotherapeutic process.
Allyson Sipple
Guild Certified Feldenkrais® Practitioner
Licensed Physical Therapist
Bones for Life Teacher
704.965.7804 or email: asipple@gmail.com
Providing services at the location of Movement Dialogues, LLC
Allyson studied psychology undergrad and later trained as a physical therapist. She began working with teens and adults with neurological challenges and in that path discovered Feldenkrais. She quickly knew that it was her way, yet it was many years later in 2008 that she completed the Feldenkrais Guild training and became a practitioner (GCFP). She later followed up with Movement Intelligence work becoming a Bones for Life teacher (BFL). Having a love of learning and to support herself & her clients, she studies Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Somatic Intelligence, and stays connected with neuroscience study groups.
Allyson has a special interest in working with women, especially through the aging process and with those caring for loved ones with special needs. Her desire is to bring curiosity, compassion, and playfulness to her work with clients, and to facilitate new possibilities in movement & life.
Allyson is a mother of two grown sons and a daughter with special needs. She rejuvenates herself most everyday caring for her plants and taking in the beauty of the natural world. She also enjoys hiking, swimming, and singing.
Website coming soon…
Paula Alonso
Guild Certified Feldenkrais® Practitioner,
Bones for Life Teacher, Child'Space Practitioner
704.905.8594 or email: PaulaAlonsoMovement@gmail.com
Providing services at the location of Movement Dialogues, LLC, Paula came to the Feldenkrais Method after a long journey looking for solutions for her own struggles with tendinitis and fibromyalgia.
Before taking the 4 year training to become a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner, she was a Certified Rolfer™ and Rolf Movement™ Practitioner, and stay-at-home mom to her two children, a middle school teacher in her native Brazil, and a sociologist.
In all those different roles, Paula has been known for her caring personality, her desire to help others, and her continuous commitment to learning and going deep in her understanding of her work.