About

Marla has been practicing embodiment for more than 25 years. She believes in the transformative, healing power of living as a whole body. 

Her wish is to support you to experience the freedom, open-heartedness and potent aliveness that embodiment brings.

Marla is a somatic coach & educator certified in Zapchen Somatics, a unique lineage that combines trauma-informed, body-based healing methods, as well as mind-body-energy transformation practices that are grounded in Vajrayana Buddhism. Her approach also is influenced by her study and practice of Dzogchen meditation, Qi Gong and Tai Chi. 

Zapchen Somatics uses movement breath and sound, often in combination with each other, and in ways that are easy to do. The work is simple yet multi-faceted, natural yet radical, direct and playful yet deeply relaxing. Above all, it’s nourishing.

Marla’s principal teachers in Zapchen Somatics are Julie Henderson, Ph.D., founder of Zapchen, and Tony Richardson, M.D. Her primary teachers in Dzogchen meditation are the Venerable Wangdor Rimpoche and Lama Lena Yeshe Kaytup. She studies Chen-Style Hunyuan Qi Gong and Tai Chi with Linda Brown, disciple of Master Zhang. In 2020, she began studying Body-Mind Centering® with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen.