Mia Gleason CMT, BCSI, Movement Educator
My first encounter with Structural Integration was life transforming. I started practicing SI in 1996 when I graduated from the Soma Institute, and after reading Anatomy Trains and first studying with Tom Myers in 2013, I was awed by this brilliant mapping of the body, seeing that it would lead to more precise, individualized strategies for clients.
I love this work and feel honored to support people in developing new awareness, leaving behind outdated patterns and changing their bodies, and therefore their lives. I also teach life affirming and restorative movement and was certified with Polestar Pilates in 2011. I love to dance, particularly to live, traditional music from the African Diaspora. I occasionally perform, which I enjoy the most when it also includes girls, teens and multi-generational and multi-cultural folks from the local community.
I thought I was the least likely person in the world to be a dancer, despite obsessively reading and fantasizing about dancers as a child. I took my 1st dance class on my 22nd birthday after finishing 10-weeks of Structural Integration – a truly life transforming experience that brought me home, into my body. I went from being an overly analytical, self-deprecating, indecisive, body dysmorphic, insecure lady to a juicy, empowered, embodied, passionate lioness at home in her own skin. That didn’t happen overnight but it started with me feeling fed up with not inhabiting my body. And that 10-week journey was the beginning of an endlessly fascinating exploration as a Somanaut ( Soma=Body- think astronaut but in the intimate inner space of the human body).
In Africa they say, “If you can walk, you can dance”. I consider it my vocation (in the professional and devotional sense) to make that true for as many people as possible.. Dance is a sacred and ancient prayer. Dance is joy, passion, expression, and connection. For me, dancing is what lights me up but not all my students are “dancers”. When I say “dance” I don’t mean performative or professional dance. I don’t even mean structured dance. I mean something much bigger. I see the act of dancing as moving through life in a juicy, passionate way — living your bliss without needing applause. I believe that process begins by listening to and loving our bodies.
Our concepts of what we should be or do come from the outside. There is a way to navigate inside yourself, to sense your body and source what desire or need is genuine to the moment. I feel grateful to be in a position, and equipped, to support others in that inquiry. I use tools like Pilates, exploratory anatomy, dance warm ups, Structural Integration and Madeline Black hands on techniques. My students are curious, experimental, and hungry to express their original, creative selves.
My practice is based in San Diego/La Mesa, CA. When I can, I do in-person ATSI and movement sessions in Nevada City/Grass Valley area, where I lived for 16 years. I love to travel and am delighted to offer sessions in any part of the world to people of various cultures.If you would like to set up ATSI sessions in your area contact me to work out the details. One of the silver linings of the Covid-19 pandemic has been my new love of reaching folks all over the globe through Zoom. I teach individualized, life affirming movement, radical self acceptance and self administered Neurovascular Release online.