Denise Martini –
SomaSense Ministry of A.I.W.P.
(Association of the Integration of the Whole Person)
-Spiritual Counselor
-Certified Hakomi Practitioner
-Continuum Teacher
My gift, my calling, and my passion are to be the movement of love through the body, using movement, language, trauma and somatic education, and mentor-ship to support people returning home to themselves. I have a love for working with individuals and groups. Being one of 8 children, I know first hand the importance and value of one-on-one time that includes care with attention. I am honored to companion individuals on their soul’s journey as they (re) claim their wholeness through discovery and recovery, and remembering themselves from head to toe!
I also know the power and potency of group work. Being born into a family of ten people, living under one roof informed by organized religion, throughout my childhood I felt lost in the chaos, invisible in the crowd, and spiritually disconnected. This disconnect manifested in my body as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which eventually became one of the catalysts for my life’s work. My group work has been an opportunity to dive deeply into the mystery of moving as body, with others beyond our cultural and familial constrains. It has been a context to heal the perceptions and experiences of isolation, to experience the rich field of unity, and to receive each other as the unique hearts, minds, and souls that we are!
As a young, professional dancer I traveled the world in my 20’s. My dance career took me from Japan, to Alaska, down to the Caribbean Islands and Down Under. Over to the Fujian Islands, onto Hawaii, and back again to San Francisco, the city where I was born. Shortly thereafter, New York City called me to explore and discover more of myself as a young dancer with a hungry soul. Massage and bodywork became a necessity for me while living a dynamic life of dance classes and auditions by day, waitress extraordinaire by night, and enjoying the culturally rich city in the spaces in between. With time, I knew I had a gift to serve but it was not to be tables anymore! I studied therapeutic massage and bodywork at The Swedish Institute in New York City in the late 80’s, not knowing it would be my right livelihood for many years to come. My interest in healing through the body expanded from bodywork into conscious movement practices which led me to study Continuum in 1995. My passion for moving concepts from theory and mind, into reality and body, ignited. In 2000, I began a 5 year in-depth training at the San Francisco Hakomi Institute. My awe and respect for the human condition and the body-mind connection grew, and the spiritual nature of my work expanded. In 2007, I became an ordained minister and SomaSense; A Mindful Body Ministry of A.I.W.P. was birthed.
My life would not be what it is today without the great teachers, healers, and mentors who have skillfully guided me into the truth and power of embodied, mindful, self-inquiry and living. I am forever grateful to be at home where I live, and at home within myself. My spiritual connection has been restored, I have healed from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and I am truly seen and supported personally and professionally by a network of loving, inspired, dynamic human beings.
Credentials and Training
Certifications:
Certified Massage Therapist (1990)
Certified Hakomi Practitioner (2004)
Ordained Minister of AIWP (2007)
Officially Recognized Continuum Teacher (2023)
Affiliations:
California Massage Therapy Council- Certificate #: 14620
Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals (ABMP)
Certified Hakomi Therapist & Practitioner with the International Hakomi Institute
The Association of the Integration of the Whole Person (AIWP)
Continuum Teachers Association
Training:
The Swedish Institute, N.Y.C., 1988-1989
MicroMovement Bodywork, Hubert Bacia, 1992
Two-Year Comprehensive Training in the Hakomi Method; A Body-Centered Therapy, Hakomi Institute of San Francisco, 2000-2001
Assistant for this Training, 2002-2003, Lead Assistant, 2004
Certified in the Hakomi Method, 2004
Awakening from the Family Trance, Hakomi Institute of San Francisco, 2000
Prayers and Passages, Hakomi Institute of San Francisco, 2000
Accessing the Divine, Hakomi Institute of San Francisco, 2000
Consultation Group with Ron Kurtz (founder of the Hakomi Method), San Francisco, 2002, 2003
Making Friends with Anger, Hakomi Institute of San Francisco, 2003
Re-Creation of the Self, Jon Eisman, 2003
Quieting the Mind, Richard Heckler, Hakomi Institute of San Francisco, 2004
Re-Creation of the Self, Jon Eisman, 2005
Assistant for this Training, 2005
Re-Creation of the Self; Working with Couples, 2005
Hakomi Conference in Boulder, Colorado, 2005
Hakomi Weekend Training, Ron Kurtz, Ashland, Oregon, 2005
Responding to Life, Hakomi Institute of San Francisco, 2006
Making Trauma Safe, Babette Rothschild, Sponsored by the Hakomi Institute of San Francisco, 2007
Out of the Trauma Maze, Babette Rothschild and Manuela Mischke Reeds, Sponsored by the Hakomi Institute of San Francisco, 2008
Biodynamic Cranial Mentor Course with Charles Ridley 2010
Other Workshop and Movement Training:
Continuum at NCDC Dance Camp, Beth Riley, 1995
Continuum Week Retreat at Esalen, Emilie Conrad, Continuum, 1996
In-Depths Retreat, Emilie Conrad and Susan Harper, Continuum, 1998
Body In Question, Emilie Conrad, Continuum, 1998-1999
Em’ocean and Sensations Training 1, Susan Harper, Continuum Montage, 1999 (included training in working with Trauma through movement)
Body In Question, Emilie Conrad, Continuum, 1999-2000
Body Tales Weekend Retreat, Olivia Corson, 2000
Women Renew Your Spirit, Inner and Outer Nature, Sylvia Marie, 2002
Moving Through Life- Healing from Trauma through Movement, Manuela Mischke Reeds, 2002
Darkness and Light: Exploring Winter Hibernation, Beth Riley, The Moving Well, 2002
Trauma Training Weekend, Justine K. Polevoy, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, 2002
Women Renew Your Spirit, Inner and Outer Nature, Sylvia Marie, 2003
Stitching the Realms: Exploring Movement and Making Meaning, Kaiopa Stage, 2003
Couple’s Retreat, Jon Eisman Founder of R-CS, 2003
In-Depths Retreat, Emilie Conrad and Susan Harper, Continuum, 2004
Fluid Presence, Susan Harper, Continuum Montage, 2005
Women’s Dream Ouest, Judith Tripp MA, MFT, 2005
Enlightenment Intensive, 2006
Spiraling River of Your Body, Beth Pettengill-Riley, The Moving Well, 2006
Cosmic Anatomy, Emilie Conrad, Founder of Continuum, 2007
Heart of Stillness, Susan Harper, Continuum Montage, 2007
Spiraling River of Your Body, Beth Riley, The Moving Well, 2007
Discovering Relationship, Steve Blumenthal and Donna Moulteirre, Spirit of Life Institute of AIWP, 2007
Ministerial Ordainment, Association of the Intergration of the Whole Person (AIWP), 2007
Fluid Presence, Susan Harper, Continuum Montage, 2007
Heart of Dreaming Intensive, Susan Harper and Beth Pettengill-Riley, Continuum Montage, 2008