Polyvagal-Informed Restorative Movement Psychotherapy

In this clearly written and well-researched book, Amber Gray reveals just how powerful movement-based therapies can be in contributing to the healing of trauma. In addition, she has applied insights from the Polyvagal Theory to the field of movement and dance therapies. This book will be beneficial for all therapists as a guide and companion, as well as for those seeking help in resolving their own traumatic experiences.–Peter A. Levine, PhD, author of Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma and An Autobiography of Trauma: A Healing Journey
Amber Gray’s extraordinary book is a study in contrasts: wise yet accessible, sophisticated yet practical, singular yet deeply generous. Moving fluidly between the verbal and the embodied, she brings science into conversation with the wisdom of earth, spirit, and culturally-rooted practice. Humbling and inspiring, it invites clinicians into a vital reimagining of trauma work that embraces reciprocity, restoration, and mobilization.–Craig Haen, PhD, RDT, CGP, LCAT, AGPA-F, psychotherapist and cofounder of The Kint Institute
It’s rare that you can feel an author’s beating heart in the pages of their book, but this one pulses with Amber Gray’s decades of deep feeling for her clients, her mentors, and the work she has so lovingly and dedicatedly developed. Each page is studded with the cut and polished gems of her ideas, images, and viewpoints, resulting in a light that brings the reader to an informed and inspired place. She reframes and reinvigorates therapeutic work, especially with marginalized and oppressed people. A must-read for anyone doing therapy, especially trauma-informed, body-based therapy.–Christine Caldwell, PhD, LPC, BC-DMT, professor emeritus of the Somatic Counseling Program at Naropa University and author of Bodyfulness, Oppression and the Body
Our nervous systems are shaped in relationship, and they heal in relationship. In this beautiful and deeply embodied book, Amber Gray reminds us that healing is not only a cognitive process but an experience that unfolds through the body, through movement, and through connection. By weaving polyvagal science with somatic and movement-based practices, she offers clinicians meaningful pathways to support restoration, dignity, and belonging. This work is a powerful contribution to trauma-informed care and to the ongoing conversation about how we help people come back home to themselves.–Linda Thai, LMSW, ERYT-200, trauma therapist, educator, and speaker

Amber Elizabeth Gray is a trailblazer in the practice of somatic and dance/movement therapy with survivors of interpersonal, collective, and historic trauma in vastly diverse clinical, communal, and cultural contexts. An itinerant global citizen, she resides in Santa Fe, NM.

Stephen W. Porges, PhD, originator of Polyvagal Theory, is a Distinguished University Scientist and founding director of the Kinsey Institute Traumatic Stress Research Consortium at Indiana University, and a professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina. He lives in Atlantic Beach, Florida.

Deb Dana, LCSW, is a clinician, consultant, speaker, and the leading translator of Dr. Stephen Porges’s Polyvagal Theory. She is the bestselling author of The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy, Polyvagal Practices, and many others. She lives in Kennebunkport, Maine.

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