about

Hi, I’m Liza Futerman. I am a Somatic Educator, Artist and academic. I'm a pioneer in bringing the Somatic Learning skills into educational and medical settings.
I have two Masters degrees: one in History of Art & Visual Culture from Oxford University (2013), and another Masters in Foreign Literatures & Linguistics from Ben-Gurion University (2012). In 2016, while pursing my PhD at the University of Toronto, I had a bad episode of anxiety and chronic pain as well as depression, I came to realize that I needed to stop what I was doing in order to understand what is happening to my nervous system so I can help myself feel as an active agent in taking responsibility for my wellbeing.
I quit my PhD where I researched the ways we can engage meaningfully with individuals living with dementia through improvisational arts, and turned to trauma-informed somatic practices.
I got a certification as a Mixed-Abilities Contact Improvisation Trainer and delved into Somatic Experiencing Therapy (SET) as a client and as a student. Both of these practices, along with a variety of other tools that I've picked up along the way, helped me understand how my body responds in times of stress. As someone who lives in Israel, a geo-political area that is induced with trauma, I came to realize that in order to help myself and others I should engage with somatic practices on a daily basis. The deeper I go into the field of somatic learning the more I realize the value somatic practices have in increasing our wellbeing and fostering meaningful relationships.

In 2020 I merged all my trainings and created a somatic-based learning methodology that I practice through The Somatic Learning & Arts Centre: a Psycho-Education Centre that focuses on curative learning through somatic practices. I am also the Author of Keeper of the Clouds: A Graphic Medicine Memoir for Dementia Caregivers (2016) and Don't Forget Your Heart: A Children's Book for Adults Coping with Grief (2022).

I’m on a mission to bring un-shaming, and empowerment to our ability to heal pain and trauma as individuals and as a society.