Origins of Soulletting®
My life has been a long conversation with the body — returning to it, losing it, and finding my way back again.
I was trained in movement and performance from a young age and spent decades working as an actor, movement artist, including 10-years as an exotic dancer— as well as an expressive arts educator in New York City and Los Angeles.
Alongside my own creative work, I taught movement, improvisation, expressive writing, storytelling, and art-making to a wide range of communities — from K–12 students to creative aging populations — designing hundreds of workshops rooted in embodiment, imagination, and expression.
At the same time, I was writing, developing, and performing autobiographical solo works. These performances toured nationally and internationally and became a crucible for learning how story, body, grief, and creativity intertwine — not as theory, but as lived experience.
Beneath all of it, I was navigating my own cycles of disconnection and return. Again and again, life asked me to meet the places where identity fell away and something truer wanted to emerge.
In 2018, during a disorienting period of my life, the word Soulletting came to me in a dream. I didn’t yet know what it meant — only that it carried weight, and that I was not to forget it.
When the world came to a halt in 2020, so did my work, my plans, and the identities I had relied on. What followed was not a single rupture, but an extended period of loss and unknowing that required me to meet inner life without bypass or distraction.
It was there, through sustained creative practice, embodiment, meditation, and deep listening, that Soulletting revealed itself — not as a concept, but as a way of meeting inner life directly and allowing what had been buried to move, breathe, and come into expression.
Over time, I began to see that nothing in my life had been separate. My years in performance, teaching, creative facilitation, meditation, and embodied practice — even the paths that once felt fractured — were all in service of the same pursuit: holy + wild freedom.
Soulletting® emerged from this convergence. It is not a method I learned elsewhere, but a lived, evolving practice born from necessity — shaped by experience, discipline, imagination, and deep respect for the body’s intelligence.
Today, I offer Soulletting® as a guided, creative practice for those who feel called to reconnect with their bodies, instincts, and creative force — and to live and express from a place that feels more honest, alive, and whole.
Soulletting® is not only lived — it is rigorously informed. The practice is grounded in decades of professional training across performance, somatic education, ritual arts, and grief facilitation.
Training and Experience
The Soulletting® Method is the culmination of over twenty-five years of deep immersion in the worlds of professional performance, somatic healing, and ritual arts.
Foundational Influences
My primary influences include:
• Training under my father, Jerry Hager (renowned mime and theatre artist), which instilled a foundational understanding of the body as the primary vessel for storytelling.
•The instinctual intelligence and resilience cultivated through 10 years of exotic dance.
• An 18-year collaboration with my husband and director, Scott Slavin, creating and touring six autobiographical solo shows—most notably Naked In Alaska, which toured internationally for five years.
• Eight years exploring and integrating the transformative and palpable work of and with Doris Wolz-Cohen (Bea) of Soulful Relating. A somatic-spiritual and creative approach to psychotherapy and relational healing.
Somatic & Movement
My approach to the body is informed by extensive professional education in trauma-informed and expressive movement modalities. I have completed advanced studies and certifications within:
• Somatic Experiencing (SE): Trained in Peter A. Levine’s specialized program for trauma resolution.
• Expressive Movement: Professional teacher training and labs within the Open Floor International and 5Rhythms traditions (Lucia Horan).
• Movement Analysis & Somatic Studies: Exploration of Laban/Bartenieff systems, the Alexander Technique, and Tamalpa Institute’s Body Mapping.
• Depth Psychology & The Feminine: Immersion in the legacy of Marion Woodman’s BodySoul Work through the Pacifica Graduate Institute.
Performance, Writing & Direction
As a performance artist and director, my training spans the major lineages of modern theatre. I have studied acting and movement under masters of the Stanislavski and Method traditions, as well as specialized work in The Lucid Body and Committed Impulse.
• Solo Show Specialization: I studied solo performance writing under Emmy Award winner Matt Hoverman.
• The Professional Stage: My work has been produced Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway in New York and toured throughout the U.S., UK, and Europe.
• Directorial Focus: Beyond my own stage work, I have served as a director and movement coach for solo performers, and actors, integrating technical specificity and character work with a deep commitment to presence and the "Soulletting" process.
Ritual, Grief & Contemplative Arts
To hold a safe and sacred container for others, I have dedicated years to the study of transition, grief, and mindfulness:
• Grief Facilitation: Certified as a Grief Group Facilitator with OUR HOUSE + Mission Hospice.
• Community Practitioner: Certified Soulful Relating in Community Practitioner, focusing on somatic and contemplative practices. Studied in Parker Palmer’s Courage and Renewal Program.
• Contemplative Studies: Extensive training in meditation and mindfulness at the Kadampa and Shambhala centers in NYC and Transcendental Meditation in Los Angeles.
• Tarot & Symbolism: A deep study of Tarot and esoteric symbolism under the mentorship of Johanna Beyer.
Teaching & Recognition
I have been honored to bring the elements of Soulletting—movement, ritual, and expressive writing—to diverse populations, from professional artists to creative aging communities. My teaching experience includes The Kennedy Center’s American College Theater Festival, Queens Theatre (NYC), and Artworx LA. I am the recipient of numerous teaching grants and awards for my work in the performing arts.
