TPP 504: Celia Bray on Staying Anchored in an Intense World

Today we’re exploring what it means to reconnect with our bodies and how that can transform not just our emotional health, but our parenting and relationships as well, with Celia Bray, a psychologist, somatic therapist, and the award-winning author of Inscribed: Your Body’s Hidden Script. In our conversation, Celia shares her own journey from disconnection to what she calls somatic mastery, and why learning to tune into our body’s signals can be such a powerful guide for decision-making and regulation. We talk about simple, accessible practices parents can begin using right away, and how developing this awareness can shift how we show up—for ourselves and for our kids—with more presence, clarity, and ease.

 About Celia Bray

Celia Bray is a psychologist, somatic therapist, and award-winning author of Inscribed – Your Body’s Hidden Script. With over 20 years’ experience, she has lived and worked internationally across Australia, India, Kenya, and beyond, blending psychology with embodied healing practices. Celia is the founder of Somatic Psychology International, where she supports people to unlock the wisdom written in their bodies so they can heal, grow, and live authentically. She also facilitates Open Floor Movement, Therapy in Motion, and Family Constellations, empowering individuals and communities to reconnect with their freedom and joy.

Things you'll learn from this episode

• How Celia Bray’s personal journey from emotional suppression to somatic healing informs her work

• Why Gestalt therapy’s focus on present-moment, body-based awareness can be so transformative

• How trauma and emotional experiences are held in the body—and how somatic practices can support release and integration

• How simple practices like “Landing in the Body” build awareness and reconnect us with our internal cues

• Why resistance to body awareness is common, especially within certain cultural contexts, and how to navigate it

• How somatic work can influence parenting, decision-making, and emotional resilience, and where to begin exploring it

Resources mentioned

• Celia Bray Somatic Psychology

• Celia Bray’s YouTube Channel

• Inscribed–Your Body’s Hidden Script: Decode Your Body’s Wisdom for Emotional Healing, Wise Choices, and the Path to an Awesome Life by Celia Bray

• Pat Ogden’s Sensory Motor Therapy — For further somatic therapy practices

• Trauma-Informed Yoga — Explore gentle body-based trauma release

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