Who We Are
We are internationally established platform for delivering top-of-the-field embodiment education, facilitator training, and transformative Deep Body Movement spaces. Founded by Stefana Serafina, our work grows from over 15 years of body- and movement–centered practice, and now brings together a collective of practitioners, therapists, artists, and educators working with embodied approaches in diverse settings around the world.
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Founder
Stefana Serafina
Director of Education and Training, Founder
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Stefana Serafina, M.A., is an embodiment educator, transformative movement facilitator, mentor, and trainer, recognized for her unique body- and movement-based approach to personal and collective growth.
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She is the founder and Director of Education at the Deep Body Institute, where she has designed and led embodied learning and transformation programs for over fifteen years.
Stefana developed the Deep Body Movement Method, a multi-layered somatic discipline integrating movement, relational witnessing, depth psychology, and nature-based frameworks. She has trained practitioners and teachers in over 15 countries and now oversees the creation and expansion of transformative learning environments that deepen embodied intelligence, foster personal and collective growth, empower feminine leadership, and advance social change.
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Her facilitation and teachings have been described as “life-changing and life-giving,” “deeply penetrating and rekindling,” and a “masterful invitation to the timeless remembrance of who we are.”
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See more about Stefana's credentials and experience here
The Deep Body Collective
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Our Deep Body Collective is an emergent and growing collective of embodiment experts, trained Deep Body practitioners, therapists, artists, soul workers and change makers.
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Core Faculty
Michelle Maree Hardeman-Guptill MA, LMFT is a licensed psychotherapist, a transformational coach, a trauma specialist and a mentor for practitioners who understand the value of being trauma-informed whenever working with someone's mind or body. She brings all of the wisdom that she has gathered over 20 years into a container of safety, occasional cussing, a splash of sass and total reverence for your unique experiences.
Michelle has ancestral roots in Ireland and Denmark. She currently lives on the Miwok and Pomo lands of Northern California.
Her work supports people to create a bridge between the wisdom of their body and the power of their mind. This dance between the mind and body leads us to awareness, insight, regulation and expression.
In Michelle's words:
“The work with the deep body initially terrified me, and eventually became a driving force in my reconnection to the magical world inside my own body. Stefana ignited a passion for me to help others create that bridge between the mind and the body so that our world can return to a place of balance, aliveness, connection and intimacy."
Carmen da Silva Wells is a Deep Body Movement guide and creative coach who helps people return to their aliveness and inner authority. Her work draws on the wisdom of the deep body, Earth's cycles and the spark of creative expression—inviting a deeper way of living that is truthful, courageous, and quietly revolutionary. Shaped by a multicultural upbringing and a background in anthropology and international development, Carmen carries a deep reverence for diverse stories, cycles, and ways of knowing.
With a warm, intuitive presence, she creates spaces where people feel safe to soften, feel, and remember themselves. Those who work with her often find renewed clarity in times of transition, inner calm, and a rekindled sense of wonder and aliveness.
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Carmen lives on a small Dutch farm with her family and a lively community of animals, where the land and seasons continually inspire her practice.
In Carmen's words:​“Creativity is a life force—one that awakens, empowers, heals, and transforms us. Deep Body Movement plugs us back into this life force, and allows clarity and inner authority to emerge.
In these times of great transition, our deeper body is continually whispering what matters. When we choose to follow its invitation, we step into our rightful place in the unfolding story of our own life, and the world we're shaping together."
Katya Avila, MFA, is an artist and Deep Body Practitioner based in Los Angeles, CA. As a practitioner, she uses the Deep Body methods to support individuals and groups in finding creative flow in the body. As a lifelong musician, writer, and educator, Katya has taught expressive arts at high schools, colleges, yoga studios, music festivals and online since 2015.
She began studying with the Deep Body institute in 2018 and was one of the first to be trained as a Deep Body Practitioner in 2020. She has since been one of the DBI’s core faculty and teaching assistants.
Katya is of Mexican-American heritage, with ancestral roots in Poland, Ireland, Spain and Britain.
She leads a successful psychedelic rock band, KATZROAR.
In Katya's words: "The Deep Body work has supported me on every step of my creative journey — from writing my first album, to learning new instruments, to working through fears & blocks, performing, touring, and making business decisions. I have supported many others on similar journeys, and know that these methods can support anyone in living an intuitive, embodied, expressed, and soulful life."
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