Orient
Notice how attention, sensation and environment shape experience.
9-month experiential training · Next cohort 2027
Somatics for Neurodiversity
Orient. Organise. Express.
A practice-led exploration of attention, regulation, movement, agency and expression—designed primarily for people who work with neurodivergent adults.
9 monthsRecorded learningMonthly live online
Why somatics?
Understanding does not always become action.
Neurodivergence is often discussed through cognition, behaviour, communication and executive function. But difference is also lived through sensation, timing, support, movement and the environment.
A person may know they need to rest but be unable to stop. Know what comes next but be unable to begin. Need to move in order to listen. Recognise overwhelm only after their body has reached its limit.
Somatic work adds another layer of information—without replacing psychological, cognitive, medical or behavioural approaches.
Organise
Explore what supports movement, transition and meaningful choice.
Express
Make room for different ways of regulating, relating and communicating.
Designed primarily for helpers
Work with the body you actually meet.
Especially relevant to work with ADHD, autism, DCD / dyspraxia, sensory differences and overlapping neurodivergent presentations.
For professional practice
Practitioners & helpers
For people who want to perceive more than behaviour, adapt embodied practices with greater care and make room for different ways of attending, moving and participating.
- Counsellors, psychotherapists and psychologists
- Coaches, somatic practitioners and movement educators
- Occupational and allied health practitioners
- Peer workers, advocates, educators and facilitators
Also open to lived experience
Neurodivergent adults
For adults who want to explore their own attention, state, movement, boundaries, imagination and expression more deeply. A formal diagnosis is not required.
Neurodivergent experience remains at the centre of the work—not the object being studied.
A different kind of professional learning
Experience first.
Application second.
This is not a technique library to immediately apply to clients. You will first explore the material through your own body, then consider how it may inform practice.
A practice that helps you may not help the person in front of you. What grounds one nervous system may constrict another. The aim is not the correct intervention, but a wider repertoire of perception and choice.
See the nine-month journeyFeldenkraisBody-Mind CenteringDevelopmental movementTrauma-informed practiceEmbodied imageryBreath & voiceDance & improvisation
The nine-month journey
Orient. Organise. Express.
One theme each month, with enough time to practise, pause, repeat and return. Completion is not the measure of learning.
Part I
Orient
Where am I?
Before asking someone to focus, regulate or change, we learn to notice how attention is organised, what provides support and what state the system is in.
Month 1
Attention Has a Body
A wider inquiry into how attention moves, settles and reorganises through embodied experience.
Month 2
Ground, Support & Orientation
Discovering forms of support that can meet different bodies and nervous systems.
Month 3
States of Activation
Learning to recognise shifts in state without making calm the only desirable outcome.
Part II
Organise
How do I act?
Knowing what to do and being able to organise an action are not the same. We explore coordination, transitions, protection and choice.
Month 4
Support, Balance & Coordination
Exploring effort, coordination and the conditions that can make action more available.
Month 5
Developmental Movement
An experiential look at how movement and action become organised over time.
Month 6
Pause, Choice & Action
Creating more room between impulse, intention and action when another option feels hard to access.
Month 7
Protection, Boundaries & Agency
Exploring protection, consent and the embodied conditions for meaningful choice.
Part III
Express
What might I become?
The final part moves beyond correction and functioning toward imagination, rhythm, pleasure, play and personal expression.
Month 8
Image, Imagination & Inner Space
Opening additional pathways between sensation, imagination and personal meaning.
Month 9
Rhythm, Play & Expression
Making room for rhythm, play and forms of expression that are genuinely one’s own.
Affirming by design
The goal is not normalisation. It is more possibility.
Trauma-informed and neurodiversity-affirming principles shape the whole programme rather than appearing as a separate module.
Autonomy remains part of the method.
Participation is invitational, adaptable and responsive to the person in the room.
The environment is part of the inquiry.
We stay curious about the conditions around a person, not only what appears to be happening within them.
Regulation is not enforced calm.
We make room for different ways of finding continuity, connection and enough support.
What you may take away
A richer way to notice, adapt and respond.
Neurodivergent participants may also develop a broader personal repertoire for attention, state, movement, boundaries, imagination and expression.
- 01
See neurodivergence as embodied and contextual, not only cognitive
- 02
Notice a wider range of signals before deciding what they mean
- 03
Adapt support to different bodies, states and environments
- 04
Work with greater sensitivity to boundaries, pacing and agency
- 05
Develop a broader and more discerning somatic repertoire
From earlier embodied work
Small shifts can open more possibility.
Reflections from participants in earlier Demiplaner somatic and embodied learning.
“I began to notice possibilities in my body that I hadn’t noticed before.”
“The practices were clear, warm, and easy to follow. I could feel the effect almost immediately.”
How the programme works
Learn slowly. Return often.
Recorded learning
A varied collection of teaching and experiential material to explore in your own time and revisit throughout the programme.
Monthly live integration
Shared practice, reflection and conversation about how the material meets different bodies and real-world contexts. Sharing is always optional.
- Duration
- 9 months
- Delivery
- Online
- Language
- English · Mandarin support available
- Next intake
- 2027
Educational and experiential in nature. This programme is not group therapy, does not replace medical or psychological treatment, and does not provide professional certification.
At the centre of the programme
Somatic Agency
Not the ability to control the body, but the growing capacity to notice what is happening, find support, recognise state, move attention, approach or withdraw, pause or continue, discover another option—and act through the body one actually has.
We are not trying to create a correct neurodivergent body. We are learning to work more intelligently with the diversity already here.
Questions about the programme
Before you join.
Do I need a formal ADHD or autism diagnosis?
No. A formal diagnosis is not required. The programme works with lived experience rather than requiring participants to fit a diagnostic category.
What if I find it difficult to notice sensations in my body?
That is not a prerequisite. Difficulty identifying internal sensations can itself become something we explore gently. Practices can begin with very simple and concrete sensory information rather than requiring strong interoceptive awareness.
What if conventional mindfulness or meditation hasn’t worked well for me?
You do not need to be good at meditation, remain still, clear your mind, or sustain attention in a particular way. The work can include movement, changing attention, external sensory information and other ways of finding regulation and contact.
How much movement is involved?
Movement is one of several ways into the work. The programme also includes attention, reflection, imagery, breath and voice. Practices are invitational and adaptable; you can pause, change position, reduce intensity, move more, skip a practice or observe instead.
Is this therapy?
No. This is an educational and experiential programme, not group psychotherapy or medical treatment. It can sit alongside appropriate psychological or medical care, but does not replace it and does not promise a therapeutic outcome.
Next cohort · 2027
Join the next training cohort.
Receive faculty announcements, dates, pricing and enrolment information when registration opens.