Erika Ackerman

I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be a voice and movement teacher. Growing up in the Berkshires, I embarked on years of intensive training at Shakespeare & Company, where somatic educator and movement therapist Karen Beaumont became a formative mentor. I began shadowing Karen in 1991, and through her was introduced to the work of Trish Arnold and Dr. Martha Eddy. From the beginning, my training as a teacher was rooted in somatic movement therapy.

I went on to study classical singing at the Boston Conservatory of Music while continuing to develop my work in voice and movement. After many years immersed in Linklater Voice, I met Catherine Fitzmaurice in 2010 and was drawn to her integration of bioenergetics, yoga, and classical voicework. I became an Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework® and hold additional certifications in Vocal Yoga® and the Full Voice approach featuring the Five Elements Framework™.

As my work evolved, I expanded my studies into the neurosomatic field through the work of Peter Levine and David Grand. I am certified in Somatic Experiencing®, Brainspotting®, and Integrative Hypnosis, and continue to work under the supervision of Melissa Tiers.

My teaching career has included serving as an adjunct professor at UC Santa Barbara under the mentorship of Michael Morgan, author of Fitzmaurice Voicework: Embodying the Holistic Voice.

In 2020, I began working remotely with writers, bringing the same somatic principles I had spent decades exploring with actors and singers into the writing process. This work was subsequently featured in The New York Times.

Today, my practice brings together more than three decades of experience across somatic therapy, voice, and movement—disciplines that, in my work, have never been separate.