Michelle Hugill

I came to somatic work through my own need for change.

As a performer, conductor, and music educator, I was deeply familiar with pressure and performance anxiety. How quickly I could get caught in my head, relying on cognitive tools to cope with my body's stress response. What I didn't realize until later was that conducting had already been teaching me something else entirely. Standing in front of an ensemble, I learned to read the collective nervous system of a group of musicians in real time, regulating my own state so the people around me could find theirs. I was doing somatic work long before I had language for it.

That language came through Somatic Experiencing®, a body-based approach that works with the nervous system to gently release stuck survival responses. What began as something I sought for myself gradually changed how I relate to stress, presence, and my own body, both in everyday life and in performance. I learned that presence doesn't come from mental effort, but from the nervous system feeling safe enough to settle. That shift has been life-changing.

Somatic Experiencing taught me to listen beneath thoughts and stories, into sensation and felt experience. From there, real change became possible, change rooted in the body rather than forced from the mind.

Today, my work as a somatic practitioner is informed by decades of performing, conducting, and teaching, alongside years of ongoing SE training. I support people in gently shifting out of survival patterns and into greater ease, capacity, and connection. While this work can be especially supportive for performers and creatives, its impact reaches far beyond any single field.

Somatic work is for anyone who feels stuck in patterns of tension, overwhelm, or self-protection, and is ready to explore a different way of being. One that honours the intelligence of the body, moves at a human pace, and allows transformation to unfold from within.

Michelle Hugill is a somatic practitioner, performer, choral conductor, and music educator with over 25 years of experience guiding individuals and groups to discover their voices and express themselves authentically.

Long before she had the language of Somatic Experiencing®, Michelle was doing this work. As a conductor, she learned to read the collective nervous system of an ensemble in real time, regulating her own state so the musicians around her could find theirs. Her SE training gave her the framework to teach what she had always done intuitively.

With a warm and grounded approach, Michelle integrates Somatic Experiencing with body-based awareness and deep listening to help people shift out of survival patterns and into greater ease, clarity, and presence. She works especially with performers, musicians, and creatives who have accomplished so much yet find themselves caught in cycles of anxiety, tension, or self-doubt.

Through this work, clients learn to quiet the inner critic, release built-up tension, and develop a felt sense of calm and confidence that comes from within.