The Embodied Principle: Integrating Somatic Work, RO DBT, and Polyvagal Theory - 6 hours
To access the discount form for registering for multiple workshops or participants, please click here.
When & Where:
- Date: Friday, August 28, 2026
- If you cannot attend this workshop on 8/28, you can pre-register for the on-demand version here: https://www.theknowledgetree.org/p/somatic-ro-dbt-...
- Time: 10:30am - 5:30pm Eastern Time
- CE Hours Included: 6 (please see below for details)
- Location: Live Interactive Webinar ("Synchronous") on Zoom
- Investment: $140 before Friday, August 14th at 5:00pm Eastern Time, $160 after
- Presented by: Tara Arnold, Ph.D., LCSW, CEDS-C and Becca Clegg, LPC, CEDS-C (see bio below)
- Workshop Recording: A recording of this workshop is available to review for 60 days after the presentation. However, participants must attend live to receive the "Synchronous" CE Certificate.
- Instruction Level: Intermediate
- Target Audience: Counselors, Social Workers, Marriage & Family Therapists
Learning Objectives:
After completing this workshop in its entirety, you will be able to:
- Demonstrate the alignment with the relational and connecting principles espoused in RO DBT, polyvagal theory, and somatic therapies, and how to incorporate these modalities into your client’s healing path.
- Demonstrate several somatic interventions, RO DBT skills, and polyvagal strategies, and how to apply them to be effective in treating clients, especially those who have experienced trauma.
- Describe the receiving or embodied principle in analytic and somatic terms.
- Explain the fundamental reconnection concepts of Radically Open DBT (RO DBT).
- Explain how the concepts of surrender and release relate to important principles of life and how the ability to reclaim comfort with the receptive aspect of self is critical to clients in their therapy and connection with others.
- Identify and demonstrate somatic therapies that incorporate the sensory processing systems (touch and sound specifically).
Workshop Description:
Jung describes the receiving principle as the deep mystery, the unconscious. It is the part of the self that is the 'being' mode, compared to the giving/doing part of the self. In this presentation, we look at fusing polyvagal-informed somatic therapy with RO DBT and other modalities to help clients understand and reclaim the embodied and receiving principle as a foundation for recovery. We will explore the embodied integration of RO DBT and somatic modalities to create innovative treatment for the mind, body, and spirit. We will use case studies to explore ways we, as clinicians, can incorporate aspects of these therapies into our own practice. Through experiential exercises, attendees will learn several evidence-based tools and practical polyvagal strategies for applying interventions demonstrated to be effective in treating a variety of clients, especially those with trauma. Attendees will leave this presentation with somatic, RO DBT, and polyvagal skills they can take back into their practice to help stabilize and intervene with clients, and to bypass resistance and ambivalence in treatment.
Workshop Agenda:
- Welcome + Orientation (20 Minutes)
- Introductions and training overview
- Learning objectives
- Somatic contemplation opening
- Embodied vs cognitive framework
- Yin/Yang concepts
- Circle vs line
- Right brain vs left brain processing
- Foundations of Somatic Therapy (40 Minutes)
- Foundational principles of somatic therapy
- The body as a source of wisdom
- Emotion as energy in motion
- Contraction vs expansion
- Curiosity and invitational language
- Movement as healing
- Embodied processing
- Activities:
- Guided body awareness exercise
- Reflection and discussion
- Polyvagal Theory + Nervous System Foundations (60 Minutes)
- Polyvagal Theory overview
- Autonomic nervous system hierarchy
- Ventral vagal
- Sympathetic activation
- Dorsal vagal collapse
- Neuroception
- Vagus nerve
- Window of tolerance
- Activities:
- Nervous system mapping
- Case examples
- Discussion
- Somatic Tracking + Clinical Observation (45 Minutes)
- Identifying hyperarousal
- Identifying hypoarousal
- Ventral state indicators
- Reading movement and body cues
- Alexithymia
- Weak central coherence
- Clinical observation
- Activities:
- Case vignette practice
- Group observation exercises
- Somatic Regulation + Resourcing Skills (45 Minutes)
- Grounding
- Orienting
- Resourcing
- Sensory regulation
- Vagus nerve exercises
- Bilateral stimulation
- Breath regulation
- Activities:
- Hand pressing exercise
- Orienting practice
- Butterfly hug
- Peripheral vision exercise
- Grounding practice
- Introduction to RO DBT + Overcontrol (45 Minutes)
- What is RO DBT?
- Overcontrol vs undercontrol
- Personality traits of overcontrol
- Threat sensitivity
- Reward sensitivity
- Perfectionism and rigidity
- Clinical populations
- Activities:
- Reflection questions
- Clinical discussion
- Flexible Mind + RO DBT Skills (60 Minutes)
- Fixed mind
- Fatalistic mind
- Flexible mind
- DEF skill
- DEEP skill
- SAGE
- Radical openness
- Self-enquiry
- Activities:
- Self-enquiry exercise
- Journaling
- Small group discussion
- Clinical examples
- Social Signaling + Relational Safety (30 Minutes)
- Social signaling
- Armor
- Facial expression
- Tone of voice
- Vulnerability
- Compassion
- Social safety activation
- Activities:
- Social signaling exercise
- Commonalities practice
- Integration + Clinical Application + Closing (15 Minutes)
- Summary and integration
- Questions
- Clinical application
- Closing somatic contemplation
Presented by:
Tara Arnold, Ph.D., LCSW, CEDS-C
Dr. Tara Arnold, LCSW, is a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist and Consultant (CEDS-C) and RYT-200, is a speaker, national trainer, and psychotherapist. Dr. Arnold integrates psychodynamic and family-of-origin work with evidence-based behavioral and embodied approaches, including DBT, RO-DBT, mindfulness, polyvagal, and yoga-informed practices, to support deep, sustainable healing. Tara is licensed in Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Michigan, and Alabama. Dr. Arnold is the owner of Deepen Wellness & Psychotherapy, where she leads groups, workshops, retreats, corporate wellness talks, and psychotherapy. You can learn more at www.deepenwellness.com
Dr. Arnold is specifically trained in many modalities that she lectures on. She is Level 3 certified in RO DBT and has been intensively trained in DBT since 2013, leading DBT groups and training therapists since 1999. She has practiced from an embodied perspective and gained her yoga teacher certification in 2015 and Reiki level 3 in 2024. Dr. Arnold also received her Brainspotting certification in 2024 and is a certified clinical hypnotherapist. She combines her over 20 years of deep clinical experience along with extensive training to provide a well-rounded approach to healing trauma.
Becca Clegg, LPC, CEDS-C
Becca Clegg, LPC, Certified Eating Disorder Specialist and Consultant (CEDS-C), is an author, speaker, and somatic psychotherapist. Becca combines principles of behavioral science, trauma physiology, embodiment, and depth psychology in her work as a psychotherapist, coach, and teacher. She is licensed in both Maine and Georgia. Becca is the author of Ending the Diet Mindset: Reclaim a Healthy and Balanced Relationship with Food and Body Image, Co-author of Your Recovery Resource: A Program for Navigating Your Loved One’s Eating Disorder (a free online program/resource), and the host and creator of the Inner Alchemy Podcast. You can learn more about Becca and her offerings at www.rebeccaclegg.com.
Becca is specifically trained in multiple somatic psychotherapy interventions, including Neuroaffective Touch. She is a Level 2 Embodied Recovery practitioner, Level 1 Transformative Touch practitioner, Level 1 Brainspotting practitioner, and a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist. She combines her passion and knowledge for somatic and integrative psychotherapy in trainings for doctoral-level clinicians.
Workshop Schedule (Eastern Time):
- 10:00am - 10:30am | Sign-In and Welcome
- 10:30am - 12:00pm | Session
- 12:00pm - 12:10pm | Break
- 12:10pm - 1:40pm | Session
- 1:40pm - 2:20pm | Lunch Break
- 2:20pm - 3:50pm | Session
- 3:50pm - 4:00pm | Break
- 4:00pm - 5:30pm | Session
- 5:30pm | Continuing Education Certificates Available
6 CE Hours Included - Details by License Type Below:
- COUNSELORS: The Knowledge Tree, A Summit Professional Education Company has been approved by the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) as an Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEP), ACEP No. 7153. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. The Knowledge Tree, A Summit Professional Education Company is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. Please click here for more detailed information.
- SOCIAL WORKERS: The Knowledge Tree, a Summit Professional Education Company, provider #2470, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 1/14/2026-1/14/2027. Social workers completing this course receive 6 clinical continuing education credits. Please click here for more detailed information.
- MARRIAGE & FAMILY THERAPISTS: TKT has applied for approval for this workshop through the Georgia Association for Marriage & Family Therapy (GAMFT). If you are licensed in another state or country, please click here for more detailed information.
Registration: To register for individual workshops, you may use our online payment option, or to pay by check you may print and complete the Registration Form and mail or fax it to our office. The registration form is available on our website: www.theknowledgetree.org. Registration is permitted until the time the workshop begins, unless otherwise specified.
Multiple Workshop Special: There is a 10% Discount with registration for two workshops. There is a 15% Discount with registrations for three or four workshops. There is a 20% Discount with registration for five or more workshops.
Refund/Cancellation Policy: If you can no longer attend a workshop you have registered for, you can either receive a credit for another workshop or receive a refund if you are within the refund policy period. Refunds will be given for cancellations received at least five days prior to the workshop. More information about refund/cancellation can be found here.
Attendance Policy: 100% attendance and completion of a course evaluation is required at any CE program in order to receive credit for that CE program. No partial credit is given. Certificates of completion will be available in each attendee’s account once the broadcast has ended and the course evaluation completed.
ADA Requests: We will make every effort to accommodate any reasonable ADA request. Please call or email us at least two weeks prior to the event. Payment and registration are required to fulfill an ADA request.
No Conflict Policy: Neither The Knowledge Tree nor its speakers have received any commercial support for this program or its contents and will not receive any commercial support prior to or during this program.
System Requirements: Live Interactive Webinars are facilitated via Zoom. System requirements for the Zoom platform are linked at our FAQ page.
We are an approved vendor for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for easy reimbursement of educational expenses for VA employees.
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