Movement & Somatic Yoga based counseling
Movement & Somatic Yoga based counseling
My name is Kavya Viswanathan ( MA, R-DMT, LCAT-LP New York, E-RYT 500, YACEP), a longtime performer, teacher and mentor.
My work has been shaped by years of artistic practice, community movement building, philosophical study, and clinical work across diverse settings. I believe I bring in my work, a depth of lived experience that no single certification can capture. My journey began in the studio and on stage, where dance became a way to experience empowerment and collective expression.
I was part of early efforts to introduce bellydance in India as a practice that supported body positivity and wellness, helping create spaces where movement could foster confidence, resilience, and a sense of belonging. Since then, alongside decades of yoga practice and teaching have deepened my relationship with the body as a place of insight, grounding, and transformation.
My therapeutic approach is rooted in philosophical traditions that explore the body–mind system, and comes alive through movement and other creative arts. Drawing from understandings of the Sāṃkhya philosophy, rasa theory and aesthetics in the Nāṭya Śāstra, and Shakta understandings of emBODYed consciousness, I bring ancient ideas about emotion, perception, and embodiment into conversation with contemporary clinical practice. This integrative lens allows me to create spaces where movement, creativity, and breath become gentle pathways toward clarity and healing.
My clinical experience includes work in forensic psychiatry at Bellevue Hospital, behavioral health programs, recovery settings, and community-based practices in both the United States and India. Working across these environments has opened door to intimately work with the how of stress, culture, environment, and relationships shape our inner world. I hold the belief that the body carries our stories and also holds the capacity for change, which makes embodied awareness central to my work.
My perspective has also been shaped by extensive travel, multicultural engagement, and wide-ranging study. I am well read in psychoanalysis, Afrocentric approaches to health and healing, and the social and political histories of India and the United States. This breadth supports my ability to meet people with nuance and cultural sensitivity, and to honor how identity and lived experience shape the way we move through the world.
Across all my work, I bring a steady, attuned presence and a commitment to honoring the whole person. I see healing as a relational and creative process that unfolds through connection, embodied exploration, and a trust in each person’s capacity for meaningful change.
