Yona Shahar-Levy

MY STORY

Yona Shahar-Levy (born March 1, 1939) is a movement therapist and yoga teacher. One of the most important figures in the field of movement therapy in Israel. Creator of the Epimotorics method, the movement-mental paradigm for analyzing and diagnosing the language of emotional movement. This paradigm is taught in all programs for the training of movement therapists in Israel and is an important and central tool in the diagnosis of emotive movement. The paradigm method was officially put into use at the German Institute for the Treatment of Movement in Psychoanalytic Approach (Deutsches Institut für Tifenpsychologische Tanz und Ausdruckstherapie) located in Bonn, Germany.

Shahar-Levy served as chair of the Israeli Association for the Treatment of Expression and Creativity (YHT) for eight years, from 1985 to 1993. She has published books and articles in Hebrew and English. In addition, she guides movement therapists.

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Yona Shahar-Levy is the daughter of parents from Germany and Poland, who immigrated to Israel before World War II. She grew up in Kibbutz Ramat HaKovesh and began working there. She was on the kibbutz until 1962, when she moved to the Tel Aviv area and later to Jerusalem. From 1971 to 1975 she lived in New York, and then returned to Israel. Between 1976 and 2000, she lived in the Hadassim Youth Village. Since 2001, she lives in Jerusalem. She is married to Zvi Levy and they have a son and a daughter.

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