Rebecca Klingler

Every Body Tells a Story™ is an embodied storytelling workshop that uses movement, improvisation, yoga, and writing prompts to help participants explore the stories they carry within. Through creative exercises, participants bring personal, family, and ancestral stories into the body, where they can be experienced from new perspectives. By shaping and sharing their narratives, they develop greater self-awareness, empathy, and connection with others. 

When a story takes us into difficult or unfamiliar territory, movement and body-based practices provide a grounded way to stay present, explore what arises, and move through the experience. 

 

 

 

 

 

The workshop was created by Rebecca Klingler, a Los Angeles-based writer, performer, teaching artist, and yoga instructor.  

Rebecca's approach to teaching has evolved over more than two decades. In 2005, she began coaching acting for children who aspired to careers of stardom. She soon discovered that, whether or not fame was in their future, the tools of her craft inevitably helped students develop self-awareness, confidence, and self-esteem. 

The following year, Rebecca became certified to teach yoga to both kids and adults and began incorporating it into her acting classes, as a tool for her students to more easily connect to their bodies as instruments of expression. 

As her work expanded into public schools, Rebecca's mission shifted from teaching children how to become actors to giving them meaningful experiences through the creative process. 

This evolution also led her to reconsider her own acting training. After years of working in environments that could encourage comparison and subjective judgment that left her elated or deflated, with no clear grasp of how to approach subsequent work, she began searching for a fresh approach. 

In 2013, Rebecca began studying Improvisation Technique with Stephen Book. There, she discovered the power of play and physicality to bring greater truth and freedom to performance. Each exercise ended with a simple self-evaluation: “Was I on focus or not?” The simplicity of the question—and the emphasis on being present rather than judging performance—proved powerful. Rebecca began incorporating these techniques into her burgeoning curriculum. 

Initially, Rebecca used fables and poems as material for her young students to explore through movement and improvisation. As she began working with adults, she introduced writing prompts that invited participants to draw from their own experiences, relationships, family histories, and beliefs. 

This was the beginning of Every Body Tells a Story: an evolving practice that brings together writing, movement, yoga, improvisation, and storytelling to explore the stories that shape us and deepen our connection to ourselves and one another. 

Over time, Rebecca has witnessed powerful moments of discovery among participants. One realized she had been carrying an inherited sense of apology and frugality shaped by her parents' wartime experience in the Philippines. Another developed empathy for a family member they had long resented. Another recognized that it was time to revisit his forgotten dream. 

Rebecca has experienced this process herself. As she began threading together stories from her own life, she gained new insight into patterns and experiences that had previously been difficult to understand, including her own neurodivergence. 

Rebecca brings a trauma-informed, compassionate approach to working with diverse communities and people navigating major life transitions. She meets each individual and group with warmth, skill, curiosity, and respect for the stories they carry. 

Every Body Tells a Story™ is available for schools, organizations, community groups, and private participants, both in person and online.