Paula Mattoli
SEP™, SAL2, RRMI, MF
SAL2 and a SEP and Rolfing and Rolfing Movement Instructor (RRMI), and Matrix Works facilitator (MF)
Paula Mattoli is a Somatic Experiencing® instructor, body-oriented therapist, facilitator, and educator whose work is rooted in the intelligence of the body, the ethics of relationship, and the art of somatic listening. Her connection with the Somatic Experiencing® community began in 1998, when she participated in the first SE training offered by Peter Levine in Brazil. Since then, SE has become a living thread in her personal and professional journey, deepening her way of listening to the body, to lived experience, and to the subtle movements through which life expresses itself.
International Work
Before entering the instructor path, Paula served for many years as an assistant and case consultant, and since 2014 she has served as a Senior Assistant for the Somatic Experiencing® team. This work has taken her to Europe, Asia, and South America, where she has had the privilege of supporting trainings, accompanying students and colleagues from diverse cultural backgrounds, and witnessing how somatic work can touch what is deeply human across borders and languages.
Professional Practice
Paula has been engaged with somatically oriented therapies since 1995. Over the years, this field has become not only her profession, but also a way of inhabiting presence, relationship, and learning. She works as a body-oriented facilitator, instructor, and therapist, and is part of the Rolfing® and Rolfing Movement® Faculty Team, as well as a Matrix Works® Group Facilitator.
Since 2006, she also teaches for the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute® in Brazil, the United States, and Europe, contributing to the international education of Rolfing® and Rolfing Movement® practitioners and bringing a careful, relational, and embodied perspective to the learning environment.
At the Brazilian Rolf Institute, Paula is responsible for the Therapeutic Relationship Department and is part of the Ethics Committee. These roles are especially meaningful to her, as they bring together care, responsibility, relational awareness, and the ethical ground that supports the integrity of somatic practice.
Studies and Background
Her academic background in Fine Arts and Linguistics continues to nourish her perception of body, language, image, movement, and expression. Alongside this foundation, she has pursued ongoing studies through workshops, trainings, and conferences offered by the Somatic Experiencing® community, the Rolfing School, and the Matrix Works School. Among the studies and practices that have influenced her path are Somatic Experiencing®, Rolfing®, Matrix Works®, ISP, Bodynamic®, NLP, Cranio-Sacral and Visceral Therapy, Philosophy, Brazilian modern literature, music, and other body-oriented approaches.
Languages and Perspective
Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Paula speaks Portuguese, Italian, and English fluently, and understands and speaks Spanish and French reasonably well. Living and working across languages has deepened her capacity to build bridges among people, groups, and cultures, and to sense how the body often speaks before words arrive.
Guiding Vision
At the heart of her work is the understanding that, beneath every experience we meet in life, there is a bodily organization, a somatic communication, and an expression that may or may not yet have been fully heard. She approaches teaching and facilitation with curiosity, respect, and trust in the intelligence of the body, seeking to create spaces where people can feel accompanied, recognized, and supported as their own process unfolds.
Instructor Level: SE Professional Training Faculty
Teaching In: Brazil, Europe, Asia
Levels Taught: Beginning
Sees Private Clients: Yes
Offers Case Consultations and Personal Sessions: Yes