Embodiment = Connection.

Who We Are

We believe that all people deserve to feel secure within themselves, connected to loved ones, and rooted in place.

In our work we aim to build programs and opportunities through which people can benefit from a mutually crafted sense of belonging. 

Dry Bones’ approach to embodiment weaves nervous system regulation, somatic education, creative expression, and elective ritual to restore pathways of connection.

We focus on connection because its our conviction that a felt sense of acceptance, kinship and roots is foundational to human well-being.

  • It’s well documented that for human beings to feel whole we need to feel connected to a safe and accepting network of support.
    Simply put, in order to thrive, we need feel that we belong.

    Unfortunately, our bodies’ protective stress responses do not let us connect from states of overwhelm and fear. This is why life’s challenges can leave us feeling anxious, fatigued, angry, sad, and isolated. Moving out of isolation and back into connection often begins with nurturing a sense of steadiness and calm within our own bodies. Through embodiment practice we can restore internal balance and foster a bodily state that is open for connection.

    When we experience connection this reinforces our body’s internal sense of steadiness and we feel more whole.

The work starts with you - supporting your body, your experience, your story, however the final destination lies beyond you. At Dry Bones, embodiment practice culminates in a sense of belonging that empowers you and propels you into connection with community and the world.

You belong. You are whole.

Meet Jane

Jane Ulring is the founder of Dry Bones Embodiment Practice. Her approach skillfully combines nervous system sciences, somatic (bodily) expression, and wisdom traditions to support individual and collective well-being.

She has a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary; completing fieldwork in crisis counseling and pastoral care in addition to her degree’s concentration on inter-religious engagement, social ethics, and embodied ritual practices.

Jane’s approach is also informed by the years she spent working in natural resource management. She enjoys creating enriching nature-based practices that care not only for the human spirit, but tend the Earth as well.

Jane continues to grow as a facilitator. She will complete certification as a Somatic Therapy Practitioner through the Somatic Arts Academy in November 2026.

Meet Bri

Bri Smejkal is an artist, educator, and creative technologist whose work explores the relationship between embodiment, creativity, and connection. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the Minneapolis College of Art & Design and is currently completing The Embody Lab's Integrative Somatic Trauma Therapy Certificate. Her work incorporates somatic practices and creative expression into workshops and community experiences.

Drawing from her background in creative technology, studio art, and community education, Bri collaborates with Jane to design and facilitate experiences that invite participants into deeper relationships with themselves, their creative expression, and the wisdom of the body.

The story of us…

Before your first cry the Earth sustained you. The soil put forth food that fed your mother, and plants and trees produced oxygen you would one day breathe. Before your skin ever felt air, the planet operated its own complex system to support your precious body and bring you into life.

Before you were ever held. Before you ever had a crush. Before you were ever hurt, and before you ever felt the sting of rejection. A community surrounded you. People smiled across rooms. They flirted. They fought. They cried and laughed together. And they embraced each other. Somewhere in the motions and movements of a community your parents met, they joined, and their joining welcomed you.

Before you learned your name and before you developed your personality. Before you ever scraped a knee, or tried a food you loved, you were simply a body. A vibrant being expertly woven together into a complex system of flesh, organs, and nerves working in tandem to learn your environment, grow, and connect to the world around you.

You were made for connection. Made to eat and breathe the Earth. Made to smile across rooms and embrace those you love. Made to sense and perceive all this world has to offer you. You belong here.

Maybe you don’t feel that way. Maybe you’ve been told you don’t fit in or maybe through the ruptures of life you hardened, quickened, withdrew, or you forgot. Returning to connection, so often, is the work of softening, slowing, unfolding, and of remembering. Let’s remember together: we belong.