Our Story

Embodied Inquiry began in 2023 at Harvard Divinity School when Nicole Marie and Rebecca Boyes-Watson (née Carrol), both Masters of Divinity students, launched a weekly Dance Lab to explore questions that conscious dance communities rarely ask directly:

What makes this practice feel transformative? How do the ideas we hold about dance shape what happens in the room? What's the relationship between moving together and building community? How might conscious dance communities deepen their practice by wondering about their own frameworks?

Through moving and wondering together, they discovered that when dance communities engage with these questions, something powerful emerges—not just better dances, but deeper understanding of what happens when bodies meet mystery.

After graduating, Nicole continues Dance Lab weekly in Somerville, MA, while developing the broader work: supporting conscious dance communities in exploring the wisdom that emerges through movement. Through writing, community conversations, and collaborative discovery, Embodied Inquiry serves practitioners and communities curious about moving with depth.

Who we are:


  • Founder & Facilitator

    Nicole Marie explores movement as a way of knowing through decades of experience in embodied spiritual practice, education, and community building.

    After twenty years of practicing Buddhist meditation and various conscious dance modalities, Nicole recently earned her Master's in Divinity from Harvard, focusing on Buddhist ministry and the theological roots of conscious dance. She trains in Soulmaking Dharma— a contemplative approach that engages the senses of the sacred and the imaginal—and is currently mentored by Catherine McGee. In addition to leading Dance Labs, she facilitates dance on Soulmaking Dharma retreats.

    With a BA in dance and anthropology and a background in performance—including work with experimental theater artist Rachel Rosenthal—she has a deep understanding of movement as an investigative tool.

    Nicole has spent fifteen years as a constructivist educator and mentor, helping teachers reflect on their praxis through reading, writing, analysis, and reflection. Drawing from these same inquiry skills, she now leads research on how we understand and connect with movement in conscious dance communities.

    Through Embodied Inquiry, Nicole facilitates Dance Labs, writes about spirituality and dance, leads dance integration and study groups, works one-on-one with clients, and specifically focuses on empowering imagination within the experience.

    Nicole creates spaces where bodies, big questions, and the sacred come together—helping communities discover what arises when we move with depth.

  • Facilitator

    Rebecca explores embodied creativity as a portal into belonging, kinship, and the imaginal—drawing from physical theater, dance, and earth-centered spiritual practice.

    A long-time student of yoga, ecstatic dance, and Tibetan Buddhism in the Gelug tradition, she earned her Master of Divinity from Harvard in 2025, focusing on Buddhist philosophy, eco-theology, psychedelics, and spiritual care. Her formation includes interfaith chaplaincy (400-hour CPE) at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she supported patients and families facing crisis, grief, and death.

    Rebecca holds a 200-hour yoga teacher certification and has spent nearly a decade in the ecstatic dance community, recently stepping into leadership as a co-facilitator alongside Nicole Marie. Known for immersive musical journeys, she curates each playlist with precision—tracking the energetic arc of the dance as well as its emotional and spiritual depths. Speaking sparingly, she lets music guide dancers through tender openings and ferocious peaks alike.

    With a BA in Evolutionary Anthropology from Brown University, Rebecca brings an investigator’s mind to the shifting boundaries between self and other. Her background in experimental physical theater, shaped by Lecoq-inspired practice and mentors like Kali Quinn and Kate Brehm, infuses her facilitation with play, presence, and radical empathy.

    A former rapper under the name Malka Red—known for the queer anthem “Boy Booty”—she carries humor, mischief, and a love for subverting norms into all her work. Her journey has led through Jewish intentional community, regenerative farming, plant medicine ceremonies, and deep time in nature.

    Through ecstatic dance, ritual, and retreat work, Rebecca creates spaces for people to step outside the ordinary and into the mysteries of who we are, together—shapeshifting boundaries, tending big questions, and remembering our place in a living world.

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