MEET RUTH S.L. CHILES
Ruth Chiles is a somatic performance therapist, author, and educator working at the intersection of neuroscience, trauma, and physical and mental flow.
Teaching the nervous system to find its way home — to movement, to freedom, to flow.
MEET RUTH S.L. CHILES
Ruth Chiles is a somatic performance therapist, author, and educator working at the intersection of neuroscience, trauma, and physical and mental flow.
Teaching the nervous system to find its way home — to movement, to freedom, to flow.
When the body finds its way home, performance follows.
Ruth Chiles is a somatic performance therapist, author, and educator specialising in focal dystonia recovery and performance block therapy. She is the creator of the Focal Dystonia Method — the only neurobiologically grounded therapeutic approach to focal dystonia — and the Free to Perform framework, which helps musicians, athletes, and performers at every level access reliable, repeatable states of flow. Her work is applied at Olympic level and endorsed by Grammy Award-winning musician Victor Wooten. She is the author of two published books: The Focal Dystonia Cure and Free to Perform.
CHOOSE YOUR PATH
How I can support your journey
Focal Dystonia
A proven, neurobiologically grounded method for musicians, athletes, surgeons and people from all walks of life — helping them return to natural movement, freedom, and flow.
Free to Perform
For performers and athletes seeking their way back to flow. The Free to Perform framework offers practical, repeatable steps into the state where performance isn’t forced — it’s felt.
Certification
An exclusive certification programme for therapists and coaches ready to work at the deepest level of somatic performance therapy. Limited to 12 practitioners per year. First cohort September 2026.
"Free to Perform is a complete and easy to follow guide for releasing the shackles that bind us. So, let's get to it! Now is the time! Let us all perform with freedom once again."
Victor Wooten
Five-time Grammy Award-winning Bassist
PUBLICATIONS
Ruth's Books
Focal Dystonia Cure
The book that goes beneath the symptom — into the nervous system patterns behind focal dystonia and the path back to natural movement.
Free to Perform
The book that reveals what performance blocks really are — and how the nervous system can find its way home to Flow.
WHAT CLIENTS SAY
In their own words.
MEET RUTH CHILES
Rooted in Neuroscience, Guided by Compassion.
Ruth Chiles has spent over a decade developing therapeutic methods that work where others have failed — for people facing focal dystonia, for performers locked in patterns of performance interference, and for the therapists and coaches who want to help them.
Her work is grounded in the neuroscience of the nervous system, shaped by the relational depth of somatic therapy, and proven at the highest levels of musical and athletic performance — including work with Olympic athletes, international soloists, and Grammy Award winners.
By focusing on the nervous system’s innate ability to recalibrate, Ruth guides her clients back to a state of flow where performance isn’t forced — it’s felt, and where the body returns to its ease of movement.
Common Questions
What is focal dystonia and can it be treated?
Focal dystonia is a neurological condition that causes involuntary muscle contractions in a specific part of the body. It can affect anyone — including people with cervical dystonia (affecting the neck), blepharospasm (affecting the eyelids), oromandibular dystonia (affecting the jaw and mouth), spasmodic dysphonia or laryngeal dystonia (affecting the voice), writer’s cramp, musician’s dystonia, embouchure dystonia, runner’s dystonia, lower limb dystonia, truncal dystonia, and many other task-specific forms. Contrary to what many people are told, it can be treated and recovered from. Ruth Chiles’ Focal Dystonia Method addresses the nervous system roots of the condition and has helped hundreds of people return to natural movement and flow.
What is a performance block and how is it different from performance anxiety?
Performance blocks are patterns in the nervous system that prevent a performer or athlete from accessing their full ability under pressure. Performance anxiety is one form of performance block — but blocks can also appear as the yips, stage fright, physical tension, or a sense of disconnection from the music or movement. Ruth’s Free to Perform framework addresses the full spectrum of performance blocks through the nervous system, not just the mind.
What is somatic performance therapy?
Somatic performance therapy works with the body and nervous system — not just the mind — to address the patterns that get in the way of natural, effortless performance. Rather than teaching performers to manage symptoms, it works with the underlying nervous system adaptations that cause them. Ruth Chiles is one of the leading practitioners of this approach in the world.
Does Ruth Chiles work with therapists and coaches as well as performers?
Yes. Ruth offers a professional certification programme for therapists and coaches who want to work with performers and athletes using the Focal Dystonia Method and Free to Perform framework. The programme is selective, limited to 12 practitioners per year, and begins in September 2026.
Not sure where to start?
Whether you’re suffering from focal dystonia, a performer seeking your way back to flow, or a therapist looking to deepen your practice, we have a starting point for you.