Somatic Therapy (Body Centered)

This is not typical talk therapy. Learn to use the body as a barometer for the soul to gain insight into areas where we feel stuck.For those who have never experienced bodily safety, it is possible to discover glimmers within the body of ease through curiosity, and an exploration of what may be possible. Learn to regulate yourself and respond effectively to life’s ups and downs. The body can become a refuge and temple for expansion.

I could have spent my whole life talking about trauma instead of moving it through. As a student who stumbled into the field, I was its biggest critic. I wanted evidence that felt senses mattered. In my most profound relationships now as client or healer, we don't talk a lot & the evidence is right there in the ability to process & release pain without analysis paralysis. I lead folx to learn from their own body how stress shapes the way they walk the world & they let it lead them toward freedom

Incorporating an understanding of our nervous system is crucial to comprehensive healing. Trauma can manifest physically in our body and emotionally in how we see ourselves, and how we show up in our relationships. In my approach, I integrate basic neuropsychology principles and somatic regulation techniques to provide an understand of why & how our body responds to trauma or perceived threat in relationships.

The Somatic Experiencing® method is a body-oriented approach to the healing of trauma and other stress disorders. Somatic Experiencing® explores where an individual may be “stuck” in a fight, flight, or freeze response and works with an individual’s natural resilience to move through these “stuck” self-protective responses. I am a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner and I have assisted with Somatic Experiencing® trainings around the country.

Completing my third and final year to become a somatic experiencing practitioner through somatic experiencing international.

I believe in the wisdom of the body, and support my clients to pay close attention to their present moment bodily experience during therapy sessions. We utilize the body as a resource for bearing feelings, understanding dilemmas and finding creative choices to live more fully. I have trained in embodied approaches to trauma both at the California Institute of Integral Studies Somatics Psychology department and through Sensory Motor Psychotherapy where I completed one year of intensive training.

Somatic work helps us embody change. The mind likes to solve and think and sometimes this disengages up from our true felt experience. Dropping into our senses and bodily sensations allows for presence. From this place, we can connect to that is true about us, others and the world and we can cultivate a sense of safety.

I invite you to take a moment now, to check in with your body. You don't need to change a thing physically, just allow your attention to shift inward as you continue to look at your phone or computer screen. What do you notice? By acknowledging and accessing our body's intelligence, therapy is much more effective and deeper than psychoanalysis alone. In our work, we will gently explore what it's like for you to be in your body, guiding you towards increased feelings of safety comfort and ease.

Somatic Modalities work with bodily sensations and emotions and incorporating them in to our work through awareness and through movement. My approach to healing reflects my view of the body and mind as a dynamic integrated organic system in constant relationship with its environment. Working with the body in psychotherapy opens up a wealth of options for understanding, experiencing and healing. I have a masters in Somatic Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies.

I have trained extensively in Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) and am a certified facilitator. I am also trained as a Yoga teacher. In addition, I have completed training in Dance Movement Therapy as well as Laban Movement Analysis.

I use somatic awareness and yoga therapy.

I have been a massage therapist for 30 years and found my way to Pyschotherapy as a result of the many emotional experiences that the body released during CranioSacral and working with newborns and their parents. I found that the implicit memories that keep people stuck can be accessed with or without the story being shared to be released and healed in the body and the mind.

The body is a source of information that, when we learn to listen, can often suggest a clearer path. Body psychotherapy enrolls the body directly in therapy, whether it’s through authentic movement or Somatic Experiencing, or more subtly through opening to the intuition of the nervous system, mind-body work, of becoming aware of the unique signals your body developed to communicate with you. Working with the body is the most direct means of healing trauma because it's where trauma is processed.

Somatic Experiencing helps clients process trauma by addressing how it’s stored in the body and nervous system. As an intermediate-level Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP) qualifier in the second year of a rigorous three-year training program, I bring extensive expertise to this approach. This training includes multi-day intensives, case consultations, and personal sessions. I use SE to help clients release stress, regulate their nervous systems, and foster resilience and healing

Somatic Experiencing® is a somatic psychotherapy that helps reestablish the body’s natural ability to heal from trauma by restoring the nervous system’s ability to self-regulate, rather than respond with chaos or numbness to external or internal reminders of troubling experiences. I have completed the full three-year training program and earned my SEP certificate.

The body holds deep wisdom—memories, emotions, and stories beyond conscious awareness. I draw from Buddhist practices to cultivate compassionate awareness, Hakomi Method to explore the body-mind connection, Flash Technique for processing distressing memories, and trauma-informed Expressive Arts Therapy to engage movement, sound, and visual arts for deep, integrative healing.

I am trained in somatic experiential therapy (SomEx), a modality that was designed specifically to treat trauma, especially the developmental trauma that may lead to out-of-control behaviors. I have been fortunate to have experienced great benefits from somatic therapy myself. I believe that our body is our greatest tool for healing. Indeed, it wants to heal, and will do so when it is safe to feel.

Somatic and mindfulness-based approaches help people build a more fine-tuned and conscious relationship with their mind-body connection. These methods can help with: 1) Staying more grounded and embodied in the present moment, 2) Building a toolbox for being with difficult inner experiences in the present moment, 3) Listening and responding to internal cues / information from the mind-body connection, 4) Moving and digesting remnants of trauma and stress lodged in the mind-body connection.

Somatic therapy, sometimes known as body psychotherapy, is a therapeutic approach that places importance on what we experience in the mind and the body as well as the connection between the two. “Somatic” itself means “of or relating to the body.” I work with clients to hone their skills of listening to their body, their gut, and intuitive guidance to improve their self knowledge. If we are talking about the body and sexuality or the body as guidance to making decisions, the body is your friend!