Embodied Heart Somatics

I'm standing with all of the women and femmes who are mothers to humans, mothers to others, and/or mother's for the world with the wisdom we bring.

In this culture that praises youth, fun, playfulness, and sexiness as the ideal - the wise woman/femme who palpates a deeper truth within deserves to have a landing place where her wisdom and sacredness matter.

I'm grateful for all women, Mother Earth, and the feminine power that this patriarchal world tries to diminish.

And for all of the people mothering other humans, I am in awe of you. Thank you. Happy Mother's Day! 🔥🌹

Complex trauma and chronic illness can create strong, automatic associations that certain sensations & emotions mean something about you.

It's a powerful, strong threshold to cross in our healing journey when we start to disentangle this.

It sounds simple—but for many of us, it’s anything but.

It can be quite an “inconvenience” for the patriarchal world we live in to shake up the status quo by refusing to stay small and appease.

I’ve seen, both in my own life and in my work, how easy it is to lose touch with our inner knowing. Not because it isn’t there, but because we’ve been shaped—over time—to question it. To soften it. To override it in the name of being kind, accommodating, or “easy to be with.”

Many of us have had the experience of knowing something wasn’t right… and feeling our body go along with it anyway – usually to stay safe in the collective patriarchal waters we are swimming in.

As I am actively doing this work with myself in my own interpersonal arena, it’s interesting to notice that it’s translating into my somatic therapy practice. I now am working with many female-identified clients to find their voice, express their anger, and clarify their boundaries. This is the medicine the world needs right now, in my opinion.

That moment—where something in you says no, and something else takes over—that’s not a personal failure. It’s conditioning. It’s adaptation.

We learn to carry more than what belongs to us.
To stay open when something in us wants to close.
To say “yes” when our system is signaling “no.”

And anger—especially for women and femmes—often gets pushed to the edges. Misunderstood. Pathologized. Labeled as “too much,” or turned inward until it becomes something else entirely.

But what if anger isn’t the problem?

What if it’s a signal—an intelligent, protective force that helps you recognize when something isn’t aligned? That something you value is being intruded upon?

If you are a woman or femme, it is not your job to always be the emotional container for others. Nor should you then be labeled as a “b****” when you set a boundary after someone has prescribed that role to you without your consent.

In my practice, I work with women and femmes who are done abandoning themselves in these subtle ways—even if they’re not yet sure how to do it differently.

I have walked far to get here, yet the path has just begun.

I meet this work with humility.

Every client, every session—I begin with not knowing,
honoring the mystery that allows something true to emerge.

I’ve come to feel that this is how healing unfolds, too.

After all the effort it takes to move through trauma,
the moments where we remember our wholeness
are often the most humbling of all.

As a Certified Hakomi Practitioner—and soon-to-be therapist—I am deeply honored to walk alongside others
in this work of somatic psychotherapy.

In Hakomi Somatic Therapy sessions, we use mindfulness to gently study these patterns as they are happening in real time.

Small experiments. Subtle shifts. Micro-movements. New sensory input.

Space to notice what has been automatic for years.

We don't force catharsis, override defenses, or push for insight too soon.

Instead, we listen to and follow the body at a pace that is tolerable and sustainable for your nervous system.

And we trust the organic timing of your steady, sure unfurling.

One pillar in my work is honoring your internal protections, even if they show up as painful trauma responses, chronic health symptoms, anxiety, depression, or addiction.

Depending on a person's social location, these protections may still be warranted.

The other pillar I hold is helping you connect to your innate, inherent access to pleasure and nourishment in your body.

If you can access these states even once, that pathway is laid down for you. Meaning it's possible to embody these resourced states more often.

Even if it's only possible to fully express that in spaces where it's safe, embodying vitality is a birthright we all deserve to have.

When I work with people, my intention is to co-create a container with you where you can fully access whatever degree of emotion or expression is wanting to emerge - be it deep rage, deep rest, or playfulness.

Recently, a long-term client of mine “graduated” from our work together.

For years, I had the honor of sitting beside her as she moved through the fire—unraveling layers of pain, meeting the places that kept her stuck, and slowly, courageously, finding her way back to herself.

She told me she’s doing well now. Truly well.

Not because the work was easy—but because she stayed with it.

In my practice, I’ve supported many clients in shorter-term healing, especially in recovering from chronic pain.

But this was different.

This was my first experience (as a coach and soon-to-be therapist) walking alongside someone over years—witnessing not just relief, but transformation.

These are the moments that remind me why I do this work.

The quiet thresholds.The hard, honest sessions.The courage it takes to keep going.

And the profound privilege of watching someone reclaim their life.

Hakomi has given me the tools to be present with a person – to track and contact what’s happening explicitly and implicitly in the room through words and body language.

It has also given me the frameworks to see the unconscious adaptations a person has accrued through adverse life experiences, and to support the newer, alive emergence they are ready for.

That means we use present-moment awareness to study patterns as they are happening in real time.

Thank you, Tennessee, for holding me again.

Thank you family, home, roots, friends, spring ephemerals, forests, rivers, and warm air.

I got to spend time backpacking on the Cumberland plateau with my brother and niece, binge-watch Downton Abbey with my Mom, and spend quality healing time with friends who I hold dearly.

Tennessee home is in my heart. ❤️

We don’t force catharsis. We don’t override defenses. We don’t push for insight too soon.

Instead, we slow down.

We listen. We follow the body. And we trust the organic timing of your unfurling.