About Me

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I have always been drawn to the inner world of things - self, groups, societies, nations - and curious about suffering, with a pull towards healing. My journey to working with and from the body emerged during a healing crisis more than a decade ago. After several years working in peacebuilding and women's rights in peace processes in Sudan and South Sudan, my body's ability to heal diminished and I was in a constant state of suffering - chronic insomnia, severe nervous system dis-regulation, heart palpitations, and more. I sensed that my pain was primarily emotional and spiritual, manifesting physically. Not having the knowledge, skills or awareness at that time to tend to my body's messaging, I began to study the neurobiology of trauma and embodied practices. At that time, the word 'somatic' wasn't as popularized as it was today, but learning to listen to my body's invitation to heal, and then learning to tend to what needed tending, turned a health crisis into a liberating healing journey. Being in nature offered the most powerful medicine for my journey. This journey continues today - one of study, practice, learning, and service - and being on and of the earth to heal. 

 

 

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My Practice:

 

Individual Somatic Sessions

My practice incorporates several years of study and practice, combining yoga therapy, integral somatic psychology, trauma-informed care, interpersonal neurobiology, and learnings from working directly with bodies. My practice often incorporates a systems lens - exploring and honoring that much of our suffering is connected to history, culture, family dynamics and the ways in which we are shaped by outside forces. I offer individual somatic sessions, shepherding and facilitating clients towards more body literacy, based on the unique journey towards healing each of us is on. No session is the same, and I have found it best to work consistently over time with each client to build awareness, skill, and practice for listening, tending, releasing and rebuilding. Individual somatic sessions are best held on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and build upon each other. The body's right timing and a client's level of felt safety determine the pace and depth of each session. Somatic work is first and foremost about holding space for you to begin to listen and befriend your body, and hear it's deep wisdom. Somatic support often entails a mixture of the following experiences and supports: 

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• Helping you learn to listen to your own body's wisdom and messaging. 

• Offering a felt experience of rest and regulation in your body. 

• Teaching about the nervous system - patterns of fight, flight, or freeze. 

• Helping develop a practice of tending to your nervous system.

• Teaching breath-work, asana and other techniques to support healing. 

• Building supportive daily routines and practices.

• Offering nonjudgemental space to explore and release held emotions and trauma. 

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Workplace Coaching & Consulting

I offer individual and group-based coaching to executive and senior leaders, as well as teams. In this professional-based practice, I weave together a praxis of equity, systems change, conflict transformation and somatic awareness to catalyze change at individual, group, and organizational levels. I advise teams and leaders on ways to identify and address dynamics of power and dominance in workplace culture. Coaching is always body-centered, as our bodies hold and express our biases, our pain, our joy, and deep ally-ship to self and other. Email me if this is something you'd like to learn more about. 

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My Bio

 

My background weaves together a praxis of equity, systems change, conflict transformation and somatic awareness to catalyze meaningful change at individual, group, and organizational levels. I have a somatic therapy practice working with individuals and groups using a trauma-sensitive approach to developing body awareness, with an intentional focus on how dominance and marginalization are held in and expressed from the body. I hold a senior leadership role at a New Mexico-based systems and policy change non-profit, and continue to consult with and advise teams to address power and dominance in workplace culture. Prior to returning home to New Mexico in 2017, I directed women’s inclusion efforts in peace negotiations in Sudan and South Sudan for nearly a decade. This part of my journey led me to somatics as I became curious to understand and heal from a scary, painful burnout from chronic stress as a result of childhood trauma, over-working, and supporting women in a conflict-affected area. I hold an MA in Conflict Transformation, a BA in Political Science, and have studied yoga therapy in depth and Integral Somatic Psychology, as well as studied with various teachers and practitioners at the intersection of somatic healing, social justice, and trauma. I often spend time in unpeopled, wild(er) places, learning to listen better, to rest, and to be in right relationship in the world.