What i do

My work is about teaching us how to utilize every resource we have in the best possible way to meet our own needs. I have spent 10 years sampling, experimenting, assimilating, accumulating, testing, reviewing, and receiving reviews on what brings us back to life, back to the creatures, the humans, we were meant to be. I borrow from many different disciplines of thought and feeling to weave a holistically balanced perspective on health and healing, as well as my own experiences with healing trauma. I do this is by utilizing every tool I have while accessing new ones as needed.

It is important to keep in mind that this is meant to be a slow process. I do not subscribe to the belief that time heals all wounds, but I do believe that time is needed in the healing of all wounds. I believe this is because coming into consciousness is a process of exploration, discovery, trial and error. There is no one way to find consciousness, enlightenment, self-awareness, or embodiment. There are thousands of ways, probably even billions of ways. But I guarantee that all of them take time.

a deeper look at 1:1 Coaching

When you work 1:1 with me on Embodiment, it’s important to remember to give yourself time. I recommend a full year to work through this program with me, with sessions spaced two weeks apart. Most of your sessions will be in the form of google doc modules to complete on your own time, paired with a 1-hour call via FaceTime, Zoom, or a simple phone call. Occasionally, I will offer in person sessions upon request. Questions, comments, concerns or other feedback can be emailed in between sessions, or added to the end of your bi-weekly modules. There will be a space provided. The calls are spaced out to give you time to assimilate and practice on your own, which will inevitably lead to curiosities and more questions to be answered during calls.

In every module there will be space for self-reflection guided by open ended questions that I will provide. You must commit to answering each question in full before scheduling our next call. This is how we keep momentum. There will be prompts for self-reflection in personal journaling time, these are hugely impactful practices, but not strictly required.

Phase one: The enneagram

In my work with clients, I prefer to start with the Enneagram in most situations. This is because I believe the Enneagram is one of the most incredible tools for balanced self-discovery I have ever used. I believe it provides the dialogue necessary to speak confidently about ourselves, as well as offering us a tool to understand others, especially in relation to ourselves. It opens us up to our inner world, through the language of self discovery. It does not put you in a box, nor push you into a corner like the soundbites on social media often exhibit. It’s a tool of language. Your own language, is what we focus on, first and foremost, but in later sessions I do enjoy revisiting it for relational dynamics. 

The Enneagram is a fantastic tool for opening up conversation that dives in deep, quick. Another thing I like about beginning with this tool is that I am not telling you about yourself. It is a neutral third party in our journey together that has no judgement and no face. It is balanced, as I mentioned earlier, meaning that you learn about your positive and your negative traits in the same go. I find that denial of negative traits is lessened by this approach, and allows us to see that our biggest weakness is often also our biggest strength. It’s a humbling experience, to be sure, but I guarantee it will breathe new life into you. 

Phase Two: New outlook on health and wellness

Next, I reintroduce nutrition and physical health from a fresh perspective. This looks like assessing where you are at in your physical health through discussing your current lifestyle habits, and then beginning the process of reframing. I find that the best way to approach nutrition is by slowly retraining your body by introducing new foods, at your own pace, or reframing where the foods you currently eat should fit into your diet for optimal health. We will do this intuitively through a process of reframing your body’s needs. 
1:1 Nutrition Coaching is also available separately.

I believe your body is innately intelligent and knows exactly what it needs, and that it’s all too happy to communicate those needs to your brain. Allopathic medicine likes to refer to this communication as ‘symptoms.’ I see symptoms as alarm bells of greater disregulation, and am skilled at getting to the root of various physical, mental and emotional symptomology’s. However, I prefer not to focus on symptoms, per se, but rather the messages they are sending. That is why a large part of my work is teaching you how to read your body’s cues, or put another way, how to ascertain your needs by listening to and understanding your body’s language.

In our first session together it’s imperative that we get a list of your symptoms together, or at least get it started. You will be emailed a google doc intake form, with an array of questions before the session. This is important because it gives us a baseline for what we are working on and what we are working towards, which in turn helps us to set meaningful goals for you. We will discuss diet, exercise, and emotional coping mechanisms centered around physical activity [i.e. binge eating, excessive physical output, catatonia from mental fatigue, etc.] 

Phase three: incorporate play and celebration

This step will also be helpful later on as your symptoms begin imperceptibly melting away as you do the work. I will be happy to track and chart your progress, and will update you on milestones. I believe it is crucial to set aside time to CELEBRATE your accomplishments in ways that translate to you. We will be incorporating play, celebration, and praise into our work, both from me, and from you, but also from pertinent people in your inner circle. Don’t worry, you set the pace for everything, and our communication will always be open to accommodating adjustments. 

Phase Four: Balancing awareness

From here our work will take on a more organic flow, as we take time to celebrate your positive traits, focusing on reinforcing them, while also addressing your more negative or hurtful traits. This is where I introduce a number of tools based on what I, and we—this process is always collaborative, sense needs more attention. This is generally where I will introduce different depth psychological stances, as well as somatic experiencing, boundaries, and neuro-affective regulation.

We will slow down and rest in this phase, as it can be quite demanding on your physical resources, and of course, emotional resources. 

Phase Five: determining root causes, there are always many

Here we will be focusing on getting to the root cause of your symptoms. I believe that true healing requires bravery to face and name your fears, compassion with yourself and others. We will emphasize patience, because change doesn’t happen overnight, and healing is not a linear process. In fact, we will often utilize pendulation in this stage. Pendulation is a psychological term referring to the process of expansion and contraction, it’s a natural pulsatory phenomenon that is very helpful in understanding the waves of healing. It is not regression to have a bad day, or month, or a hard year, it is all a part of the healing process.
[remember: you are in a learning cycle, it’s messy! there will be mistakes. that is ok.]

What the art of pendulation suggests, is that in the midst of deep healing we are typically doing a dance with ourselves. The dance is similar to salsa, and it helps us to figure out our place in the world. This is what drives children to push boundaries. It will often look like stepping forward into new awareness, and then hours, days, or moments later, stepping back to where your comfort zone has been. We may even step side to side, trying on this theory or that, before stepping together in the middle. This is where we step forward again— this time with even greater perception and awareness. This is where we advance.

As we advance we are still doing the same basic steps— forward, back, side-side, together, and forward again— but we are now able to incorporate more steps, sometimes taking two steps forward, and moving across the floor. We are always still in our realm, still masters of our own dance, but we are learning the value of flow. Isn’t dancing so much more fun when you know how to do it confidently? Self work becomes invigorating, and implicit when you commit to learning the steps.

Phase six: Titration

The other core principle in embodiment and self awareness work is ‘titration.’ Titration is a term borrowed from the Neuro-Affective Relational Model [NARM] who borrowed it from chemistry. When applied to embodiment work It is the concept of gradually adding new information, skills, and knowledge while also very slowly working through stuck trauma bit by bit in manageable pieces. It’s working with yourself responsibly. Honoring, understanding, and becoming aware of your current space in the world before moving through it.
It would be irresponsible to dive right into trauma work without first setting up a container for it.

If you’ve ever added salt to bubble water you understand the need for titration. If you fill up your glass with carbonated water, and then dump a scoop of salt into it you will see it immediately turns into an active volcano. However, if you put a little bit of water and a little bit of salt, then wait for the (much smaller) reaction to subside before repeating this process a couple times you will find the substances have less and less of a reaction until you are able to simply fill the glass the rest of the way without a reaction. This is titration in chemistry.

Phase seven: energy work and setting boundaries

Create your container.

Lastly, I like to introduce energy work. This is where we explore the Masculine and Feminine Energies that are held within us all and how they affect everything we do. These are gender neutral terms used to describe universal polarity in people. This is where we will explore grounding, meditation, physical movement, and spiritual nourishment as you define it for yourself. We are aiming for nourishment of every part of ourselves, because when we are healed, we are able to aide in healing of others. 

At this point I believe you will have all the tools you need [and more!] to live authentically ALIVE and UNTAMED. You will know how to use these tools, and how to listen with understanding to your body, mind, and spirit. I also will offer ‘check-in’ sessions every 3-6 months after our work has concluded to be initiated by you, if you so desire. Of course, you are always welcome to continue in our sessions as long as you feel you are benefitting from them, but this process is meant to set you up to be able to confidently navigate the emotional, spiritual, and energetic terrain of your own being, independently, as well as understanding and meeting your very tangible needs in the physical realm.