The Body's Path to Healing
closing a three-year chapter in Somatic Experiencing, opening new work with touch and embodied transformation
I’ve just returned home from a month of back-to-back trainings and retreats, one of which was the final module in my three-year training in Somatic Experiencing®, the trauma-healing modality developed by Dr. Peter Levine.
It feels like a deep exhale and a sacred completion, closing a chapter of study, learning, and growth that has profoundly shaped who I am as a human and as a practitioner.
Somatic Experiencing (or SE) is a body-based approach to healing trauma that honors the innate intelligence of the body. Rather than “fixing” what’s wrong, it trusts that the body already knows how to heal. When trauma energy becomes stuck—often showing up as anxiety, depression, chronic pain, or illness—SE offers the conditions of safety and support that allow that energy to complete its natural cycle and release.
Over the past three years, my training in this work has taken me through a profound education—not only in trauma physiology, but in what it means to be human.
The first year focused on the foundational principles and practices of Somatic Experiencing: understanding polyvagal theory, learning to recognize the body’s natural cycles of activation and settling, and developing essential skills like orienting, pendulation, and grounding. These practices taught me how to help the nervous system find safety and flow again, rather than staying caught in loops of shutdown or hyperarousal.
In the second year, we applied these foundations to specific forms of trauma—from shock trauma like accidents, injuries, and assaults, to developmental and relational trauma, to less obvious forms such as anesthesia or surgery. I came to understand that trauma isn’t the event itself, but the body’s overwhelmed response when an experience exceeds its capacity to process and integrate. Healing happens when the body finally has enough support and safety to metabolize what was once too much.
The third year opened the door to the subtler dimensions of this work—exploring coherence, energy wells, and the ways life energy can stagnate in the joints, diaphragms, and organs. This felt like entering sacred territory, where anatomy meets energetic alchemy. Working at this level has deepened my trust in the body’s wisdom and in the unseen rhythms that guide our healing.
Through all of this, I’ve come to appreciate that regulation doesn’t mean calm. In some corners of social media pop-psychology, “nervous system regulation” is often portrayed as a kind of saintly stoicism—perfect posture, soft voice, gentle smile, sipping matcha in golden light. But a truly regulated nervous system isn’t unbothered; it’s flexible, responsive, alive. It can roar, weep, rest, and laugh, without getting trapped in any of those states.
A healthy nervous system can relax into connection and ease, but it can also mobilize to run, fight, or freeze, responding to each moment as it comes.
Beyond the theory and the tools, Somatic Experiencing has changed me in ways that are difficult to measure but deeply felt. I’ve learned the power of focusing on what already feels safe—what already feels good or pleasant—as a doorway into healing. I’ve learned that sustainable transformation happens in small, digestible bites. Because trauma is, in essence, “too much, too soon,” rushing the healing process can recreate the same overwhelm. Slowing down—learning to honor the body’s pace—has been one of the most healing practices of all.
Through this slowing, I’ve come into a deeper aliveness and sense of embodiment than I’ve ever known. I’ve learned to access my anger in a healthy, embodied way, to feel it without fear, to let it move through me as a force of truth and protection rather than suppression or explosion. That’s been one of the most transformative aspects of this journey: realizing that the energy of fight, when integrated, is actually the energy of life asserting itself.
I’ve also learned how to connect with others without hiding, how to stay in relationship even when discomfort or vulnerability arise. For most of my life, I felt unsafe in relationships with other humans; my pattern was to hide or to run. Now, I can stay. I can be honest. I can bring what’s real.
I’ve made precious friends through this training, people who have witnessed me in all states of being and whom I’ve gotten to witness, too. We’ve grown, healed, and re-patterned together. And through it all, I’ve found a deeper trust: in the body, in connection, and in the slow intelligence of healing itself.
What began as my own healing has become a practice of service. It’s been a profound gift to share this work with my clients and witness the same living intelligence unfolding within them, each nervous system finding its way back to safety, flexibility, and grace.
What I really love about the way I’ve trained, and the way I get to work with clients, is that, alongside Somatic Experiencing, I also utilize hypnosis and habit-based coaching. This allows me to support people not only in making powerful nervous system shifts, but also in doing the subconscious work and creating tangible action plans that help integrate those shifts into daily life. Whether it’s in relationships, work, or self-care, this combination of modalities creates a truly holistic approach—one that bridges body, mind, and spirit to support profound, sustainable healing and transformation.
New Offerings
🌸 Somatic Touch Work
In this final SE module, I trained in touch work—a gentle, attuned form of touch used to support the nervous system. It’s not massage; it’s more akin to craniosacral therapy in its sensitivity and intention. Touch in SE is a way of listening to the body through the hands, offering presence, containment, and regulation. A session might include still hands resting on different places of the body while guiding awareness and breath through the places that hold story and sensation.
I’m very excited about how this way of working can reach deeper layers of trauma that are difficult to access through words alone - especially the earliest imprints formed before memory or language. Many of these arise from our time in the womb or early childhood, and through attuned touch, the body finally has a chance to feel met, supported, and safe in ways it may have never known before.
I’m now offering somatic touch sessions in person in Asheville, and for those at a distance, there are creative ways to explore virtual touch work as well. If you’re curious, reach out and I can share more.
🌿 Updated Pricing
Beginning January 1, 2026, I’ll be updating my session pricing to reflect the depth of training, practice, and continuing education I’ve invested in over these years.
Six-Month Coaching Container: $888/month — includes three sessions per month, text and voice-note support throughout the week, and the kind of structured, ongoing holding that supports deep transformation.
Single Sessions: $155/hour — limited spots at a flat rate (replacing my previous sliding scale of $111–160).
Sliding-Scale Scholarship Spots: I’ll continue to offer three ongoing scholarship spots for those in financial need; one of these is currently available.
If you’d like to explore working together, you can schedule a consult call or reach out directly to begin a conversation.
I’ll be sharing some bigger updates soon about what’s next in my professional and educational journey. For now, I’m resting in gratitude—for this completion, for the teachers who have guided me, for the clients who have trusted me, and for this beautiful work of healing through presence and care.
Thanks for being here. May your own body find the rhythms of safety, aliveness, and peace that are your birthright.
congratulations, you will serve so many so beautifully, I know!!