My Methods
The Training and Lineages That Shape This Work
When people ask about my methods, they're really asking: what makes this work effective? How do I know what I'm doing?
The answer lies in decades of rigorous training across multiple disciplines, combined with long-term mentorship in ancient wisdom traditions.
You’re right to make sure that any healer you engage with is qualified, trained, supervised, and is accountable to your wellness.
Somatic Experiencing + Nervous System Work
Primary Training:
Certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP) through Somatic Experiencing International
Studied directly with SE founder Peter Levine and trauma expert Gabor Maté
Advanced training with master SE teachers: Ariel Giarretto, Joshua Sylvae, Efu Nyaki (transgenerational trauma), Twig Wheeler, Catherine Lemon
Post-Advanced Certifications:
SE™ Master Class: From Hauntings to Wholeness
Transgenerational Trauma specialization
Eye of the Needle advanced training
Theraplay certification for child work
Somatic Experiencing is a body-based approach to healing trauma that works with your nervous system's natural capacity to regulate itself. Rather than reliving traumatic events, we track subtle sensations and impulses to help your system complete interrupted responses and discharge stored activation. I assist official SE trainings, which means I help train other practitioners - a level of competency that requires deep understanding of the work.
Bodywork & Touch Therapies
Certifications:
Craniosacral Therapy
Certified Acupressure Practitioner
IAST (Integrative Approach to Structural Therapy)
Reiki Level 3
Training Institution: California Institute of Integral Studies, alongside extensive work with master teachers
These hands-on modalities work with your body's inherent healing intelligence through gentle, trauma-informed touch. Craniosacral therapy works with the subtle rhythms of your nervous system. Acupressure addresses energy pathways without needles. All touch work is conducted with explicit consent and can be integrated with verbal somatic work as appropriate.
Dagara Tradition (West Africa):
15 years studying with elder Malidoma Somé
12 years learning grief ritual with Sobonfu Somé
Given explicit permission to share certain practices with ongoing reciprocity to Dagara communities
Ongoing relationship and trips to Burkina Faso working with elders in the community and work with non profits helping the villages get access to clean water and resources through the Sonder Project.
Mayan/Tz'utujil Tradition:
Student at Bolad's Kitchen (New Mexico) since 2009 with Martín Prechtel (Keres/Mayan spiritual leader)
Training in revitalization of living culture, ancestral crafts, stories, and ritual
Dakota Tipi Tradition:
12 years learning with Keith and Shane Pashé
Understanding of indigenous approaches to ceremony and land relationship
These are deep, long-term relationships with teachers who have given me permission to share certain practices. All work is conducted with ongoing reciprocity to the communities these traditions come from. This training informs my understanding of grief as medicine, ritual as healing technology, and the importance of ancestral wisdom in personal transformation.
Ancient Wisdom + Ritual Traditions
Social Justice + Cultural Competency
Ongoing Training Areas:
Anti-oppression work and examining white/male privilege.
Trainings with White Awake, Resmaa Menakem, SURJ, Somatic anti-oppression cohorts, and Transcending Jewish Trauma.
Justice-informed healing approaches
Cultural humility and appropriate relationship with indigenous wisdom
Understanding how systems of oppression live in our bodies
Effective healing must address not just individual trauma but the collective conditions that create it. My work explicitly acknowledges how racism, patriarchy, and other systems of domination affect our nervous systems and healing capacity.
Wilderness & Land-Based Skills
Certifications:
California Culinary Academy Graduate 2006
Wilderness Guide trained through Camp Tawonga and Stepping stones
Wilderness First Responder (NOLS)
Wild foraging instruction (since 2008)
Teaching Experience:
Berkeley Herbal Center
Landpaths organization
Various educational institutions
Summer Camps
Non-profits and Private classes
Cultural Permissions: Trained with California Native teachers with explicit permission to share certain harvesting and land tending practices
This work connects healing to our relationship with the natural world. I can safely guide you in outdoor settings while connecting you to orient to the plant world, animals and bird language. Teaching sustainable practices that deepen your connection to local ecosystems and the web of life. This isn't just nature therapy - it's learning to be in right relationship with the land that holds us.
How These Methods Integrate
Rather than using these approaches separately, I weave them together based on what your unique system needs. A session might combine somatic tracking with ritual elements, or blend bodywork with land-based practices. The goal isn't to use every tool, but to create the precise container that serves your healing.
This is what 25+ years of dedicated training looks like when it's integrated in service of your wholeness.
“The body, not the thinking brain, is where we experience most of our pain, pleasure, and joy, and where we process most of what happens to us. It is also where we do most of our healing, including our emotional and psychological healing.”
—RESMAA MENAKEM
Free Consultation Call
Schedule a free 20-minute consultation to explore working with me in Sebastopol CA for Somatic Experiencing Therapy, Craniosacral Bodywork, Land & Spirit, Grief Rituals, or remotely in sessions online.