My APPROACH

It is an honor to support individuals in their healing and self-discovery, and to awaken experiences of deeper meaning, intimacy, and inspiration in life.

My orientation is one inviting awareness into the body and depths of the subconscious terrain. While an intellectual understanding of “why we are the way we are” can be helpful, I have found that the most significant healing and transformation happens when we learn to listen to the signals of the body/mind in a deeper way. It’s like tracking the GPS coordinates to the root of an issue, instead of treating symptoms on the surface.

The invitation in our work together is one of homecoming – of coming into more intimate relationship with your Self.  

My practice is built on the following pillars:

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the practice of waking up from auto-pilot and becoming aware of one’s moment-to-moment, embodied experience. It is also a state of consciousness that facilitates experiencing life from a place of greater clarity, curiosity, and compassion. Our work together will invite mindfulness to explore more deeply within.

Embodiment

The body/mind is our instrument for experiencing LIFE, and yet so many of us have become disconnected from the wisdom and intelligence it carries. Dissociation is often a survival strategy (in response to cultural influences and conditioning, traumatic events, family systems, etc.), and yet without returning to the body, we remain disconnected from the dynamic range and vast potential of our human being. In our work together, we will gently explore coming home to the body – attending to the nervous system and embodied memory – and listening more deeply to the signals of the ‘Self system.’

Direct experience and organicity

My primary orientation is one of assisted self-discovery and experiential learning and discovery. Transformation happens when we can experience, feel, and realize from within. The term organicity is borrowed from a principle of Hakomi therapy, and suggests that all living systems have innate capacity to find balance, harmony, and evolutionary growth. I hold deep respect for my clients’ inner resource and endeavor to create the conditions in which it can organically emerge and guide our work together.

Trauma awareness, safety, and kindness

I believe that healing happens when we feel safe, seen, and understood, and when we sense strong capacity within a facilitator to skillfully and lovingly hold us in our experience. This is informed by their ability to provide co-regulation and hold all that may arise, the depth of their own embodied wisdom, the extent of their training (including aspects of trauma and how it shows up in somatic and expanded state processes), and the integrity and intention in which they hold the sacred space of healing. I believe that in our work together you will experience a strong and loving space in which you can experience the trust and support to go more deeply within.

Please note that this work is not and should not replace psychotherapy or mental health counseling from a licensed care provider. I am a certified Hakomi Therapist; I am not a licensed Mental Health Counselor or psychotherapist. I am happy to provide referrals should you be seeking therapeutic services.

My background

I came to the path of healing and spirituality over two decades ago, when I was in my 20’s and navigating severe chronic pain and depression. While I was able to remain high-functioning in my professional career in the Design/Media industry, I suffered privately with chronic headaches, fatigue, depression, and a myriad of other physical ailments.

Not finding improvement within the allopathic and naturopathic healthcare systems, I progressively sought out more “alternative” approaches, including meditation, yoga, and shamanism. It was during a shamanic journey that I experienced the most significant headache relief I had felt for years, and in 2009, I left the corporate world to take a life/healing sabbatical in which I could listen more deeply and redirect my life’s compass.  

I spent time in residence at a Zen monastery where I immersed in meditation and felt true joy for the first time in many years. I also lived as a residential student at The Himalayan Institute, studying yogic philosophy, subtle body anatomy, asana, and meditation, and where I certified as a Hatha Yoga teacher. I explored the world of Shamanism, training in core shamanic healing with the Foundation for Shamanic Studies and doing my own healing work in plant medicine (vegetalismo) ceremonies. I lived and worked at The Esalen Institute, where I studied everything from Jungian psychology and dreamwork, to Tai Chi and permaculture. I sat in long meditation retreats (Vipassana, Insight, & Metta), and worked with therapists specializing in Gestalt, Hakomi, Internal Family Systems, and somatically-oriented approaches.

In 2011, I began teaching yoga and seeing clients for shamanic healing, and integrated breathwork into my practice two years later. I have since been a full-time practitioner and teacher, working with private clients and offering group ceremonies and retreats, as well as yoga and meditation classes, yoga teacher trainings, and breathwork facilitator trainings.

I am a Certified Hakomi Therapist with the Seattle Hakomi Education Network and a Certified Experienced Yoga Teacher (E-RYT) and Continuing Education Provider (YACEP) with Yoga Alliance. I am an Ordained Minister for ceremonial facilitation and have studied extensively in Shamanic Healing with the Foundation for Shamanic Studies.

Teachers of great influence include Adyashanti, Thomas Hubl, Jeannie Zandi, Sandra Ingerman, Father Richard Rohr, and several other mentors along the way. I find soul resonance with many of the great wisdom and contemplative traditions including Buddhism, Yoga (Tantra & Kashmir Shaivism), Christian and Sufi Mysticism, and philosophers and poets including St. John of the Cross, Thomas Merton, Rumi, and Mary Oliver.

I work in service of alleviating unnecessary suffering and liberating the human heart and potential. I hold a sincere and deep compassion for all in this experience of being human, and find profound beauty and nourishment in helping people remember who they are and experiencing more freedom, joy, and beauty in their lives.

My work is my passion, and I am an also an artist at heart, finding deep nourishment in listening to music, painting, writing, and spending time in Nature. I am also an adoring aunt to two amazing human beings.

Please contact me if you'd like to explore working together, and if there is not alignment, I can refer you to resources that may better serve you. Thank you for taking the time to connect here online, and may the privilege we have to do this work be of benefit to all our relations in this great web of life.   

In breath & beauty,

Tai