Somatic Coaching
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Your growth and healing is good for the world
What is Somatic Coaching?
Somatic Coaching helps bridge the gap between who you are now and who you want to be - without being unhealthily and unsustainably motivated by shame, “should”s, or stress. Instead, this approach begins with:
Supporting your nervous system to feel relaxed and safe so that organic healing and transformation can take place.
A typical talk therapy session invites you to verbally work through challenging experiences. While this approach can leave you feeling lighter on the surface,
...it does not always address the stuck and unresolved feelings you are holding in your body.
In contrast, Somatic Experiencing supports you to uncover and move through the deeper emotions, memories, instincts, and sensations attached to your challenging experiences.
This approach allows you:
To actually evolve your relationship to these challenging experiences and heal the core wounds underneath them so you can show up with more embodied freedom and presence.
Somatic Coaching can support you to:
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clarify your needs and boundaries
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feel and access the full range of your emotions
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deepen into a sense of spaciousness & presence
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resolve and integrate trauma (physical or emotional)
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develop a more loving and compassionate internal voice
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work with triggers and reactivity that are coming up for you in your relationship(s)
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remove blocks that are keeping you from creative expression
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shift your relationship with shame and guilt so they don’t control your life
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connect more deeply to your own purpose, needs, and desires
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become more free, expressed, and authentically you
MY APPROACH
I intend for our sessions together to be a sanctuary, where we embody a different culture than the one you might experience in the world everyday. In this space, the voice, needs, and instincts of your animal body matter and are valid. In this space, growth can happen in a gentle, nourishing, and loving way.
The Process
We begin our sessions with a grounding or orienting practice and sometimes we also linger in any recent celebrations or appreciations that are alive for you.
From there, the space is open and there are many ways we can approach the work. If you come in knowing there is something you want to work on, we often start there. Sometimes I will invite you to revisit something we were working on in a past session.
We can also always begin just by becoming present with what you are feeling in your body and allowing the process to unfold organically.
MODALITIES
My particular approach to this work is also informed by my knowledge, skill, and years of experience in compassionate communication and conflict transformation. You can learn more about my background and the other trainings I’ve taken in Embodied Healing modalities here.
EXPERIENCE
I use Somatic Experiencing as the basis for my 1:1 Somatic Coaching sessions, and I will formally complete my training as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner this year (2025). I regularly consult more experienced SEPs to learn how I can better support your unique nervous system.
THE COACHING CONTAINER
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I meet with ongoing clients on a regular basis - either every week or every other week
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We meet on zoom (Tuesdays and Wednesdays only) or in-person at my office at Flanders House in Portland, OR (Mondays only)
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I send you a calendar invite with the zoom link or office information, email reminders, and payment details
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You are responsible for paying before or after each session via Venmo or Paypal
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My rate for this work is $120-160 sliding scale per 1-hour session
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If this is unaffordable to you but you feel strongly that you need this support, please reach out to discuss possibilities - I often offer trades for one-off sessions and sometimes can offer scholarship rates for ongoing sessions.
ABOUT SOMATIC EXPERIENCING
“Somatic Experiencing (SE™) aims to resolve symptoms of stress, shock, and trauma that accumulate in our bodies and nervous systems.
Trauma, from an SE lens, is focused on how it shows up in the nervous system and how that dysregulation impacts life. When we are stuck in patterns of fight, flight, or freeze, SE helps us release, recover, and become more resilient.
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It is a body-oriented therapeutic model applied in multiple professions and professional settings—psychotherapy, medicine, coaching, teaching, and physical therapy—for healing trauma and other stress disorders from a nervous system lens within a practitioner’s scope of practice.
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It is based on a multidisciplinary intersection of physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices, and medical biophysics and has been clinically applied for more than four decades. It is the life’s work of Dr. Peter A. Levine.”
See more at www.traumahealing.org/se-101
You can’t think your way out of your relational wounds
FAQ
*What is a sliding scale, and how do I determine what amount to pay?
A sliding scale is an equity-based payment structure where the participant’s financial situation informs the rate they pay for a service. The bullet points listed below are just examples to help guide your self-assessment. I trust you to factor in these considerations and choose the level that feels right for you at this moment. Choose a rate on the low end of the sliding scale if you: - Do not have a financial safety net - Have large debt or student loans - Are Black, Indigenous, or otherwise systematically disadvantaged based on your identities Choose a rate in the middle of the sliding scale if you: - Can go out to eat without thinking about your finances - Have a salaried job with benefits - Have family that would financially support you if you needed it Choose a rate on the high end of the sliding scale if you: - Own property or other significant assets - Make over $100K per year - Never feel scared of not having enough Please pay at the highest rate that you are able to. Your generosity supports me in offering scholarships to those who are unable to afford these rates.
How does it work to do somatic work on zoom?
Doing Somatic Coaching on zoom is totally do-able, and is in fact how I personally received most of the Somatic Coaching I have been doing for years. As long as you can have your video on and join from a private space where you feel comfortable and safe, we can do everything we might do in-person except incorporate SE touch. It is ideal if your video shows your body at least from the waist or torso up so I can track your body movements, gestures, and expressions throughout our session.
Do you work with couples or polycules?
Yes, I do use SE to work with couples and polycules, and it can be a really supportive and effective approach for working through charged relational dynamics. The form this takes is essentially doing 1:1 work in front of each other, so each of your nervous systems can receive direct support and you get to learn about and witness each other’s process without getting tangled in the charged stories connected to it. My sliding scale rate for working with couples and polycules is $140-180 per 1-hour session, and sometimes we will extend to 90 minutes for our first session.