Move Better Healing Therapies

• Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, studying since 2022. This beautiful practice highlights the felt senses in our bodies; the critical conduit between what is happening intrinsically and what we think about it (good, bad, not ok to feel). I offer individual sessions for youth and adults as well as integrating Somatics with any other branch of wellness you can think of. Scroll down to read aboutthe events I have facilitated and to learn more about SE.
• Licensed Massage Therapist since 2011 specializing in Orthopedic and Musculo-skeletal Alignment Techniques. Our anatomy and kinesiology is so fascinating and I love to help others problem- solve their way out of pain. Currently, I carry a limited caseload of massage clients with advanced joint conditions and sports injuries.
• ACE Certified Personal Trainer since 2012 to help clients regain movement autonomy and build exercise habits for life. ALL of my personal training clients have limitations that make movement overwhelming, scary, or painful without informed guidance. Regaining confidence in your body is possible!
• Master’s degree in Sports Science and Coaching from Central Michigan University circa 2008. I have a strong interest in mental training skills for performance and have been coaching sports since I was 15, including college level softball and high school level soccer, volleyball, and softball. As an adult I compete in many endurance events centered around off road cycling and getting lost in the woods.
• Bachelor of Science degree in Special Education from St. Cloud State University, MN where I played DII softball and met my amazing husband! This is where my love of helping others blossomed into teaching at-risk youth in a variety of school settings, coaching Special Olympic athletes, and facilitating self- discovery on high ropes courses.

WHAT IS SOMATIC EXPERIENCING?

Somatic Experiencing was developed by Dr. Peter Levine through decades of observing mammals’ (including humans) instinctual response to threat. The wisdom of the practice stretches through multiple scientific disciplines and teaches the body to release stored stress- induced energy and become more resilient to future stress. Due to a variety of biological and cultural constructs we often don’t acknowledge what our body is telling us in a moment of perceived danger, and instead we create layers upon layers of protection.  Somatic work recognizes that we are incredibly adaptive beings and without negating the alarm system itself, recognizes we have lost touch with our biological instincts. Somatic Experiencing provides a supportive skill set that fosters safe and tolerable dissipation of stress- inducing and sometimes traumatic energy.  To get started you don’t have to put your life on hold or wait til a better time arrives. You don’t even have to know what is wrong, just the feeling of being stuck, overwhelmed, chronically in pain, or not feeling your authentic self is enough to warrant exploration into this gentle practice. Improvements to your ability to self-regulate will start to transform from your first session, but consistent attention will bring healing to aspects you didn’t even know were in need.

The SE approach releases traumatic shock, which is key to transforming PTSD and the wounds of emotional and early developmental attachment trauma. It offers a framework to assess where a person is “stuck” in the fight, flight or freeze responses and provides clinical tools to resolve these fixated physiological states. Trauma may begin as acute stress from a perceived life-threat or as the end product of cumulative stress. Both types of stress can seriously impair a person’s ability to function with resilience and ease. The Somatic Experiencing approach facilitates the completion of self-protective motor responses and the release of thwarted survival energy bound in the body, thus addressing the root cause of trauma symptoms. This is approached by gently guiding clients to develop increasing tolerance for difficult bodily sensations and suppressed emotions. The practitioner does not seek to fix your problems, tell you what you should do, or rehash the details of old wounds. Instead your own nervous system leads the session to what is felt in the body and what stored experiences need attention. To learn more I suggest visiting www.traumahealing.com.

WHAT CAN SOMATIC EXPERIENCING HELP WITH?

• High performer burnout (in work or athletics)
• All forms of abuse and neglect
• Near death/ natural disaster survival
• Panic attacks and anxiety
• C-PTSD
• Chronic stress and fatigue
• Accidents and bodily injury
• Emergency response workers
• Surgery/ Anesthesia
• Pervasive fear or loss
• Birth and early childhood events

WHAT DOES A SOMATIC EXPERIENCING SESSION ENTAIL?

• Witnessing and naming sensations of the body
• Learning how the nervous system functions for survival
• Exploring restorative positions, sounds, images, etc
• Practicing curiosity through art, music, movement, nature, or imagination
• Exploring the crossroads between personality, diagnosis’, and management strategies
• Recognizing triggers and glimmers
• Learning how food influences nervous system states
• Having compassionate space held especially for you
• Gentle guidance and supportive touch that supports feeling safe in the body
• Teasing out habitual patterns from present moment awareness

Besides individual sessions, how else do you spread awareness of Somatic principles?

If you have a group focused on self- improvement I can probably build an experience or presentation on Somatics for you! Here are some examples of events I have organized.

Somatic Forest Frolic

Nervous System Reset and Contrast Training

Somatic Experiencing for animals