I've been thinking a lot lately about what people mean when they say, "Just trust your body." I've said those words too. And while I believe they hold so much wisdom, I've also come to believe they're only part of the story. Because for many of us—especially those who have experienced trauma—living in our body is beautifully healing...and incredibly complex. There isn't just one voice inside us. There are parts of us that remember trauma. Parts that learned how to survive. Parts that still...
10 days ago • 3 min read
Whenever there's a full moon, (and tonight, July 29th is a full moon) I find myself asking a version of this question…. What am I ready to let be illuminated? Other questions… What am I ready to let the moon shine a new light on? Am I in a place to fully turn toward something? To see it and then let it move through my system? To let things either nourish me on the way through? Or let things that are not serving me leave and, on the way out, grab whatever is connected, as I say, "Good...
17 days ago • 2 min read
Lately I've been thinking about, and noticing, vibration. Everything we hear is vibration. The rumble of thunder. The sound of someone's voice. The hum of a fan. Even the sounds we create ourselves through humming, singing, or breathing. Researchers are continuing to discover how sound and vibration influence our nervous system. Certain vibrations appear to support relaxation, reduce pain, and stimulate pathways connected to the vagus nerve, which plays an important role in our body's ability...
24 days ago • 3 min read
Over the last five months, I've been living with a level of back pain that has changed almost every part of my life. I can't hike. I can't run. I can't bike. I can't raft. I can't do many of the things that have always helped me feel like...me. I also haven't been able to stand for long periods of time, sit comfortably, make dinner, shower without pain, or do many of the ordinary, everyday things I've always taken for granted. I know many of you reading this live with chronic pain. While I...
about 1 month ago • 5 min read
There was a moment during a bodywork session this week that I haven't been able to stop thinking about. I was receiving osteopathic manipulation while my *friend and *colleague was gently working with the fascia around my pelvis. As she began, she quietly said, "Your pelvis feels incredibly tight. It almost doesn't want to move." She knows my trauma history, so she gently added, "That makes sense. Those parts of you probably haven't felt safe." The moment she said those words, something...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
I've needed a lot of this lately — a safe place to fall apart. Not a place to fix anything. Not a place to be coached, corrected, or cheered up. Just a place where my fear can be spoken out loud, and..... Nothing bad would happen because of it. I'm so grateful I've had a few of those spaces recently. I keep thinking about how rare they sometimes are. And I want to share some reasons why I feel they have a beautiful, messy place as we are healing. A safe place to fall apart doesn't give...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Lately, I've been experiencing a lot of physical pain in my body. It's slowed me down in ways I didn't choose and has kept me from many of the things I normally do. As I've been seeking to listen to what my body is asking for, a one of the questions (there have been many ...) I've been sitting with is: What does rest actually feel like in my body? Not what I think rest should feel like. (This has personally been hard for me to set down).Not what someone else says it should feel like. But what...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
This month, I want to explore a concept that has been foundational in my own healing journey and in the work I do with clients: Felt Sense. If you've been around somatic healing for a while, you might have heard that phrase before. But when I first heard it, I had no idea what it meant. What I did know was: I had spent most of my life disconnected from my body. Which is interesting because, from the outside, it looked like I lived in my body all the time. I was active. I hiked. I biked. I...
2 months ago • 3 min read
I read this on Nate Postlewait’s stubstack this week and have been thinking about it ever since: “Instead of telling someone how strong they are because of the traumatic events they went through… ask them what it cost them.” That statement resonated with me…. Because trauma costs people many things.And every person’s list is different. One of the things on my list…one things I know it cost me…was living in my body. Now, if you had looked at my life from the outside, it may not have seemed...
3 months ago • 3 min read