Presence in Healing Teacher
I am passionate about the interplay between intellectual and somatic processes. Growing up, I was fascinated by science and theory, always striving to understand the deep roots of problems and the many interacting layers of context that make reality this reality and not some hypothetical we imagine. I’ve always been a dreamer, imagining worlds that could be, and an activist, looking for ways to bring about profound positive social change.
I feel called to participate in the transformation and unweaving of multi-generational and broad-scale societal trauma.
Much to my surprise, my journey to understand problems in the wider world led me within. We each have our thoughts, the ways we make sense of our experiences of the world with our mind; we have our socialization, the ways we were taught to behave towards others; we have our inner knowing, our inner experience of truth and reality that we embody every moment; and we have our emotionality and passion, somehow interconnecting all of these layers and leading us to manifest action in the world. I realized that I couldn’t leave anything out, that our inner lives and the outer world complexly mirror each other. I began to explore a range of somatic traditions of self-cultivation and healing, including Zen meditation, the meridian system of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Western bodywork, and developmental movement. Eventually, this led me to connect with my own experiences of trauma and helped me to see ways that trauma patterns manifest throughout society and throughout history.
I feel called to participate in the transformation and unweaving of multi-generational and broad-scale societal trauma. There is no single approach to this work, and in my own life it manifests on different frontiers. On one front, I work as an independent researcher developing conceptual structure and language for understanding social and historical processes while taking inner reality, and especially the reality of trauma, seriously. On another front, I connect directly with individuals as a personal coach, using a range of tools and skills to help them understand and transform problems in their own lives (bringing in a broader perspective only when appropriate). Both of these fronts offer opportunities for me to collaborate with other groups working on these problems, as a consultant, educational program designer, and occasional enthusiastic participant. In order to work on so many different levels without becoming ungrounded, I’ve found that I need to dedicate myself to both intellectual and somatic practices. My niche as a coach and healer is my comfort with both of these worlds and my excitement about finding ways to bridge them.
Whatever form our relationship might take, I am always happy to meet others who care about these topics or are interested in any facet of my work.