A brand new offering. An evolution actually.

About two years ago, the owner of Center for Barefoot Massage asked me to get some credentials that illustrated my understanding of trauma and the nervous system. My playful response was something like: “Oh, my rising up from the ashes of my own trauma isn’t enough to make me an expert? Or my ADHD hyper-fixation to learn everything about nervous system responses doesn’t count? Or the hands-on integration of my own trauma therapy wasn’t included as experience?”

Surely, you can form your own opinion on the origin of expertise and while I do value my experience, I also know we live in a world that values credentialing from credible institutions.

I went searching for something that aligned with what I was passionate about, and correlated with what I was already learning on my own.

What happened was unexpected.

I feel as if I tripped into a world full of compassionate and dedicated folks who are creating new and expansive spaces for people to locate their own healing and freedom.

My understanding of how the brain and body co-mingle has been expanded and stretched. And given the proper environment, the possibility for a new perspective is a slight shift away. My perspective has always been that the body is ready and willing to share its wisdom if we are ready to listen.

For many years, I’ve honed that skill to listen to the body while in bodywork sessions. I can feel with my feet in ways that would be hard for most people to imagine. I can tell where restrictions are and tension hides, and whether someone has hydrated tissues. I have ideas and visions that come to me during sessions that may be relatable and may not. I may decide to share these insights, or I may not. And they don’t always happen in every session.

My experience with Mind Body Coaching:

 I have a personal history of grief and trauma. I’ve worked for a long time with a trauma therapist to feel supported and move through some big life events. My parents died too young and I was too young – and if I’m being honest, they equipped me with some harmful beliefs about how to support myself in their absence.

As I had my babies and didn’t understand how to support my postpartum period (because most of the modern world doesn’t understand true postpartum support) and had more tragedy happen during those times, I developed an auto-immune condition that left me with complicated symptoms. Because of my fear of dying young like my parents, I’ve had some debilitating panic attacks. One Mind Body Coaching session changed all that.

This isn’t some sales pitch. This was my actual experience.

This one coaching session allowed me to deeply dive into a powerful conversation with my own body and create a resourceful conversation so that when I started to head toward the fear of dying too early, I had an anchor to turn to that I wasn’t actually dying. I have a different experience than my parents. And that my body is supporting me rather than working against me.

This isn’t always the outcome of Mind Body Coaching, yet I was primed and open to receive the wisdom of my body. Usually, we explore a topic or two over a 10-session experience to cultivate that mindful listening. I was already in the content and prepared to unfurl my fear.

My Experience with Trauma Therapy

I was in Trauma Therapy for seven years. It was necessary. I called the crisis line several times. I talked to my therapist weekly. I was handling grief, boundary violations and simply the stress of being a woman in a capitalist, patriarchal culture. That talk therapy saved my life. And there were times when I felt there was a plateau. Where I was better but not ready to let my therapist go, yet I felt like there was still more work to do to feel complete and resourced. In those seven years, it was a lot of head-y conversation and skills and tools to access when I was triggered or required to be in the spaces that were once traumatizing.

I share these stories as a way to inspire you to handle your own grief and trauma. Today, I have coping skills and resources to live in my centered self. I feel more secure and in my own power and trauma therapy was a huge chunk of that. And I’m not surprised when I hear people share that therapy helped but only to a point.

Talk therapy is necessary and we still need to allow space for the body to speak. But where does the body speak? How do we translate its message?

Mind Body Coaching is a compliment to talk therapy.

Mind Body Coaching is for someone seeking a new perspective.

Mind Body Coaching is for someone who feels they have reached an edge in talk therapy.

Mind Body Coaching is not for someone in a current state of crisis.

Mind Body Coaching is complimentary—not the only line to resources.

Mind Body Coaching is for increasing mind body connection.

Mind Body Coaching is for increasing confidence.

Mind Body Coaching is for increasing your intuition and trusting that voice.

Mind Body Coaching is for someone struggling to make a decision.

Mind Body Coaching is for someone feeling stuck yet open and curious.

We are animals with wisdom pulsing right under our skin. We have access to that wisdom when we unleash our connection to our bodies and not only by talking.

The word Coaching.

I know. I had some schmarmy vibes around that word. Then I started to experience it and it’s becoming easier to have a new relationship with that title. Because honestly, it would be unethical to call myself something else. I tried—facilitator, trainer, etc. At the end of the day, Mind Body Coaching is that.

If I want to get really technical, I’d rather use the word Mind Body Witnessing. But I’m not sure if that registers in the average person’s mind. The power of witnessing has been demonstrated to me time-and-time again. To be truly seen in the process, through the process, and held is a gift that most of us haven’t received nor know how to ask for it. I’m sure somewhere in there lives the belief that you’re worthy to receive witnessing and yet worth has nothing to do with its potency.

We are animal beings craving connection with others. We want to see and be seen through our vulnerability and know that we are still loved on the other side. The art and practice of witnessing allows for all of that. Becoming a coach has increased my compassion ten fold for the whole range of human experiences. We’re all just wanting connection.

All that to say, I’m easing into the role of a coach and a bodyworker and a pregnancy/postpartum specialist.

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