one-on-one support at the intersection of
somatics, holistic pelvic care, and embodied spiritual practice
This work is simple.
You bring what is true and emergent in you. I show up as a guide and facilitator.
Together, we hold counsel
in service of your wholeness.
This work is vast.
We hold space for ALL of you — your dreams, your fear, your joy, your pain, your hope, your grief.
We meet what shows itself and walk towards your evolution.
Every consultation is different, but the crux of our inquiry is the same:
How can we attend to what is moving in you with the utmost care?
We explore three interwoven pathways:
I. ANCHOR your nervous system
Our body holds a path through which we can know ourselves and grow into all that we are here for.
The nervous system is the register of our emotional experience. Whatever our past wounding is, whatever is hard now; it resides within our nervous system. Thus, working directly with our nervous system is the key to our healing and transformation. It is the key to BEING PRESENT with our body and in our life.
We can use the simple tools of our breath, attention, voice, touch, and movement to:
Unravel and attend to our trauma
Stay true to ourselves as we navigate challenges
Follow our intuition, sense our discernment, and define and exercise clear boundaries
Develop habits and rhythms that support the big vision for our life within the nitty-gritty of your daily tasks
Reshape our “default” nervous system patterning so we can act in ways that reflect who we want to be
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This is nervous system accompaniment. Here we make an open and honest inquiry into the landscape of your emotional body, your inner orientations and reactions, and how your physical body can be an instrument of your evolution.
This is embodiment practice. We use hands-on practices to unwind trapped emotions in your body and anchor your nervous system into the force of the Earth.
This is an art of distillation. We pay attention, we practice patience, and we enact devotion to meet the essence of your being: the depths of the ocean that remain still and steadfast despite the waves that may crash upon the surface.
Together we look for how you can inhabit your body and your life with ALL of you.
II. ATTEND TO THE UNSEEN
Spiritual counsel is the bone marrow of my work.
My technical training is in healthcare for the physical body, but my practice itself - a dynamic, living current - brings me to navigate the realm of the unseen: to sense into the unfolding of your soul through the greater arch of your life path, to listen into the deepest stirrings of your heart, and to witness the ancestral lineage material that asks to be healed through you.
This is a study in alchemy: a practice of reaching through the ordinary, the everyday, into the extraordinary. I support you in nourishing your relationship with the sacred, in engaging your own authentic practices of prayer and praise, and in creating simple rituals of consecration and reverence.
This life is holy. Your life is holy.
May we live in service to that mystery, that immensity that commands at once the delicate unfurling of every seed and the infinite force of the tides.
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The path to inner wellness is unique for each of us. It can be fostered within a life-affirming and inclusive religious community. It can be found through indigenous ways of honoring that far predate monotheistic ideas of God. And both, or neither. Ultimately, it is a path that only you can engrave within your heart as you walk it.
It is the honor of my life to encourage you to follow that enduring, immutable pull of your heart toward communion.
What informs my work in this realm? I was raised in the cult of evangelical Christianity (midwest U.S. version) that declares us all sinners from birth. In my escape from mainstream religion as a young adult, I came of age surrounded by various flavors of new-age spirituality that had little to no structure or ethical boundaries, and an abundance of spiritual bypassing.
I find both polarities extreme. I do not align with any “spiritual” ideas that declare us inherently dirty/unworthy, or that extend so widely into the ethers that devotion to something greater evaporates and the Self is appointed supreme.
For the last decade, I have studied within the spiritist traditions of Santo Daime and Umbanda. In 2017, I came to live in Brasil and became a uniformed member of the Tenda Espírita Flor da Montanha, where our community observes a rigorous calendar of spiritual “works”.
The Santo Daime and Umbanda traditions center a kind of Christian mysticism that equally reveres the Holy Mother as the living source of love, compassion, and mercy that is also the Earth itself; Christ as master teacher; and Father God as an archetype of protection, guidance, and governance. These traditions also reverence the Orixás as manifestations of the Holy through the forces of nature, make sacramental use of ritually-prepared ayahuasca, and center the study of mediumship - a direct courtship with the Divine and with guiding spirits through our physical bodies.
III. BALANCE THE ROOT of your body
Pelvic health is where my work as a practitioner began 20+ years ago and is the center I continue to orbit, because THE ROOT OF OUR BODY ALWAYS TELLS THE TRUTH.
Our pelvis is the foundation of our physical body. It’s the nexus of our nervous system (our emotional body), and it’s the energetic taproot that connects us to the Earth. The tissues and organs of our pelvis — our root — reflect our wellness as a whole.
When WE inhabit the root of our body, we inhabit our power. We have access to the wealth of our inner resources and the guiding instruction of nature alive within us.
If your period or hormones are causing you distress, if you experience pelvic pain, discomfort, or numbness, if you struggle with recurrent infection, or just have a nagging sense that more is possible in connection with your body, in sex, in healing, in freedom: these are all signals to engage deeper relationship with your root.
The manifestation of a pelvic imbalance is always connected to something that needs tending in the emotional, spiritual, or ancestral realm. And when we care for the root of our body with devotion and attention to all the layers of our experience — physical and beyond — gynecology becomes an EVOLUTIONARY MEDICINE.
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Consultation gives us space to thoroughly study all the layers of what you’re seeking help with.
While there is no replacement for skilled hands-on care, it’s equally important to take in the big picture and identify the patterns in your story.
Here we examine both logistics and energetics. We take time to comb through your health history and your current experience, the insight and recommendations you’ve gotten from other practitioners; what you’ve already tried and are currently applying. We also thoroughly explore the emotional, energetic, or ancestral dynamics at play for you in what you’re experiencing.
Our treatment plan for you can stand on its own, or complement your work with other care providers.
Tools I use for balancing the root include Chinese medicine diagnostics, cycle charting, herbal medicine and food therapy, simple functional medicine, vaginal steaming, moxa, and hands-on practices to connect directly with the tissues and organs of our pelvis.
In their words:
Let’s cross-check.
I might be a good muse for you if:
• You are curious, sensitive, and seeking.
• You value sincerity, patience, and nuance, and you feel turned off by pretense + drama.
• You’re wary of extremism - whether it’s dogma in religion, health, or politics; you aren’t looking for “one right way”.
• You long for magic, play, and adventure, and you also want to be practical and get sh*t done!
• You trust (or want to trust) the wisdom of your body + the Earth
• Some words that light you up include: activate, inspire, align; integrity, truth, devotion, simplicity; ACTUALIZE.
FAQs
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I listen deeply. I ask big questions! I invite you to BE with your body. I will give you homework :)
We always begin with what is emergent: what is arising in you, asking for your attention?
As we converse, I’ll invite you to engage with your body through breath and touch, perhaps with some sound and movement, as a way to connect with what is moving in you and make more space for all of it.
I also pick up threads from our last conversations, to see what’s still relevant and what’s changed. I’m big on follow-up and follow-through. We hold counsel for what is unfolding in the present while paying attention to the broader context that includes what we have already touched upon, and have yet to discuss.
After our consult and between consults, I’m always available for brief exchanges via email.
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Consult vs. counseling/therapy:
My approach is somatic: we engage hands-on practices inspired by classical Chinese medicine and various bodywork modalities.
In our sessions, any discussion we have around your emotional and mental health is in relationship to how you feel in your body and how you ARE with your body. We engage your attention, patience, and devotion to care for yourself through tangible exercises using your hands, breath, and voice.
This is not therapy. I recommend concurrent work with a skilled therapist if you experience high anxiety, panic attacks, or have received a diagnosis of depression or personality “disorder”.
Consult vs. bodywork/acupuncture:
Consultations are a way to build a bridge between the care you can receive in hands-on treatment, and the care you give to yourself, every day.
I often recommend acupuncture and/or bodywork treatment to complement the work we do together.
Consult (for pelvic health) vs. seeing an OBGYN:
The three primary tools of modern gynecology are diagnostics: tools like bloodwork, ultrasounds, and PAP smears; pharmaceutical medications, and surgical procedures.
Our toolkit here consists primarily of hands-on therapies, herbal medicine, and the practical application of classical Chinese medicine to directly treat symptoms and help you be present with your body, emotions, and inner narratives.
We approach imbalances of the root as an opportunity to deepen your relationship with yourself and a path through which you can become more fully all of who you were born to be, who your ancestors are calling you to be, and who the world asks you to be.
Consult vs. pelvic floor physical therapy:
My work with the pelvic bowl is centered in embodiment rather than bio-mechanical function.
In other words, this work serves to bring your consciousness, breath, and life force to reside throughout the entirety of your root. This presence gives your body the resources to process and let go of bound emotional material and restore optimal function.
Over the last 10 years of focused work for the pelvic bowl, I find this embodied approach is extremely effective in addressing a wide array of pelvic issues. Function follows inhabitance.
I originally studied internal pelvic work via Holistic Pelvic Care in 2013 with Tami Kent, and my current work with the root of the body is also greatly influenced by my studies in Chinese medicine.
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My work with pelvic health is primarily oriented toward people inhabiting uterine, ovarian, and/or vulvo-vaginal systems.
I welcome all genders and sexual orientations in my practice! I use gender-neutral language in all of my work.
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Over the last 20+ years, I have facilitated over 4,500 one-on-one sessions tending pelvic, nervous system, and spirit-level health in my work as bodyworker, acupuncturist, and teacher. I have walked alongside my clients through treacherous landscapes of grief, rage, and emotional pain into profound connection with their body as the ultimate source of wisdom and direct access point to the earth itself.
I am trained in Shiatsu, uterine-moving massage, breast massage, and holistic pelvic floor manual therapy in addition to my formal training in acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. I also draw from my ongoing study of Western herbalism, evidence-based modern medicine, and indigenous healing practices. My teachers and mentors in hands-on medicine include Jim Cleaver, Rosita Arvigo, Tami Kent, Mark Jensen, Sarah Girard, Peter Shea, and Josephine Spilka.
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When you’re serious about catalyzing change in your life, a set of 3 weekly sessions in a row yields exponentially powerful results.
I recommend a catalyst series when we begin our work together, and anytime you’re navigating a major issue or decision, life change, or to facilitate momentum in birthing your soul-led work into the world.
A catalyst series of 3 weekly consults is $415.
Stand-alone sessions are $160 for 60 minutes and are available to everyone. Mini consults are $75 for 30 minutes, and are for established clients only.
the energetics of consultation
WHERE WE MEET
The Cave calls all seekers into its depths. It is a place of retreat from the clamor of the world.
For those who are not afraid of the shadows, the cave is a portal, a gate of initiation for all those who seek truth.
THE SPIRIT OF OUR WORK
When we are dedicated to the path of transformation, we can sit in the darkness, harness the potential and latent energy behind it, and embed it with light. A patient and prudent changemaker, The Mystic seeks growth above all else.
THE TREASURE WE SEEK
Precious stones develop slowly in the earth, amid pressure and darkness. Discovering The Gem requires a descent beneath the surface, where there is no definitive map. Your gem, like your destiny, has a radiance unlike any other in the entire world.
Images and adapted excerpts from ‘The Wild Unknown Archetypes’ deck by Kim Krans