Hi, I’m Susan.
Your wellbeing is my life’s work.
Since 2003, I’ve dedicated my professional life to helping people feel more at ease in their bodies.
I came to this work through my own curiosity about how the body changes, adapts, and responds to what we experience. Over the years, that curiosity has led me through yoga, Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy, the Feldenkrais Method®, Havening®, Somatic Experiencing® and Trauma Touch Skills. I continue to train and assist with trainings focused on the physical survival patterns associated with developmental trauma, through my ongoing work with Kathy Kain, PhD, and Stephen Terrell, PsyD.
Today, I work with people dealing with chronic pain, anxiety, stress, and physical patterns that can be difficult to change through effort or understanding alone. I’m especially interested in the ways our experiences shape how we move, breathe, hold tension, and respond to the world around us.
My approach has been shaped by more than two decades of working with people and by my own continued self-study. I’ve found that the most useful work is rarely about applying one particular method. It’s about paying attention to the person in front of me and drawing from what I know to meet them where they are.
I work slowly, with curiosity and respect for each person’s pace. Sometimes that means movement. Sometimes it means hands-on work. Sometimes very little needs to happen at all.
What matters to me is creating a space where people can become more comfortable in their bodies and discover possibilities they may not have experienced before.
I’m also passionate about bridging the gap between psychotherapy and somatic practice. I believe these approaches can complement one another, and I value building relationships with psychotherapists and other professionals who want to support their clients from different but complementary perspectives.
And I’m not just a practitioner and teacher. I’m a student, a client, and a believer in this work!
“It is your ability to turn towards your own sensation that brings another to sense himself.”
Free Body-Centered Practices on InsightTimer
My Personal Journey
On April 13, 2017, several months after I had already applied to The Feldenkrais Method® professional training program, I was thrown from the back of my ex-partner’s motorcycle and broke my foot and a rib, and injured my wrist. For the next several months I received trauma-informed bodywork sessions twice each week to help put my body back together so that I could return to work as a massage therapist.
What I didn't understand until then was that not only did this method help recover and heal my physical body, but it had a significant effect on my nervous system.
You see, at this time I had been in an emotionally abusive relationship. I was confused by the constant gaslighting and “intermittent reinforcement.” One moment I was in a war zone, walking on eggshells, not knowing when the next “attack” would occur, and then next moment, I thought I was imaging things. My attention was on high alert and focused externally, constantly scanning for signs of threat. And there were plenty.
But during these somatic sessions, I learned to sense and feel myself, both physically and internally. I learned how to place focus on my own sensations and my own body, which gave me clarity to take the necessary actions in my life.
I can help you achieve this inner awareness for yourself.
Keep reading below to see how trauma-informed bodywork and practices can help you improve your physical health and emotional well-being.
educatIOn, expertise, credentials
Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist (trauma-informed bodywork)
Feldenkrais® Method practitioner
Practitioner of Kathy Kain’s “Touch Skills for Trauma Therapists”
Assistant in Kathy Kain’s “Touch Skills for Trauma Therapists” training program
Completed Kathy Kain’s Coupling Dynamics training program
Student in Kathy Kain and Stephen Terrell’s “Somatic Resilience and Regulation” training
Ongoing Feldenkrais advanced mentoring and anatomy studies with Dr. Jeff Haller
Ongoing mentorship and anatomy studies with Candy Conino, Feldenkrais trainer and PT
Ongoing studies including anatomical, physiological, psychological and developmental principles with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen
Integrative Somatic Trauma Therapy Certification, Embody Lab
Havening Techniques® Practitioner
HeartMath® Practitioner
The Sounder Sleep System® Practitioner
Licensed Therapeutic Massage Therapist
California Massage Therapy Certificate #78268Prenatal/Postpartum Certification
Thai Yoga Massage Therapy Certificate
Vinyasa Yoga Certified instructor
About
Finding Trauma-informed Bodywork
Maybe you’ve recently experienced an injury or are constantly hunched over your desk, and you feel chronic tension, and have forgotten what it's like to feel at ease in your own body. Maybe you're in, or have been in, an unhealthy or abusive relationship. Or perhaps you're going through a divorce, or you've lost someone you love and feel anxious, terrified and alone.
I felt that way, too, before I embarked on my Feldenkrais journey in 2014. But I was amazed at the ease and comfort I felt in my body after just one session. I know you will be, too.
I personally experienced the spontaneous improvements that can occur effortlessly from focusing my attention on what I was feeling during very gentle, slow, small movements. The brain is the master controller of all our body systems. I learned to simply pay attention to my own physical sensations and comfort while practicing small, gentle, movements that are based on early human development.
By tapping into my physical self, I noticed something even more life-changing: I became increasingly able to sense and trust the thoughts, feelings, and intuitions at the root of my physical pain and discomfort. When my anxiety and confusion dissolved, so did my pain.
It was gentle, yet deep work, and little by little, I began to feel connected to myself and alive again. My purpose is to ensure that you feel this way, too.