Frequently Asked Questions

This work is for people who are curious about understanding themselves through their bodies, not just through their thoughts.

You may be a good fit if you:

• Want practical skills to support nervous-system regulation and greater self-awareness

• Appreciate a slow, collaborative, non-forceful approach

• Are open to exploring movement, sensation, and attention

• Understand that change happens gradually and with consistency and are willing to practice (even for a few minutes/day) between sessions

Many clients come with chronic stress, developmental trauma, persistent tension or pain, anxiety, sleep difficulties, or a sense that their nervous system is stuck in patterns of protection. Others simply want to move more easily, sleep better, or feel more connected to themselves.

This may not be the right approach if you are looking for:

• A quick fix or immediate relief from long-standing patterns

• Forceful bodywork, manipulation, or massage

• Energy work such as Reiki

• Big or cathartic emotional releases before you have nervous system capacity

• Someone to “do the work” for you or “fix” you

• Psychotherapy or crisis support

• If you can barely get through your days and have trouble taking care of yourself

• If you are experiencing active suicidal thoughts or are at risk of harming yourself.

While my work is trauma-informed, it is not psychotherapy.

Clients who tend to benefit most are curious, patient, and willing to work gradually and consistently over time.

Every person arrives with a unique history, physical symptoms, and nervous system patterns. It takes time to understand how your system responds and which approaches are most helpful.

I generally recommend beginning with 6 sessions, scheduled about a week apart. This initial period gives us time to get to know your history, assess your patterns, explore different techniques, and begin developing somatic and regulation skills.

Six sessions is a starting point, not a finish line. Depending on what you’re coming in with, this foundation-building process may take longer. The work is gradual, and we don’t rush the process.

Over time, you may begin to notice changes such as reduced physical tension, improved sleep, greater capacity to regulate stress, less anxious, feeling more present in your body, or having more choice in how you respond to everyday challenges.

As the work develops, we’ll decide together what makes the most sense for you. Some people continue at the same pace, some space sessions farther apart, and others feel they have what they need.

The first phase of our work is about building the foundation we’ll use throughout the rest of the process. We begin with resourcing, which helps you find experiences, sensations, movements, and ways of being that support a greater sense of safety, stability, and regulation. I’ll assign you simple, short practices that you’ll integrate into your day to reinforce what you learn in session together.

From there, we gradually get to know your nervous system and your patterns. We take a somatic history to understand not only what has happened in your life, but how those experiences may have shaped the way your body responds. We assess and develop somatic and nervous system regulation skills that you can draw on throughout our work.

I may also provide psychoeducation when it is helpful for understanding what you are experiencing or why we are approaching something in a particular way. I may also share some science with you, if you’re a neuroscience geek like me!

We explore different techniques to discover what works best for your particular nervous system. As you experience what helps you settle, orient, connect, and stay present, you are building new possibilities alongside the old, practiced physiological patterns of stress, protection, hypervigilance, or shutdown.

As your resources and capacity grow, we can gradually approach material that may be more activating. We don't force our way into deeper territory. Your nervous system helps determine the pace. When your system has enough capacity to stay present and regulated, deeper material may naturally emerge.

The purpose of this phase is not to have everything resolved before moving into ongoing work. It is to build the resources, skills, and capacity that allow us to work with deeper or more activating material without overwhelming or destabilizing your system.

Yes. If you’d like to experience the work before committing to a longer process, you’re welcome to schedule a single session.

Although you may feel better after your first session, meaningful nervous system change rarely happens in one session. Many of the patterns that bring people to this work developed over months, years, or even decades as the nervous system adapted to chronic stress, injury, illness, or early life experiences. Creating greater flexibility, resilience, and regulation is therefore usually a gradual process, not simply a matter of relieving symptoms in the moment.

If what you’re looking for is shorter-term relief, I’m happy to work with you in that way as well, as long as you understand what to expect from a single session. A single session can give you a sense of the work and may provide some relief, but lasting change generally requires more time and consistency.

Psychotherapy and nervous-system-oriented somatic work can complement one another, but they generally begin in different places.

Think of an apple tree...

Top-down approaches, such as psychotherapy, often work with the “apples”...what we can see and talk about: thoughts, emotions, beliefs, behaviors, relationships, memories, and the meaning we make of our experiences. Through understanding and insight, we may be able to change how we think, behave, and respond.

Somatic work approaches the tree from the other direction: the “soil and root system.”

We work with the conditioned physiological patterns that developed as your nervous system adapted to stress, threat, injury, illness, or early experiences. These patterns can continue to shape muscle tension, breathing, movement, sensation, sleep, and how your body responds to the world, even when you understand intellectually why they are happening.

Rather than primarily trying to change your thoughts or behaviors, we work through movement, sensation, attention, and nervous-system regulation to help your system develop greater flexibility and new options.

This is why many people come to me after years of therapy saying, “I understand why I feel this way, but my body is still doing the thing.” Understanding can be incredibly valuable, but insight doesn't always change conditioned physiological patterns.

Working with the soil doesn't replace working with the apples. In fact, the two can complement each other. As your nervous system develops greater capacity for regulation and flexibility, you may find that you have more choice in your thoughts, behaviors, emotions, and relationships. And you may be better able to benefit from psychotherapy as well.

Many people come to this work because they are experiencing difficulty sleeping, chronic tension or pain, anxiety, overwhelm, or difficulty settling and regulating themselves. Some have experienced a traumatic event, developmental trauma, or childhood experiences where they didn't have the regulation and support they needed. They may understand what happened but still want relief from the physical and emotional effects they continue to experience.

Somatic, nervous-system-oriented work can help you develop greater awareness of your body and learn ways to support regulation. Over time, you may notice less tension or physical discomfort, improved sleep, greater ability to settle after stress, more connection with your body, and more choice in how you respond when activated.

The goal isn't to force symptoms to disappear, but to work with the physiological patterns underlying them and help your nervous system develop greater flexibility, capacity, and choice. Change is gradual for many people, as the nervous system learns through repeated experiences.

I can't promise a specific outcome or that a particular symptom will resolve. I don't diagnose or treat medical conditions, and this work is not a substitute for psychotherapy or medical care. If you are experiencing extreme emotional, psychological, or physical distress, please seek support from an appropriate licensed medical or mental health professional. This work can sometimes complement other healthcare support.

Yes, when appropriate. Depending on your needs, sessions may include gentle, therapeutic touch drawn from Feldenkrais, Trauma Touch Skills, or Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy. Self touch is also a common technique drawn from Somatic  Experiencing and Havening Technique. Touch is always collaborative, consent-based, and optional. 

No. We take a somatic history to understand your experiences and how they may be showing up in your body, but you don't need to describe traumatic experiences in detail. We work with what your nervous system is ready for and focus on what you can safely experience in the present. Often I’ll just ask a client “what are we here to do today,” because starting with this moment is often the portal into the exact work your system is asking for.