My relationship with somatic awareness practices began over 20 years ago while attending graduate school for embodiment studies and writing. My main practices then included Gendlin’s Focusing, Julie Henderson’s Zapchen Somatics, and yoga.

I applied these practices to writing, working with kids, and life in general. Occasionally I taught in a more traditional sense. For a few years, I taught a workshop on back pain and pregnancy at the Alma Birthing and Movement Center in Portland. I documented that time and my own birth through a blog I still keep around.

I hold an MA degree in embodiment studies and I’ve completed a 200-hr yoga teacher training, Reiki Level 2, Five Element Yoga with Jennifer Reis, and Eugene Gendlin’s Focusing Advanced Training. I am currently enrolled in a Registered Somatic Educator/Therapist training at Tamalpa Institute (700 hrs; graduate 2025) and the Somatic Intuitive Healing School (350 hrs; certified in summer 2024) in Portland. I also continue Body-Mind-Centering self-study through through Lisa Clark’s Embodiyoga. 

How I work is also informed by my relationships and life events. I am a daughter of dementia, and an emotionally sensitive person who has navigated depression in her early years and mid-life anxiety during perimenopause. I can safely say that I am trauma-informed and continue to learn every day from those whose life experiences are more complex than my own. In addition to my own somatic practices, I rely on the wisdom I find in books, namely written by Donna Eden, Bonnie Banbridge Cohen, Ellie Epp, Adrienne Marie Brown and countless other teachers who have come before us or are here with us working to transform the way we exist together and with the land, sky, and sea.

I currently reside on the unceded land that is Portland, Oregon. I live here with my husband, son, two cats and in community with wonderful friends, neighbors, colleagues, and family. Fun fact: One of my favorite forms of energy is punk rock music—the ridiculousness of the Dead Milkmen, the sultry sounds of the Cramps, the snarl of Bikini Kill—all makes me feel alive. To me, energy is not all rainbows and kittens, although I love rainbows and kittens, I also love the slithery-ness of dark bars and loud guitars. I love the darkness as much as I love the light. I’ll go either place with you.