"There is a crucial and central place in ourselves
that is able to blossom
only if
connected to the presence of a huge net of other beings
and entangled in the give-and-take of those relationships."
The Biology of Wonder: Aliveness, Feeling and the Metamorphosis of Science by Andreas Weber.
My wish is for you to remember your embeddedness in the Web of Creation.
And how worthy you are of that.
The work of Relational Somatics is re-weaving the truth into your self, your spirit, and your neurophysiology:
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you are never alone
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you already belong just as you are
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support and benevolence are all around you and within you.
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Hi, I'm Laurie.
I am a somatic guide, practitioner, and educator. I am also a bodyworker and a clinically trained mental health counselor and trauma therapist divested from licensure. I am a cisgender, white, able-bodied woman with ADHD in midlife. I am a ritualist, an animist, a witch, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a wife, an aunt, a seeker, a weather worshipper.
I provide one-on-one and group practice and education in Relational Somatics, Embodied Anatomy, and Ritual with spiritual, sensitive, earnest, curious people to embody inherent worth, self-trust, and discernment, and to feel connected to the Web of Life and the magical world that is already here.
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I guide and facilitate somatic practices specific to the way the body has organized for attachment/connection and defense/safety to support repair of the relational matrix. Through integration of Earth, elemental, and ancestral reconnection and somatic modalities of healing, we co-create meaningful ritual for you to continue to nurture relationship, integrate, and celebrate.
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"Colonization is the root of all unwellness."
-Dra. Rosales-Meza
My work is informed by my position as a student of the Decolonial Movement, anchored in the values of liberation for all beings and anti-supremacy. This means that we acknowledge that:
The sources of trauma and the work of healing from trauma are collective, ancestral, intergenerational, and cultural as well as individual.
We are part of a collective body and an Earth body. Severance from Spirit, Earth, culture, ancestors, and collective humanity are profound wounds.
Systems of domination and control such as colonialism, capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy culture are developmental trauma and impact individual and collective nervous systems in the same way as abuse and neglect.
I also am oriented to the Sacred and an animist worldview. I view us within a web of seen and unseen relationships that we can directly connect with and tend to. Relationships with humans and other-than-humans are equally valuable and essential for a good, connected life and relational healing.
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The embodied relational exploration practices and support for nervous system coherence arise out of modalities of Transforming Touch, Somatic Experiencing, Safe and Sound Protocol (polyvagal-based sound healing), Embodied Ancestral Inquiry, EMDR, NeuroAffective Touch, Embodied Recovery. They are also anchored in my values as a student of decolonization movement and somatic abolitionism.
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Relational Somatics explores how the body-mind organizes for relationship. A good bit of our work together explores the foundations created in early developmental survival and attachment needs. When early life experiences don't meet developmental needs for safety, dignity, and belonging adequately, we encode the chemistry and defensive physiology of young survival states in the body: optimal nervous system function becomes rigid, chaotic, exhausted, collapsed, or inadequately developed. As adults these are retained as physical symptoms, cognitive and emotional distress, and relational strategies that are ineffective for good connection to ourselves and/or others.
These needs and desires are guided by an intelligence- they are fundamental to our way of being. We have the “circuitry” for these experiences- it just may not have gotten “hooked up” through adequate tending. As we experientially support the life force and body systems through embodied exploration and co-regulating touch/presence, and acknowledge and welcome young parts that may feel helpless, afraid, needy, or overwhelmed, we begin to nourish, build, and strengthen neuropathways for your true self and healthy adult self-attachment.
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This is life-affirming, radiance-making work.
