What Is Somatic Facilitation?

Somatic simply means "relating to or affecting the body". As a facilitator, I incorporate body-awareness and somatic tools into my workshops and mediation sessions. When working in groups, there is always some amount of physical activation happening in the body. Whether a group has come together for something as cheerful as building connection & community, or something as challenging as a major organizational conflict/breakdown, the vulnerability required to do the work can bring a lot of up for people.

From excitement to nerves to full out panic, people's bodies and psyches can experience a whole range in just a few hours of group time--or even before the group gathers! Sometimes even one phrase is enough to send someone into a panic spiral (like "diversity training"). That's why I design my sessions to include somatic practices for greater visceral trust, safety, care and ease. Not much conflict can be productively addressed when people are in fight/flight response or when they're in self-attack, other-attack, general shutdown, or 'avoid the whole situation' mode. When people can get grounded and feel safe in their own bodies and in the group, there is more space for listening, problem solving, creative possibilities, connection and (my favorite) the emergence of abundant joy!

For info on my background training and certifications, visit my bio page.

Offerings

I tailor my sessions for each group or individual that I work with. I listen closely to the needs of the person/group and then suggest a workshop to meet those needs. I will also adapt in the moment based off the person/group's response, making sure I continue to follow what is needed versus what is "planned". Sometimes we don't know the underlying needs until stumbling upon them through another process!

The following offerings can be booked as described, or considered as suggestions for what is possible.
Connect with me and we'll craft a plan that works best for you.

Workshop Cost
I offer each session at a sliding scale. Scale varies depending on length of workshop and host (grassroots, nonprofit, business, etc.). For smaller projects, I am also open to skill or work exchanges, as well as other creative trades. Things I'd currently love to trade for: artwork, groceries & vegetables, drum lessons, hindi/spanish lessons, dance training, further somatic studies, web design, photography, videography, studio space!

Working Through Conflict: Proactive + Reactive
Learn tools and practices for tending to the storm before it arrives (or while it's in full force...). Drawing upon methods used globally by YES!, along with somatic approaches to navigating personal, interpersonal and systemic conflict, this workshop offers a variety of methods to get you/your team from breakdown to breakthrough. A proactive workshop will focus on daily practices and strategies to help manage conflict before it occurs, while the reactive workshop will provide additional guidance and support for those in the midst of conflict.

Community Building For Organizations
Using storytelling, movement, reflection, collective visioning and play, this workshop holds a mix of joy-based activities and deeper reflective processes for fostering meaningful connection--both between people, and to the work/place itself. It can be customized to be as playful or as tool-based (for communication, supportive group dynamics, etc.) as you'd like!

Collective Care For Activists, Healers + Radical Humans
It's no news that activists and front-line, grassroots resistors endure the high burnout rates, immense mental, emotional and physical stress, and are often navigating an overwhelming ocean of personal, collective, ancestral and secondary trauma on a daily basis. This workshop is a gratitude offering and medicine pot for those carrying our world forward. It is full of practices for personal and collective care--ways not only to mend the wounds but also to birth more sustainable, nurturing communities to hold us as we continue on. Living inside of greater liberation, love, freedom and joy as a means of doing the work, not as an unreachable and illusive end. This workshop is geared towards activists, healers, mamas/papas/kiddos/earth-tenders/and people doing change-work through the way they live. It can be held as a one day session or a multiple-day retreat. We can be creative about fundraising. Cost should not be a barrier!

Fields of Inspiration

I draw from the following methods and fields in my facilitation:
Expressive Arts
Somatic Therapy
YES! Jams
InterPlay
Theater of the Oppressed
Relational Uprising
End-of-Life Care
Design Thinking
Yoga
Breathwork & Meditation
Capoeira, Modern Dance, & Step

And here are a few books & podcasts influential to my work:
The Body Keeps The Score -- Bessel Van Der Kolk
The Living Myth -- Michael Meade
Thinking in Systems -- Donella Meadows
Balancing Heaven and Earth, Inner Work -- Robert Johnson
The Tao of Pooh -- Benjamin Hoff
Eastern Body Western Mind -- Anodea Judith