Individual Somatic Coaching

What is it?

Somatic coaching offers a body-based process for change that can help you transform in a lasting way.

Somatics brings together a powerful set of tools — including from therapy, bodywork, leadership coaching, meditation, and aikido — that gets results that each discipline couldn’t alone.

What happens in a session?

When we first start working together, we focus on defining the change you want to make. Then each time we meet, we choose what to work on that will move you closer to your goals.

Sessions always include body-based practices that happen sitting, standing, moving, or lying down. Practices help increase awareness of how you operate, break free from old habits, and be able to make different choices. As we explore deeper into who you are and who you are becoming, we gain insight around what you need to address next. Practices support you to change through all your dimensions — physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and relational.

In between sessions you will develop a daily & weekly practice routine to strengthen your new relational “muscles” and fulfill any important action steps.

Coaching sessions are typically 60 minutes. If sessions include somatic table work then they will extend to 75-90 minutes. From the outside, sessions might look like a combination of talk therapy, bodywork, guided meditation, and nonviolent martial arts training.

Is it right for me?

Clients often come to me because they’ve made strides in therapy but it isn’t leading to the change they want now.

You might have physical pain or chronic injuries that flare up under stress. You might be at the precipice of an exciting new chapter, or at risk of a crisis.

You may have heard about how trauma is stored in the body. You probably haven’t heard of somatic coaching before but you’re open to trying a body-based approach to change.

You’re tired of the status quo of your life, and you want to be free of the baggage you’ve been carrying around for way too long.

You want an approach that will show results in a matter of months, not years and years

Why is it effective?

Somatics fundamentally holds that we can’t change one part of ourselves in isolation, despite what the scientific paradigm claims.

Whatever is happening in us, it shows up simultaneously in all our dimensions — our thoughts, beliefs, emotions, muscles, breathing, digestion, social interactions, and reactions to stress. We are also impacted by time and place — our histories, desires, social interactions, cultures, and physical surroundings.

This is why you can arrive at helpful insights in talk therapy but still not be able to change your behaviors. Talking isn’t enough. You’ve become accustomed to the way you are, even if it's causing you physical and emotional pain, or keeping you from getting something you want. In order to make lasting change, we need to physically disrupt your default patterns and find new practices to take their place.

somatic healing, somatic coaching, somatics, mind-body healing, therapy, meditation, bodywork, trauma healing, touch therapy, polarity therapy, generative somatics, Strozzi somatics, leadership coaching, Hillsborough, Durham, North Carolina

I am committed to increasing access to healing by offering this work at an affordable rate, and as much as possible I do not turn away clients for lack of funds.
My suggested contribution is $160/session.
For clients who are not able to pay that full amount, I offer a very generous sliding scale.
If you have any concern about money, let’s talk about it and I’m confident we can find a mutually satisfying arrangement.
I accept cash, checks, and electronic transfers via Venmo, PayPal, and Wise.
Sessions take place at my studio or on Zoom.
My studio is located about 15 minutes north of downtown Durham and 15 minutes east of downtown Hillsborough, NC.
Upon request, I see clients at their homes with a travel fee.
No. Somatic healing does not currently fit the requirements for insurance plans. For this reason I offer a generous sliding scale to those with financial limitations.
I see clients during normal business hours Monday-Friday, and by special request in the evenings and on weekends.
If you’re interested in working with me or would like to learn more, shoot me an email or schedule a sh ort introductory call . This is an opportunity to ask questions, get to know each other a bit, and decide if you’d like me to support you.
I provide clients with a private scheduling link to easily book sessions.
There is no minimum commitment to try somatic coaching and I encourage clients to begin with a few sessions to make sure it feels like a good fit.
Some clients experience profound shifts from a single session, but I strongly recommend committing to at least 10 sessions if you are trying to make big changes.
Typically this means we meet weekly for 3-4 months. This time allows you to find your footing in new practices and start to see the transformational fruits of our labor. After that time, some clients continue weekly and others prefer biweekly.
The lineage of somatic coaching is long and diverse, and I’m happy to talk more about it with you.
Somatic coaching was developed over the past 50 years at Lomi School, Strozzi Institute, and generative somatics. Many teachers have contributed to the methodology and their living lineage.
Somatic coaching incorporates techniques from aikido, meditation, polarity therapy, Feldenkrais, Rolfing, gestalt therapy, body-oriented psychotherapy, linguistics, and other modalities.
My teachers have received formal permission to incorporate practices from their teachers in East Asia, South Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. I also want to acknowledge that nearly all forms of embodied practice in the so-called United States are subject to the historical forces of colonization and appropriation.