I became a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner after having been immeasurably helped by SE with my own trauma. My husband and I had been in a plane crash in Burma. We were fortunate to be among the survivors, but he was near death, and my own injuries were severe. In those impossible circumstances, I had to ignore my emotional and physical condition and find a way to get him to the specialized care that would save his life.
The shock and terror of the accident, the horror of witnessing my husband’s injuries, and coping with them all alone, in pain, half-way across the world, had left me numb and disconnected. I felt that I had lost a crucial relationship with myself. I wasn’t completely “me.” Though I was not aware of it, I was enduring fiercely searing emotions and reactions. In a survival instinct, I was overriding and shutting them away, but they were harshly affecting me. As time went on, I found that I couldn’t function fully if that turmoil stayed buried. I needed to heal what was locked within.
Somatic Experiencing enabled that recovery for me, and led me to thriving and actually experiencing a joy in life that I had not felt before. Working through the trauma of the crash allowed me to discover, and heal within myself, old relational traumas from my childhood. Since then, I have been honored to guide the healing process for many who have suffered the debilitating stress and draining effects of trauma.
I am the Executive Director of the Community Meditation Center in NYC, and a meditation teacher. I find that connecting Somatic Experiencing to mindfulness and meditation brings a valuable approach to healing. In 2003 I was ordained as an Interfaith Minister, following three years of seminary study.
Among my published work is The Dharma of Dogs (Sounds True) where my writing appears with other contributors such as Alice Walker, Eckhart Tolle, JP Sears, and Mark Nepo. I am currently working on a book about healing from trauma based upon our plane crash. My career after performing world-wide as a modern dancer involved creating a method to work with injuries and detrimental conditions using an individualized, multi-faceted approach. I have been in practice since 1990, working with clients to find their own unique path to healing.