Somatic Therapy and Pastoral Counseling in Western Mass

Somatic Therapy and Pastoral Counseling:

holistic support for Mind, Body and Spirit

Consider a different approach to therapy

In my sessions, I invite you to explore what might be possible when you slow down and listen to the sometimes subtle, confusing or quiet messages of your body. We hold so much within our nervous systems, muscles, bones and organs, often below a conscious level of awareness. This includes: traumatic or painful experiences from our past; stresses of everyday life in a culture that rewards urgency, productivity, disconnection and materialism; generational trauma; and physical pain and illness.

What would it be like to listen to the wisdom of your heart, the whispers of your spirit? What happens when you invite your ancestors to walk with you and hear what they have to say? What is it like to live in reciprocity with the more-than-human world? This work supports you in connecting more deeply both internally and externally. It is an invitation to pause and listen for your intuition, the deep knowing you already posses, and to be present with the world around you, the humans, pets, plants, animals, and the land herself.

How would you live differently if you felt in your body a deep sense of belonging? Of wholeness? If you believed yourself to be worthy of love and connection? What would it be like to cultivate a sense of inner safety and well-being? To practice settling your nervous system?

I offer a gentle, intuitive, soulful and holistic approach to therapy. We go at the pace of your body and nervous system, which is an invitation to slow things down and set agendas aside. Healing has its own time frame. As you tune into your body and notice what you feel, you can learn to meet yourself with compassion wherever you are. This simple practice is a recipe for transformation. Something can shift, move or open. Your relationship to yourself can change. Whatever you are holding in your body and inner world can be welcomed, listened to, expressed and cared for with tenderness.

My offerings are Based on my training and experience in the following modalities:

• SomaSoul: Somatic Therapy

• Hartford Family Institute’s Body-Centered Psychotherapy Training Program

• Pastoral Counseling and Earth Based Spirituality

• Mindfulness Meditation and Somatic Movement/Dance Practices

Each therapy session has its own arc and energy and may include: deep listening; body awareness and mindfulness; guided imagery; nervous system support; simple sketches/drawings; childhood or body memories; inner kid work; connecting to ancestors; and explorations of meaning and spirituality. I am particularly drawn to working with women, members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community, adolescents and spiritual seekers.

If there is something here that speaks to you, Consider reaching out through my contact page, where you will also find location info, hours and a description of my sliding scale.

A Poem for You

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

- Mary Oliver, from House of Light