Here are some clinical terms we might encounter in somatic practice community together. Floating the River: A Somatic Practice Group begins Thursdays in September.

For my “summer vacation” this year, I spent about a week on the traditional lands of the Ute communities now known as Grand Mesa National Forest in Colorado. I met with strangers who were just as curious about land relationships as I was.

Deeply connecting to who you are is your purpose, and the felt experience of purpose will emerge from within you. That feeling you experience by deeply being yourself will in turn begin to pollinate those around you.

Use the energies of the Aquarius New Moon to harness your intellect, speak your truth, and establish what you need. The emotions we may experience when we find ourselves in these relational struggles are not inherent problems to be solved or erased but are instead a result of internalized cultural and societal norms. They are messages communicating important information about our needs. When we acknowledge our emotions as an adaptive strategy to let us know about our needs, we may begin to reclaim our right to feel.

Holidays can often be a tender + stressful time of year for many. In our culture, we are spoon fed loud messages related to how things should look and feel. One of the most painful parts of trauma + relational wounds is related to being told ‘we should feel different than how we feel.’

During a time of year where we are encouraged to be ‘merry,’ it’s not surprising that we are left feeling alienated and alone with our complex holiday emotions. The loneliness of being told our internal experience is wrong can be a heartbreaking experience.

We are in the time of the year known as Halloween, Samhain + All Saints Day. Samhain originates from Celtic + Neolithic people of ninth-century Ireland.

Samhain is an acknowledgment of our connection to those who came before us. The celebration begins the evening of October 31st and continues through the day of November 1st.

In some moments, in the thick of our emotions, it seems as though those emotions could stick around for the rest of our lives. Even more commonly, we can try to avoid our emotions out of fear that the emotion will never go away. Understanding our emotions as flexible and ever-changing can help us improve our relationships with emotions.

My moon sign lives in Scorpio. This time of year always feels a little cozy to me. While I may feel comfortable inhabiting the temporal space of Scorpio season, there are lots of comfortable pieces of life that I notice are no longer serving me.

you will always start
brand new,
blossoming dogwoods
buds and blooms
out of no where
but always right on time.

I’ve found great comfort, ease, and healing by looking to nature’s offerings for support. One resource that has been particularly meaningful in moving me through my own trauma responses originates from the earth’s core, the most intimate part of our collective home.

In my journey, I have learned to use stones as an anchor in my relationship with nature and encouragement to be in the present. A few years ago, I made a connection with the semi-precious stone Topaz due to its sweet symbolism.

I am honored to collaborate with Terra Care SLC and artist Lilian Agar, to honor Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

On Sunday October 16 from 4p-5:30p I will be offering some ways to find deep healing in approaches that aim to softly connect us to our felt sense build safer relationship with our very first homes–our bodies.

As someone who utilizes insurance for a lot of my own medical care, I think the desire to utilize insurance for mental health care is a fair ask. Even with this truth, I’ve had to make tough decisions when it comes to working inside or outside of the insurance industry. My decision is influenced by the values I hold personally and professionally, as well as the quality of life I need to sustain my work as a therapist.

I thought Gemini Season may be a helpful time to explore the ways we may sometimes feel ways that could seem in conflict with one another. By getting to know the about Internal Family Systems and our parts, we can feel more resourced and secure in our relationships with ourselves and with others. Enjoy a link to my IFS meditation at the end!

In effort to honor my human before therapist agenda, I figured it could be a sweet time to write a little bit about a personal experience of pushing my edges on a hike in Moab and feeling my emotions deeply as a result.

When the DSM-5 announced it would be adding “prolonged grief disorder” to its list of clinical diagnoses, I found an opportunity to examine my relationship with the text and imagine other possibilities for mental health care.

I wrote a little bit about a recent ski experience where the literal practice of leaning towards the scary steepness of the mountain has taught me quite a bit about my relationship to fear.

As capitalism continues to polarize us and cause the hoarding of resources - there is an increasing need for trauma-sensitive services in all public and private settings.