Somatic Embodywork Practitioner Training

The Pillars of Somatic Embodywork

Body. Mind. Spirit. Energy.

This training program is split into five equally important sections, each one building on the last. We begin with the important groundwork of deepening our connection to ourselves and build through somatic, energetic, shamanic, and bodywork practices. This program is meant to assist you in your healing process as an individual and assist you in becoming a more grounded and skilled practitioner for those you are here to help. When we transform our own lives, we become more available to assist in the healing of others.

The Embodied Practitioner

Becoming a talented and grounded healer is an initiatory experience by design. You cannot consistently be grounded, emotionally regulated, and energetically available, create healthy boundaries with your clients, hear your intuition, or hold safe, sacred space for the healing of others without first tending to your own needs. The personal healing work we do is a vital part of becoming a clear channel for the healing of others - self-attunement, self-healing, emotional regulation, and self-care are all key aspects of supporting others well, and these things are also a vital aspect of longevity in your career.

This module lays the foundation for your work with others to thrive. The work we do in the rest of the program will expand and deepen this foundational work.

Some of the topics we will cover:

• The importance of cultivating a deep connection with yourself in an ongoing way

• How to deepen your sense of present moment awareness

• Self-care and personal boundaries: putting your own needs first

• Understanding your deeper motives for wanting to help others

• Why self-healing is such an important part of the work you do with others

• Self-attunement and how it supports the ability to attune to the needs of others

• Addressing the savior complex - why trying to “save” or “fix” others costs you as a practitioner

• Connecting with your intuition and deeper wisdom

• How to stay resourced to expand your emotional capacity and tolerance for the pain of others

• How to avoid burnout and countertransference in your work

• Energetic and somatic boundary work

Somatic Foundations

Above all else, Somatic Embodywork is a trauma-informed, somatic practice. In this module, we learn what it truly means to be trauma-informed and to work directly with the nervous system to bring deeper levels of healing to our clients. Help your clients resolve symptoms of chronic stress, pain, and trauma, and support them in restoring a sense of wholeness and resilience.

Some of the topics we will cover:

• What trauma actually is and how it operates personally, relationally, and collectively

• Learn how to attune to your client and sense what is needed from moment to moment

• Learn to drop your own agenda and sense of what is needed in favor of listening to the nervous system

• Learn how to work in trauma-informed ways that support your clients’ deeper healing process

• Learn about the trauma responses: fight, flight, freeze, and fawn

• Understand how to support your clients’ nervous system in completing previously incomplete trauma responses they may have been holding for years

• Learn practical tools for nervous system regulation that help your clients to expand their capacity and resilience

• Understand the importance of pacing and titration

• Learn how to create and hold a safe space for your clients’ healing process

• Learn to somatically “track” your clients and guide them during cycles of activation and deactivation

• Learn to work with boundaries as a practitioner and how to guide your clients in cultivating safe boundaries for themselves.

• Learn to teach your clients how to manage chronic emotional and physical pain more easily

Shamanic Healing

Shamanism is the earliest spiritual practice known to humankind, dating back tens of thousands of years. Each culture has slightly different practices, and there is a common stream that runs through them all, which is the basic (Core) Shamanic practices, such as the Shamanic Journey, power retrieval, soul retrieval, drum healings, and the integration of energy. Shamanism is a trusted path, a time-honored tradition with practices in use for centuries, making it reliable in a way that some newer paths may not be. Shamanism is, in its essence, a vehicle for connection to our innate and authentic power. 

Shamanism offers a path of direct revelation, a path of becoming that aligns us with our personal power and a deep connection with all of life. In shamanism, all illness is believed to be of spiritual origin; therefore, in shamanic healing, the focus is on spiritual healing and insight.

Some of the topics we will cover:

• Connect with your guides for healing, insight, and to gather information and power for the healing of your clients

• Utilize the elements: earth, air, fire, and water, to bring energetic balance

• How to become a “hollow bone” and allow your guides to inform your work with your clients

• Learn to call power and energetically merge with your guides for deeper levels of energetic protection

• Learn the shamanic journey - an interactive meditation practice that will assist you in connecting with your deeper wisdom and the power of your guides

• Learn the practice of soul retrieval to assist your clients in healing patterns of trauma

• Learn the practice of power retrieval to assist your clients in reclaiming their personal power and energy

• Learn to confidently clear heavy, “dark” energy (energetic interference) from your clients’ energy field

• Assist your clients in boundary work with soul parts exchange and cord cutting

• Learn ritual practices to transmute energy and reclaim power

• Learn shamanic parts work/integration and inner child healing practices

• Learn to clear curses and negative energetic patterns from others

• Work with sound and intention to clear and empower

Bodywork

In working directly with the body via physical touch, our work with others becomes more grounded and complete. This work is usually done in person, but when we are unable to meet physically, we can facilitate the power of touch through online practices. This module includes simple touch work and more advanced bodywork skills, designed to meet you where you are as a practitioner.

Some of the topics we will cover:

• The power of relational, attuned touch in creating a sense of safety for your clients

• Recognize patterns of bracing and armoring in your clients’ bodies

• Understand the importance of moving slowly in bodywork and the skill of deeply listening to the body

• Learn to allow your intuition to guide you in your bodywork sessions

• Listen for deeper cues from your client that may point to discomfort or guarding

• Learn gentle but powerful energetic and somatic holds and hand placements

• Learn the basic practices of Craniosacral Therapy

• Learn skills from Vibrational Healing Massage Therapy, a powerful trauma-informed, energy-focused bodywork modality created by Patricia Cramer in the early 1980s. This work uses the “fluid body model,” blending Eastern modalities, polarity therapy, and the Trager approach, and aims to restore the body to a more fluid and flexible state.

• Learn touch skills that can be incorporated into online sessions with clients

Energy Medicine

Energy medicine, or energy healing, is based on the idea of a vital life force, also called prana, mana, or chi, that flows in and around the human body. This same energy, also called universal life energy, exists within all living beings, including animals, plants, and the Earth. This energy is thought to be one of the primary things that animates life. In energy medicine, we seek to clear the blockages and stagnation that keep us from the flow of energy that would help us to feel vital and alive.

You will receive Usui Reiki levels I, II, and III attunements during this module.

Some of the topics we will cover:

• What the chakras are and how to work with them

• How to tune into and trust your intuition when working with energy

• Hone your ability to sense energetic blockages and assist your client in clearing them

• Learn to work with sound and rays (light) to clear blockage and imbalance

• Learn to align with the highest self of your client to assist them in aligning with their highest potential

• Learn to work with the power of thought and intention to manifest and heal

• Support your clients in aligning their intentions with their actions to assist them in moving into alignment with their intentions and highest good

• Learn to protect your own energy and remain grounded during your work with others

• Learn how to become a clear channel for energy

• Understand the basics of relationships, shadow work, and projection

• Learn to guide your client in deep processes through guided meditation and visualization