It hasn't been a linear path. There have been many twists, bends and bumps in the road, and each and every one of those experiences has led me into a deeper homecoming to my connection with self, and a deeper trust in life.
The diagnosis
My journey began at 21, when I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (ME). I was told my life as I knew it was over, that I'd never heal, and that I needed to make peace with being sick for the rest of my life. For six months I spiralled into despair, trying medication after medication and getting sicker, to the point where I couldn't lift myself out of a bath.
The choice
One day I reached a choice: quit completely because my body wasn't working, or create a new relationship with my body and with how it related to life and other people. A young, curious doctor at my practice met me with openness, and we spent hours talking about the conversation within. How was I responding to my body? How was I talking to it? That began a huge quest.
The shift
Within two years, I was no longer relapsing. A relapse used to mean exerting myself a little, as you do in your early twenties, and then spending five days in bed unable to move. It landed me in a whole new layer of trust and curiosity in my body, and that's where my research began.
The deeper work
In 2019 I did my first yoga teacher training, and they warned me it would be a journey. They were right. I had panic attacks in sharing circles and practice teaching, and everything from my childhood began to unravel: the adverse experiences and complexity of trauma stored so deeply in my body for so many years.
I went on to bodywork, coaching and trainings, and studied different cultural practices and parts work. It was a self-led path of discovery, long before somatics became well known, and I've since trained in it more formally.
How I walk beside you
I feel deeply passionate about walking beside one another: bearing a light, holding a mirror, and trusting in the journey ahead. Together we explore the layers from mind all the way down into the body and back up again, looking not only at the beliefs that have held us locked, but at how they travel up from the body.
Sometimes there's no story, just sensation. The more we sense into it and feel what needs to be felt, the more we unravel, de-armor and bring down the walls of fear built in moments of protection, shame or pain, and the ideas we picked up from others.
My approach looks at the mind, thoughts and beliefs, and also the body, sensation and nervous system, and brings the two into deeper coherence. Then we bring that into connection with the outside world and others, and from there, into a deeper trust in the greater web of life.
You hold all the keys to all of your own doors. I'm here to walk beside you.
Coaching is not a substitute for medical care.