Meet Your Guide
Hi there! I’m Marisa, a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, trauma-informed Coach, and someone who deeply understands what it’s like to carry old pain in a body that’s trying to make it through the day.
Life can be messy and overwhelming, especially when we’re carrying trauma. I know this not just through my training, but from my own lived experience. I’ve walked through the fire of early loss, disconnection, and the long road of learning to trust my body again. And while the path isn’t always easy, I’ve found that when we are met with genuine care—when someone really sees us, hears us, and doesn’t turn away—something begins to soften. The body starts to exhale.
My work is about creating that kind of space. A space where your nervous system can settle. Where you can feel what you feel, without shame. Where you can begin to reclaim your sense of safety, presence, and truth.
My own daily practices—whether it’s gentle movement, tending to my breath, being with my dog, or simply putting my hands on my heart—keep me rooted in the work I offer. I believe in walking beside you, not ahead of you. With warmth, steadiness, and reverence for your journey, I’ll help you tune back in to what’s always been there: your own embodied wisdom.
If you value…
Curiosity
Curiosity is one of the most important tools we use in somatic coaching. It helps us slow down and gently notice what’s happening in the body without needing to fix or figure it all out.
When you bring curiosity to your experience, you create space to explore with kindness. Instead of judging yourself, you start to listen. You begin to ask, What is my body trying to tell me?
This kind of attention helps build trust with your nervous system and opens the door to real, lasting change.
Connection
Healing doesn’t happen in isolation. In somatic coaching, connection is at the heart of the work — connection to your body, your inner knowing, and to another human who can walk beside you.
When we feel safe in connection, our nervous system can begin to soften. I’m here to attune with you, moment by moment, offering a grounded presence that supports regulation and trust.
Together, we create a space where your body doesn’t have to carry everything alone anymore.
Compassion
Real change begins with kindness, not pressure. In somatic coaching, compassion helps create the safety needed for your system to open, unwind, and heal.
When we meet ourselves with gentleness instead of judgment, we build trust from the inside out. As your coach, I’ll offer steady compassion and remind you that you don’t have to be “fixed,'‘ just supported, seen, and honored in your process.
Together, we hold space for your full humanity without rushing, without shame.
…then let’s get started.
Trainings That Shape My Work
I’ve completed extensive trainings with leaders in the field of somatic healing and nervous system regulation, including:
Somatic Experiencing® – a three-year training with the Somatic Experiencing Institute, earning my SEP certification
Transforming the Experience-Based Brain (TEB) – a year-long advanced training with Stephen Terrell focused on early developmental trauma
Somatic Resilience and Regulation – a year-long advanced training with Kathy Kain and Stephen Terrell
Touch Skills Training – a year-long program with Kathy Kain on safe, attuned touch for trauma resolution
Somatic Narrative and the Viscera – a 4-day immersive training with Kathy Kain
Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) - sound therapy created by Stephen Porges
Additional Trainings:
Francis Weller ‘s Grief Ritual Training in a Polycrisis (to be completed Fall 2025)
Studies in the Quechua Andean tradition of energy medicine
Masters Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
These modalities inform my work not just as tools, but as living practices—ones that continue to evolve with each person I sit with and each moment I choose to come back to my own body.
“Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness.”
— Peter A. Levine
