A million tiny phoenixes
I’ve lived in terrifyingly exquisite full flow with life for the past year.
Learning deep lessons about surrender to the great unknown and trusting my knowing within that, experiencing heart and soul healing from the ground up, literally.
I said yes to a soul calling, left with no idea of when I’d come back and nowhere to come back to, and everything… well, some people might say everything fell apart, but I say it all fell into place.
In stripping back every structure and stabilising force in life you can think of - routines & rituals, familiar people, sensory comforts, stillness, consistency of work, money, time, access to support networks, roof over my head, and at times, my mental and physical health - I became incredibly vulnerable and open.
And in that openness, Life showed me that it has my back. I was always in the right place at the right time, with the right people. Always supported. I just had to be bold, say yes, and I would be caught by the river/sometimes raging torrent of life force that flows through everything, the essence of existence.
The world opened up. I've met the most incredible places and humans and can truly say I have a global community of soul family. I always thought I was commitment-phobic. But I am deeply committed - to living intuitively, deeply, in harmony with the flow of life. I had to learn to take risks, to be curious and say, ‘I wonder what would happen if I just…’, to connect with my desire, move towards it, and release attachment to the outcome.
I learned to ride the pulse of the ever-changing moment, along with the fear - the fear! - that comes along with taking bold risks, alchemising it into the exhilaration and ecstasy of being held by the unseen, and ending up so deeply in love and intimately entangled with life, that even though it is ever-changing, I want to give my whole self to it. To let my heart break, over and over, open, and continually rebuild and find goodness from the mess of my love for humanity. A million tiny phoenixes rising from the ashes of my heart, one for every time my heart breaks for the beauty and pain of this world.
So it’s no wonder that on this adventure, I met this divine experience of love, intimacy and commitment in human form - not just inside myself, but in a real life human.
If you read my Rebel Ma chapter (digital and hard copy here!) you’ll know the backstory to this meeting, but there have been.. ahem.. Developments. Let’s just say there was another bold proposal resulting in a ceremony that required four government agencies across two countries to cooperate in a short time frame - plus my mum jumping on a last minute flight to Brisbane with my birth certificate, a 3pm courier deadline and a bundle of hope - for the ceremony to go ahead… and now a relocation is on the cards and I'm learning to be with the exquisitely excruciating reality of receiving everything my heart desires in a loving partnership.
As I sit with the journey I've been on in the last 11 months, I’m floored by the courage it’s taken to live like this, and by the muscularity of my heart. We think of our hearts as tender, and they are, achingly so. But our hearts are also a muscle. And we build muscle through practice & repetitive use. In breaking over and over, facing the mystery, and taking risks, we grow stronger in our love and trust, as well as our discernment.
So, I’m coming back to Australia with my tender, courageously muscular heart and commitment to living intuitively, and bringing all that life-in-divine-connected-flow magic to in-person Somatic Therapy sessions in Melbourne and Rockhampton, before I head back overseas for a while to be with my love.
In these sessions you’ll experience a sense of deep attunement and presence, stepping out of the stories of the mind and into the wisdom of the body to liberate your aliveness, intuition, instinct and love.
If you’ve experienced the magic of online somatic therapy, the difference in-person is a more tangible field and the ability to use touch, if you wish, to support regulation and bring us in deeper contact to our humanity (and thus our divinity).
Melbourne
Tuesdays and Thursdays 29 & 31 October, 5 & 7 November at Clarity Headache Clinic, Footscray
Details and booking here.
Rockhampton
Tuesdays & Thursdays 28 November, 3 & 5 December at Body N Soul Yoga, Wandal
Details and booking here.
Please share with anyone you know who would benefit from some in-person therapeutic sacred space.
And, since a lot of people don’t know, here’s a longish yet hopefully engaging blurb about what the heck somatic therapy is and how it helps folks live a more alive and courageous life:
What is Somatic Therapy?
Somatic therapy supports the resolution of past experiences playing out in the present, through the nervous system pathways in a contained way, allowing us to integrate and experience growth.
Past experiences that were overwhelming - too fast, too much, or without choice - activated our body’s survival mechanisms, to protect us and help us survive. In the wild, our wise animal body knows how to resolve and shake things off when it feels safe. But disconnection from our instincts, an interrupted connection to our body’s resolution process, leaves us stuck with these experiences. The longer these experiences stay stuck, the more adaptive behaviours start to form - things like compulsive eating or exercise or shopping. And we may notice the same patterns playing out in our relationships, for example pushing people away, in our career or recurrent health challenges, as our animal body and unconscious mind looks for similar experiences in the present as a way to complete and resolve the past.
How do we work with this?
We don’t actually have to go into the story, or revisit memories; the body is telling the story if we listen. The body is infinitely wise and knows exactly what it needs, and we have direct access to that through the nervous system. So we create safety and nourishment in our bodies first. We slow things down, get really curious about our sensations and how our body wants to move, and allow it to tell its story and complete its process in a slow, contained way. An attuned other person giving full presence to our process allows our body to regulate, and with skill, stay within our window of tolerance. Once we have a state shift, where our body ‘shakes off’ or resolves the experience, conscious wisdom and understanding rapidly follows, and we can more easily put the past behind us. (For complex trauma, it takes time - months or years - to resolve, and is dependent on co-existing conditions. Ongoing work is needed for this).
What does that actually look like?
I work with the whole human, including physical, emotional, mental and spiritual experiences in relation to the physical, social and cultural environment. Depending on what a client brings, in sessions with me, processes may include embodied power practices, grief ritual, attachment healing, inner critic and parts work, visualisation, different types of movement and gesture including dance, through to finding deep rest. It’s very gentle, and the focus is on containment, not catharsis, which can sometimes override the more subtle parts of our experience. We always start with a base of safety, grounding and nourishment, and go from there. And in person, I love having the option of using touch to help ground and regulate, with consent.
It’s also a ritual - I work with intention, I’m holding space for the soul and the mystery to move us, and although I use a framework, I meet the person in front of me exactly where they are. I also love using these practices for embodied visioning, so if there’s something you want to create for your life but stuff is getting in the way, this process will support you to find ease, flow and magnetism in your creations
Is it for me?
I support folks who are highly sensitive with a strong inner critic to connect deeply with their intuition and body wisdom. If you experience:
Overwhelm
Critical inner voice
Lost or unable to know what’s right for you and rely on external voices for validation/direction
Poor boundaries
Struggle to communicate needs and wants
Unable to process grief that feels too big
A deep yearning to live a soul-led life
Sensory sensitivity and big feelings
I’d love to support you.
I aim to create spaces that are:
Neurodiversity Affirming (ND affirming)
Anti-racist
LGBTIQA+ friendly
Poly and non-monogamy friendly
Sex worker friendly
Kink friendly
Fat friendly
I've recently supported clients with chronic illness, including rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue, diabetes, and neurodiverse clients with ADHD. Please get in touch if you want to make sure this is for you.
