πŸƒ Finding Your Way

Post-Traumatic Growth & Resilience Coaching for Women

Finding Your Way offers a safe-enough space β€”
where your nervous system may begin to settle and soften.

When you’ve experienced trauma, or are in a season of post-traumatic growth,
you may find yourself feeling on edge, overwhelmed, or sensitive in ways that have lingered.

This is where Finding Your Way can meet you β€”
softly offering a way toward feeling safety here, in the present moment.

πŸ’› A space to tend the wounded places β€”
to be seen with kindness, listened to with care,
as you notice your strengths and brave steps forward,
as there is more room to reconnect with yourself,
in your own time, at your pace.

Through my own trauma recovery, I came to understand that safety begins with the nervous system.
When it is soothed, settled, and supported, there is more space to reconnect with a solid, grounded sense of self β€”
like feeling the steady ground of the earth beneath your feet.

What a session may include:

A safe-enough space grounded in trauma-informed mindfulness and healing science, where you are seen with kindness and care. Through gentle mindful awareness and nervous-system–supportive practices, your body is invited to soften, settle, and find steadier ground as you tend the wounded places, notice your strengths and courage, and find your way β€” in your own time, at your pace.

If you are interested in learning more, you’re warmly invited to email me or schedule a free Inquiry Call. Once you're on the page, you can read more about the Inquiry Call and decide if it feels like the right next step for you.

Accessibility matters to me.

I hold a small number of sliding-scale openings at any time, and I'm happy to explore options if finances are a concern. If you're not ready to connect, you're welcome to explore the resources here at your own pace.

The Resource Library

πŸƒ Finding Your Way weaves trauma-informed mindful awareness practice and healing science β€” including Interpersonal Neurobiology and Polyvagal Theory β€”You’re warmly invited to visit these teachings in the Resource Library.

Why This Path Matters

β€œEsther’s class was both powerful and calming. I appreciated the way she weaves mindfulness with an understanding of the brain and nervous system. Her gentle vagal toning practice offered a meaningful β€˜aha’ moment that supported my own healing.” β€” Sasha

This path integrates mindfulness with the science of healingβ€”drawing on Interpersonal Neurobiology and Polyvagal Theory, which invite us to gently β€œbefriend the nervous system.” Mindful awareness serves as a guide: softly being present β€”with kindnessβ€” with whatever arises, without the need to change it. This approach is held through a trauma-informed lens, which grounds you as you find your way toward feeling safe here, in the present moment.

Mindfulness and the healing sciences offer gentle practices and grounded understanding that support the nervous system’s natural movement toward safety, connection, and ease. Their combining creates soothing, regulating supportβ€”and healing can begin to unfold naturally.

Healing isn’t about fixing ourselves; it’s about coming home to who we already are.

β€œMindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different; enjoying the pleasant without holding on when it changes (which it will); being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way (which it won’t).”
β€”
James Baraz

You May Be Feeling

Perhaps you're noticing:

  • A mix of anxiousness and a quiet sense of hope about what’s ahead

  • Waves of overwhelm, or a sense that the world doesn’t always feel safe

  • Some hesitation or uncertainty about where β€” or how β€” to begin

  • A feeling of being unsettled, even by everyday situations

  • A gentle longing to feel more at ease in your body and with your connections

If any of this resonates, you’re not alone. I’ve felt this way tooβ€”and these are common, shared human experiences. Trauma can shape the nervous system to react quickly as a way of protecting us. These instinctual responses are rooted in survivalβ€” even when they pull us away from ease, choice, or connection.

If you’d like to explore the science and mindfulness practices that cultivate resilience, nervous system regulation, and well-being, I warmly invite you to visit the Resource Library.

  • β€œEsther Sadie [Brandon] has the qualities of an exceptional coach and human being. She is positive, thoughtful, supportive, knowledgeable and curious. Esther is an exceptional listener and her genuine care and empathic approach is evident in all her coaching interactions. As a teacher, as a mother, the benefits I have received from her wisdom and guidance are immeasurable. She is incredibly skilled at helping others tap into their strengths and values.”

    Crista Bode, Lesley University, Student Teaching Supervisor, Classroom Teacher, and Mother

  • β€œI’m grateful for Esther’s humanity and uniquely skilled guidance…most especially on those days when I am feeling, β€˜I don’t need this’! I’m learning to have more compassion for myself from her ability to listen and reflect my words back to me. Being truly heard by Esther releases the built-up steam in my life. And now, I’m discovering a more fully integrated sense of self-awareness, understanding and acceptance.”

    Kathy Hermann, Coaching Client

  • β€œEsther Sadie Brandon is the real dealβ€”wise and kind and deeply knowledgeable. If well-bein coaching appeals, highly recommend you check her out!”

    Yael Shy, CEO of Mindfulness Consultin, LLC - Meditation consultant, teacher and coach for teams and individuals.

  • "There aren't many people like Esther Brandon. She is kind, empathetic, and wise beyond belief. She has a profound ability to make you feel seen and heard, even amidst great struggle. She is authentic and courageous and it shows up in her coaching work. Highly recommend working with her."

    Isabel Mata, Meditation Teacher and Writer

  • I had the pleasure of attending a webinar Esther created entitled β€œMindfulness and Coaching.” Clearly, Esther has both the passion and competence to be a leader in this space. The webinar had two important impacts on me. As a human being , I felt more centered, relaxed, and present to the moment at the conclusion of the webinar. As a coach, it validated and energized my own work in this space with my clients.”

    Howard Stanten, Master’s Of Physical Therapy (MPT), Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC),  Certified Professional Coach, International Coaching Federation (PCC)

  • I have known Esther for several years. The more I know her, the deeper my appreciation, respect, and admiration for her. In my mindful practices with her, I have come not only to understand intellectually the concept of being one with one’s body, mind, spirit, gut, emotion, but I have reached depths into my own integration of all of these parts and different levels of my own being. Being in mindful practice with Esther, signifies being on a trip far into the depth of my being.

    Jacqueline Levy, Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC),  Certified Professional Coach, International Coaching Federation (PCC) 

  • "I have had amazing opportunities at Lesley, and great role models, but no one has inspired me like you have. You have been a guide and source of wisdom, and it is difficult for me to imagine what my life would be like without the sense of safety that your office provides. I am grateful for everything that you do and for the person that you are. I hope to one day do for someone all that you have done for me."

    L, Former Student Teacher

A Window Into My Story

β€œMindfulness is about being fully awake in our lives. It is about perceiving the exquisite vividness of each moment. We feel more alive.

We also gain immediate access to our own powerful inner resources for insight, transformation and healing.” 

– Jon Kabat Zinn

More than 35 years ago, a mindfulness workshop with Jon Kabat-Zinn quietly shifted the course of my life. What began as a simple invitation to pay attention gradually became a steady companion. Over time, I deepened my practice through Jewish contemplative traditions, Buddhist teachers, other wisdom traditions, and trauma-informed healing science. These paths softly guided me back toward myself β€” toward my strengths, my innate wholeness, and my capacity for connection.

This image reflects how I understand healing now β€”
not as avoiding chaos or clinging to rigidity,
but as learning how to stay present in the integrated current between them.

May I meet this moment fully.
May I meet it as a friend.

β€” Sylvia Boorstein

Over the decades, I’ve continued to study and practice approaches that support this kind of healing β€” ways of working that integrate mindful awareness with the science of how our nervous systems respond to stress and trauma. I’ve come to understand this combination as a kind of medicine for the nervous system: gently soothing and regulating, creating space to feel what is present, to meet experience with kindness, and to allow agency and trust to return in their own time.

Today, I walk alongside women navigating life transitions, loss, or trauma. Perhaps this is a time of transition for you β€” a time of reconnecting with yourself. You may be wondering how, or where, to begin. In our work together, mindfulness, somatic practices, and trauma-informed science offer supportive resources β€” helping the nervous system settle and soften, and making room to find your way, at your own pace, in your own time.

The gift of healing trauma is that the woundedness becomes a gateway to freedom, healing and love.”

β€” Tara Brach

Art by, Vicky Alvarez