Welcome🏡

Through my recovery from trauma, and in a season of post-traumatic growth, I came to understand the healing impact of blending mindful awareness with the science of healing. These two frameworks became medicine for my nervous system.

I learned how my brain and nervous system worked, and how to softly be with whatever life was asking of me — the darkness of grief, shame, sadness, and anger, and the light of happiness, joy, gratitude, and hope.

In the words of Rabbi Alan Lew, a dear teacher of blessed memory:

“This is real, and you are completely unprepared.”

These words are the title of his book, This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared: The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation. The Days of Awe — the time between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur — are a journey of transformation in the Jewish tradition.

Six years ago, my traumatic brain injury was my moment of encountering a reality I had never imagined and for which I had no preparation. In the years of healing and recovery that followed, I gradually developed more capacity — more inner space — to understand parts of my story that had not been available to me before.

One of the most healing realizations was learning that two truths could both exist together. I had good and loving parents, and my nervous system also carried wounds that I quietly carried. Understanding both became important during this period of healing and post-traumatic growth.

Over the years that followed, I relearned how to walk, reclaimed my relationship with my body, and reconnected with my wholeness.

The Journey

Trauma can disconnect us from ourselves. Integration reconnects us.

Along the way, I encountered several maps that helped me make sense of my experience and gently find my way home.

My trauma recovery began long before I had words for what I was experiencing. Several decades ago, I had the opportunity to meet Jon Kabat-Zinn and was introduced to mindfulness. Over time, contemplative practice became an important part of my life.

I came to understand how mindfulness can be offered in a trauma-informed way, to avoid overwhelm or re-traumatization.

Later, the emerging fields of Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) and Polyvagal Theory gave me new ways of understanding the brain, the nervous system, relationships, growth and healing.

One of the maps that shaped my healing came through Dr. Dan Siegel's work on secure attachment.

One of the First Maps

The 4 S’s became one of the first maps that helped me understand my own healing. Dr. Dan Siegel describes the 4 S’s of secure attachment as Safe, Seen, Soothed, and Secure.

I came to experience the 4 S’s as more than a framework for understanding attachment. I often think of them as the water and nutrients that nourish the soil of well-being.

Dr. Richard Davidson reminds us that well-being is not something we either have or don’t have. It is a set of skills that can be learned and cultivated — including awareness, connection, insight, and purpose.

The 4 S’s gave me a map for beginning to understand how these capacities can take shape, be felt within us, and be lived in relationship with others and the world around us.

Safe
Receiving enough safety for the nervous system to softly expand its capacity to soothe and settle.

Seen
Experiencing that my inner sea of sensations, emotions, and thoughts could be recognized and understood.

Soothed
Experiencing that strong emotions could be met with kindness and softly soothed.

Secure
Gradually experiencing that healing, connection, and belonging were possible.

My diagnosis of breast cancer opened another doorway. Amid uncertainty, I began to understand more deeply how attachment wounds, fear, grief, resilience, and the nervous system were woven together.

Through contemplative practice and coming to know my own nervous system, I began to understand how it had adapted to protect me — and how those same protective patterns could soften and change.

Over time, I discovered that growth and healing were held within many containers: mindful awareness, Interpersonal Neurobiology, contemplative practice, relationship, and the wisdom of my Jewish tradition.

Each offered me another way of understanding myself.

Each became part of my growth and healing.

The years of repair and recovery deepened my understanding of practices and teachings that had accompanied me for decades. Over time, my lived experience of recovery began to connect the many years of teaching, contemplative practice, and study that came before it. Finding My Way Home grew from that meeting place.

Finding My Way Home

How This May Relate to You

You may have arrived here during a time of change — through trauma, illness, loss, or a major life transition.

Perhaps you are wondering if there might be ways to feel more settled, more at ease.

Everything I offer is trauma-informed. Each practice is shared with care to avoid overwhelm or re-traumatization.

As the nervous system begins to settle, something tender becomes possible — a quiet returning to ourselves.

🌱 I invite you to begin with a free conversation. It's a relaxed half hour for us to meet, for you to ask any questions you have, and to see whether working together feels like a fit. There's nothing to prepare and no obligation.