Our Journey Matters
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When you stop to reflect on all that you've experienced in your life so far, do you ever have the feeling of having been guided? I'm talking about those moments in the past when you have felt lost, or when you struggled to feel a solid path underneath your feet. In hindsight, can you sometimes catch a glimpse into the magic that supported you through it all? What once seemed like a chance encounter or a random experience can sometimes begin to take on new meaning. Our memories can even start to feel like a string of pebbles along our path guiding us where we are today.
This has certainly been my experience. Even for things that once felt like missteps, I can now clearly see how those experiences helped to shape who I am today, and the work that I feel deeply called to do. While I promise not to go into every detail, I'd love to share some of that journey with you...
I joined the military at the age of 17 right out of high school and served one term in the U.S. Air Force. During that time, I chipped away at my bachelors degree in Psychology at Oakland University in Michigan, and later finished a Master’s degree and Ph.D. at Purdue University in the field of Marriage and Family Therapy. I then did my clinical internship in The Center for Family Intervention Science at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and later completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at The University of Michigan in the Center for Human Growth and Development.
But here's the important thing... What strikes me the most when reflecting on each of these experiences is that my area of interest in each setting never changed. It always stayed centered on the foundational concepts of emotion regulation and attachment. These concepts continue to form the backbone of my work to this day and can be summed up with a single observation:
Patterns of how we relate to ourselves become locked into our body and our breath, our posture and presence, and our thoughts and behaviors. In doing so, they become powerful drivers for how we navigate the world and relationships with others. More importantly, these are often the very patterns that many of us seek to heal!
When I emerged from those initial educational experiences, I truly thought I was all set to dive into a life-long academic career researching and studying attachment and emotion regulation. Isn't it interesting how, just when we think we have it all figured out, life throws curveballs that lead us to question things that we once thought we were certain about? This has happened to me more often than I'd like to admit. Time after time, life has taught me that it has other plans in store and that my illusion of control is in fact, just that... An illusion. Even after opening my therapy practice, I thought for sure that was it! I had found my thing! And while that was true, it would turn out to only be part of the story. One that a storm was about to alter...
We all encounter stormy chapters in our lives. At some point each of us come to experience the torrential downpour of trauma and loss, or get caught up in the swirling wind of tragic disappointment. After riding out more than one chapter like this, I found myself growing increasingly dissatisfied with the standard methods and tools we are trained as therapists to use. I emerged from each painful leg of my journey with an ever-deepening personal acknowledgement...
Sometimes our deepest healing can only occur when we are fully supported in learning how to cultivate a deeply attuned, compassionate, and responsive relationship with our nervous system. Only then can we truly connect with ourself and others.
As I sat with that growing realization, I grew increasingly interested in the many beautiful tools and practices that exist to help us unlock and rewire painful and seemingly hardwired patterns in our nervous system. This eventually fueled a deep desire to weave some of those tools and practices into my work with clients.
Ultimately, that desire inspired me to become trained as a yoga instructor, and it later motivated me to obtain a Breathwork certification. To augment these, I then sought out a certification in the amazing and powerful modalities that fall under the heading of Somatic Attachment Therapy. Eventually, it became clear that the next step along this path was to obtain a Clini-Coach® certification, with the goal of applying the unique clinician-to-coach skillset to a very specific task...
That is, to weave together the very best of various mindfulness practices with other healing modalities in order to create unique and transformational services and programs for clients to heal their relationship with themselves, and in turn deepen their relationships with significant others.
My heart-filled intent for all of this was to curate a powerful healing experience for those who feel called to do this work. This is what The Rooted Revolution is all about! I am SO excited to now be able to offer these services and tools in a bigger and more expansive way, by creating the infrastructure to find and serve those who are seeking a deeply rooted and transformational experience.
As I write this today, I am struck with the humble acknowledgement that change remains a constant. Seasons continually shift and life definitely likes to keep us on our toes. However, with the tools that I have come to routinely utilize and implement in my own life, I feel more prepared than ever before for whatever might come my way. This work has given me a soft place to land and established a deep inner trust. It has taught me how to have my own back and to take the very best care of my nervous system. Not only in a general sense, but in a moment-to-moment deeply attuned and responsive way. With that comes a powerful sense of peace, security, and expansiveness... even in the midst of great unknown.
What I do know is that the road isn’t always easy. Each and every day I am struck by what a tremendous privilege it is to walk alongside my clients as they navigate this process in their individual lives and in their relationships. I'd be honored to walk alongside you on your journey as well. For now, I'll leave you with this...
You have access to far greater resource within you than you know. Security, inner safety, and deep authentic relationships are your birthright. They are available to you always and are ready for excavation when the time is right to dig in.
Be Rooted Well,
Your Rooted Relationship Coach
