From the Inside Out, or FTIO

  • is a series of workshops that focus on the soma—the body—and the wisdom it holds.

  • Following the work of Carl Jung—active imagination and shadow work—and Richard Schwartz—Internal Family Systems techniques are used.

    • is designed to meet what is present in the moment as it arises.

  • is spending time exploring our inner landscape and getting to know parts of ourselves that might hold us back from what it is we truly want to do in our life.

  • may include listening to music, breathing exercises—pranayama—gentle movement

    • to fully ‘drop down into our bodies,’ tapping into our core and out of heady thoughts.

  • I offer writing or drawing prompts to help you guide your inner exploration toward finding your inner truth.

    • The prompts vary depending on the focus of the FITO workshop — see below.

  • We have both individual and group times. Participation in the group work is always encouraged, never mandatory.

Classes are either 4, 6, or 8 weeks long, lasting an hour and a half to two hours each week, and are held on Zoom. ‘Life-work’ (not homework) is offered as an option between sessions.

Participants Will Learn

  • about embodied or somatic writing

  • about: physiology, somatics, neurobiology, polyvagal theory, various breathing techniques

  • about psychology: active imagination and shadow, or parts work

  • self-compassionate ways to address inner distress

  • Indigenous ways of relating to Self and our Ancestors

Participants May Experience

  • inner awarenesses that reveal old stories that no longer help or keep you safe.

  • internal dialogue with these stories—or parts—of yourself you have yet to meet.

  • somatic shifts when these areas are noticed, paid attention to, and welcomed into relationship with the Higher Self—the Sacred Self—of your Being.

  • intellectual shifts when leaning into a re-storied version of yourself.

Past Workshops

  • From the Inside Out: Somatic Practices for Scholars and Integral Writers

  • From the Inside Out: Somatic Practices to Cultivate Self-Compassion

  • From the Inside Out: Somatic Practices to Re-Cognize the Divine Feminine — based on my doctoral research

What is Somatic Writing?

  • It’s an integral, embodied, imaginal, and creative approach to inner work and healing using writing—or drawing.

  • It is a means by which we can come to learn about ourselves and our inner archeology that includes the shadow-self that is most likely holding us back from doing and being in the world as fully as we can—and want—living our best life.

    • Put differently, it’s a way to restore and re-store the story we tell ourselves, and the world, about ourselves.

Through research into intergenerational or Ancestral trauma, I have come to understand that it perpetuates what is known as transhistorical epigenetic inheritance. Briefly, transhistorical means it crosses time, epigenetics is the stuff that changes our DNA also over time, and is something we inherit, whether we want it or know it. So, when we come from Ancestors who have had any sort of trauma, it all gets siphoned into body after body till it reaches our body. That trauma stays there (see for example: Levine, 1997, 2008; Porges, 2004, 2009; van der Kolk, 2000, 2014) until we do something about it. Somatic writing is one such way.

Somatic writing is a technique to ‘get us out of our heads’ and into our bodies—where that trauma is held—so that we might have a clearer understanding of what is holding us back from who we truly are and what we truly want to say. As such, somatic writing is a sacred practice—locating our truth and bringing it to fruition in the world. In essence, this work helps us to re-store our story by re-writing the story we tell ourselves about our Self.

I strive to co-create learning environments that are diverse, reciprocal, generative, and where all voices and opinions are encouraged, heard, and most importantly respected. Environments where we have the freedom, trust, and safety to ask difficult questions, where those questions are heard by the whole group, and attended to until they’re answered are generative, imaginative, and unpredictable—and perfect ground for the magic of ideas to emerge.

~From the Inside Out~