Transforming patterns or limiting beliefs is a process sometimes a natural unfolding that bears visible fruit and other times it is so gradual it can seem invisible. Is your transformation pathway like the butterfly or like a plants lifecycle?

I like to share this story about one of my own awakening pathways.

I had been setting an intention for some time that took many variations and iterations of the same meaning. It was an intention rooted in calling in more support and making life easier, more joyful and just simply more fun.

I had a release and re-wiring experience during a winter retreat. The next week I was called to take a different road to our early morning school drop-offs. It meant making a quick left turn on our usual morning route. We all loved driving this way not because it was faster though it seemed a lot faster but because it was more scenic and felt more direct and well, easier. So we started to drive this new pathway. But some mornings I just forgot to make the left turn and I found myself driving that same old boring pathway. Why? I was distracted, rushed and anxious about being on time. And I was in a pattern. Slowly as I began to consciously make this intention to drive our new route, it created a new pattern. Now I am used to making the left-turn every morning and it’s easy.

Focalizing and Somatic healing is a gentle and effective technique for creating new pathways and patterns in lives. It’s not about fixing or transforming. It is about becoming more present to our felt senses and creating space for our somatic awareness and our inner experience to guide us.

The container I build is rooted in self-guiding mindfulness and somatic awareness principles.

We begin by centering and gently exploring our sense of safety within ourselves. At every step, there is freedom—freedom to pause, to take more space, and to honor what feels right in the moment.

Rather than reactivating our systems by focusing on the issues we are having, the method of healing that I am trained in—Focalizing—orients sessions around an intention and what feels safe and supportive to the nervous system.

From this foundation, we allow the body’s innate intelligence to lead the way.

When we approach healing with this attunement and respect for the body’s natural wisdom, beautiful and even miraculous experiences unfold.

If you could sum up my work here it is to create more safe spaces for us to heal. Where all feelings are valid and held in a safe container. So we can soften and be comfortable to be truly who we are and designed to be.

* Certified Trauma-Informed

I am certified trauma-informed through the Focalizing Institute in NYC and integrate this potent method into my teaching and sessions.

Each of us carries a baseline of experiences that have shaped how our nervous system functions—patterns we’ve developed to survive in the world. This work gently get us in touch with those patterns, step by step.

We don’t dive straight to the core of our experiences; instead, we create a foundation of safety in every session. From this grounded place, we explore what is alive at the surface and invite awareness to what needs our care and attention. This method is very supportive for making decisions, recovering from stress and particularly ptsd and shocking events.

The focus of this work is not on finding cognitive answers but on filling our cup—being in a healthier relationships with ourselves. This is how we can cultivate our energy, vitality, and ease.

More about my certification and my coaching guidelines here:

More about my coaching methodology and The Focalizing Institute, Somatic Healing, and Embodiment:

Focalizing is a trauma-informed somatic healing method developed by Dr. Michael Picucci, PhD, to support healing from PTSD, trauma, and emotional wounds or what I call the “building blocks” that prevent us from living a life we love and inhibit us from embodying our essence of joy, vitality and authenticity. Drawing on over 30 years of experience in psychotherapy, addiction research, and trauma recovery, Dr. Picucci synthesized Focalizing from the insights of leading pioneers in the field, including:

• Dr. Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing)

• Dr. Eugene Gendlin (Focusing)

• Dr. Randolph Stone (Polarity Therapy)

This integrative approach offers a gentle, body-based path to healing that is uniquely reliant on an autentic self guided and self mastery approach and not just adopting another quick fix or self help technique.

The Focalizing Approach:

Unlike traditional “top-down” methods that begin with exploring trauma cognitively, Focalizing uses a “bottom-up” approach rooted in the body’s natural intelligence. Here’s how it works:

• Gentle Integration: We never start by revisiting a trauma directly. Instead, we approach healing by tuning into the present sensations in the body, exploring them in bite-sized, digestible ways.

• Safety First: Intention guides the process. If deep trauma arises naturally, it is met with informed consent, meaning there is a choice whether we have to go into the story, or an aspect of it and we can always choose not to, with gentle, loving awareness, ensuring the nervous system remains safe, connected and supported.

• Metabolization: This process allows us to metabolize emotions, sensations, and memories, transforming them into wisdom and strength. Trauma is not just what happened to us; it is our body’s living response, seeking to be seen, held, and integrated.

Why Focalizing is Effective for Trauma and Ptsd:

Focalizing is effective for trauma and PTSD because it works individually and directly with the body’s innate capacity for healing through the nervous system, rather than relying solely on cognitive processing.

Here’s why it works:

Regulates the Nervous System

Trauma often leaves the autonomic nervous system dysregulated, stuck in fight, flight, or freeze responses. Focalizing gently helps the nervous system return to balance, creating a sense of safety and calm.

Somatic Awareness

Trauma is stored in the body as somatic sensations or energy. Focalizing focuses on present-moment sensations, allowing this energy to move and release naturally without retraumatization.

Nonlinear Process

Unlike traditional talk therapy, Focalizing bypasses the need to recount traumatic events in detail. It creates space for healing by working with imagery, sensations, and intuitive awareness, which can access and release deep layers of trauma.

Neuroplasticity

Focalizing supports the formation of new neural pathways that reinforce feelings of safety, connection, and resilience. This rewiring helps interrupt patterns of hypervigilance and intrusive thoughts associated with PTSD.

Empowerment Through Intention

Setting a clear, positive intention at the start of a session directs the process toward growth and healing, helping individuals shift focus from what is “wrong” to what is possible.

Integration and Lasting Change

Focalizing encourages grounding and integrating shifts at a cellular level, leading to profound and lasting transformation. Over time, this promotes resilience and the ability to move forward with a renewed sense of safety and well-being.

How Focalizing can affect us on a cellular level:

Research shows that a successful Focalizing session can help the autonomic nervous system return to a more balanced and regulated state. This process not only affects the body’s biology but also reshapes neural pathways in the brain, reinforcing a sense of ease and stability. With the brain’s incredible capacity for plasticity, new pathways are continually formed to support this improved state. These shifts create profound, lasting changes, transforming us at a cellular level.

Birth Related Trauma

Focalizing is especially powerful for nuanced, deeply buried experiences such as birth trauma. These experiences often carry layers of grief, shame, or pain, but they also hold love, joy, and gratitude. Through Focalizing, we:

• Rewrite and integrate our personal stories.

• Discover light, strength, and resilience within our wounds.

• Embrace the natural cycle of transformation, rising from the ashes of our trauma like the phoenix.

This process honors the wisdom in our pain, showing us how it can become a source of growth and self-illumination.