My Body and My Work are at once Archive and Oracle
My approach moves like a river, drawing from chaplaincy, traditional medicine, psychological and somatic practices, and a trauma- and carnage-informed perspective. Each tradition informs, supports, challenges, and invites the others into further conversation.
Rooted in ritual and grounded in earth practices, in dialogue with Eastern and Western lineages, alongside neuroscience and in communion with the unseen, this approach tends to both the wounded personal psyche and the divided collective body.
As a mixed caste, queer, non-binary person, I am committed to the inseparability of personal liberation and kinship - in echo and in divergence. I am also committed to placing these lineages in dialogue so we may co-remember our wholeness.
Vajrayana (Tantra) Buddhist Chaplaincy
I am trained by Tulku Pema Khandro to teach shamatha (abiding in tranquility) meditation, and as a mindfulness teacher and mentor by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach.
I am currently in a seven-year Master’s Program in Tantra and Sutra in the Gelugpa tradition at FPMT’s Nalanda Monastery. Under Lama Tsultrim Allione, I am engaged in an eight-year study and practice program in the terma cycle of Dzinpa Rangdröl (“Natural Liberation of Clinging”), a Dzogchen treasure revealed by Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje, a yogic lineage that combines the teachings of Machig Labdrön with the Dzogchen methods of direct realization.
My chaplaincy path has included the Sati Center, Union Theological Seminary’s RISE program for Women of Color in Ministry, Year of the Black Woman with Dr. Pamela Ayo, Movement Chaplaincy with Faith Matters, and now the Vajrayana Spiritual Care Foundations program with Yangti Yoga.
I received a Woman Leader in Buddhism grant from the Frederick Lenz Foundation and was a Sacred Writes Fellow at Northeastern University, where I trained in making classical religious philosophy relevant to the contemporary world. I am a Commons Fellow at the Western States Center, training in the role of faith leaders in preserving democracy.
Trauma-Informed Somatic Approach
I work with trauma, particularly developmental, relational and cultural trauma.
Alongside conversation, I use experiential methods to reach layers of trauma that don’t always respond to traditional approaches. I hold certifications in Traumatic Stress Studies with Dr. Bessel van der Kolk and Polyvagal Theory with Dr. Stephen Porges. I am certified as a Coherence Coach with Dr. Bruce Ecker, working with the underlying emotional learnings held in memory (Memory Reconsolidation). I am trained in Integrated Attachment Therapy (Level 1), supporting repair of early relational wounds through inner child work and Ideal Parent Figures (IPF).
I have also studied and been mentored in Intersubjective Psychoanalysis since 2018, approaching it from a contemplative perspective that integrates awareness- and relational-based inquiry as a path to reclaiming wholeness.
I have completed a certificate in Sex Therapy (CIIS) and am a certified Somatic Psychedelic Facilitator and Psilocybin Facilitator (Naropa University).
I am certified as both an Ayurveda Counselor and a Tibetan Medicine (Sowa Rigpa) Counselor.
I am a certified Transforming Touch® practitioner, a virtual neurophysiological method developed by Dr. Stephen Terrell for early developmental trauma. I am currently in training with Dr. Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing Practitioner), Dr. Raja Selvam (Somatic Integral Psychology), and Kathy Kain (Somatic Regulation & Resilience). I am trained in Body-Mind Centering® with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, an approach that understands that every physical pattern carries its own mind and hence integrates movement and consciousness. I am also trained in Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment with Dr. Janina Fisher, which integrates Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy.
Systems-Informed Liberatory Practice
I am a certified Nonviolent Communication (NVC) teacher. My studies include Political Extimacy© (formerly Somatic Extimacy) with Dr. Kesha Fikes, which explores how trauma and transformation move through the body in collective, relational, and political contexts. From Aaron Johnson, the founder of Grief to Action, I am learning Touch Activism in which consensual, platonic touch is a site for healing intergenerational grief. I have trained in Somatic Abolitionism with Resmaa Menakem, centering the body’s role in racial trauma.