Restoring your innate capacity to heal
Somatic Experiencing™ | Somatic Stress Release™ | Trauma-Informed Space Holding | Intentional Guided Breathwork | Polyvagal Theory | Somatic Parts Work
notice, meet, attune, heal, thrive
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notice, meet, attune, heal, thrive ⟡
Hi! I’m Lyss
& I’m a trauma-trained somatic practitioner and trauma-informed breathwork facilitator.
A bit about my story: After overworking myself for nearly a decade, I found myself burnt out, exhausted, extremely anxious, and struggling with chronic pain. Survival patterns, unprocessed emotions, and substances were running my life (which I discovered stemmed from childhood and generational trauma), leaving me disconnected from my power, agency, and body. I discovered somatic healing and breathwork in the depth of my pain, and found so much healing in these practices, which led me on an entirely new journey both personally and professionally.
Since leaving my corporate job in the health education industry and becoming certified in multiple body-based healing modalities, which I continue to train in, I’ve worked with clients from all over the world, and from many different walks of life, helping them re-remember their wholeness, holistically heal from trauma, chronic stress, and generational burdens, build nervous system capacity/resilience, and restore their vitality and agency to flow with life.
I’m trained in/currently training in Somatic Experiencing created by Dr. Peter Levine, Somatic Stress Release, Somatic Parts Work, Polyvagal Theory, and Titrated Breathwork Modalities. I also work closely with and help run somatic programs with leaders in the industry.
Healing happens through attunement—meeting ourselves exactly where we are, building more capacity to ride the natural expansions and contractions of life, being seen and held by a loving witness, and RECLAIMING our choice, agency, power, and life force.
TAILORED SERVICES
I specialize in and combine multiple modalities to provide the best support for my clients. I’m always learning and evolving.
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Somatic Experiencing is a gentle, body-based approach to healing trauma that focuses on the wisdom your body holds. When trauma occurs, the body can become “stuck” in cycles of stress or tension, unable to fully process through it and return to baseline. SE helps us tune into the physical sensations in our bodies, which allows us to gradually complete these cycles, restoring flexibility to the nervous system.
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Polyvagal Theory is a framework for understanding how our nervous system responds to danger and safety. It explains how our body shifts between states of safety, fight/flight, freeze, and shutdown, based on cues we receive from our environment, in our bodies, and between other people. By understanding these shifts, we can learn to regulate our nervous system, honor our survival responses, and gradually shift toward more safety and connection.
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Somatic Stress Release is a gentle, yet powerful technique that focuses on supporting the nervous system in completing unfinished stress responses, allowing us to restore balance and build capacity to navigate life’s challenges with more ease. We focus on small, intentional movements to prevent overwhelm.
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Somatic Parts Work is a compassionate, body-focused approach that helps us connect with the various parts of ourselves that hold trauma, fear, or unresolved emotions, as well as our joys and childlike energy. By tuning into these parts, we can begin to understand and integrate them with care, reparent them, access more play, and reclaim lost aspects of ourselves and build a stronger sense of wholeness.
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Trauma-Informed Breathwork is a gentle and empowering approach that uses the breath as a tool for healing and nervous system regulation. This practice is designed to honor where you are in your healing journey, providing a safe and supportive space for you to reconnect with your body’s natural rhythms. By cultivating awareness of the breath, we can shift stuck energy and gently guide the nervous system into a state of balance. Trauma-informed breathwork respects the body’s pace and ensures we move at a pace that feels safe, supportive, and sustainable, helping to build resilience and capacity for future challenges.
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Mind-Body Healing is an integrative approach that acknowledges the deep connection between our mind, body, and emotions. It recognizes that our body holds wisdom about our experiences, and that healing happens when we tune into the messages our body is sending. I often combine somatic techniques, mindfulness, cognitive processing, visualizations, and body awareness in sessions for a holistic experience.
When working at the level of the nervous system, it’s important to remember…
We are hardwired for survival, meaning our nervous system naturally looks for cues of danger over safety. And, equally intense cues of safety get less attention than intense cues of danger; we often miss the cues of safety that are available in and around us. The process of cultivating inner safety is unique to ALL of us; it’s about getting curious about what is possible for us, beyond the familiar, with guidance and support from an empathetic witness (trauma-trained practitioner).
Trauma = too much, too fast, too soon, or not getting enough of what we need for too long (i.e., unmet needs). Trauma leaves an imprint on our nervous system, body, and mind, keeping us stuck in patterns of survival, often from a young age.
Somatic work moves in the opposite direction; healing happens in slowness; by building awareness around our nervous system states, learning how to show (not tell) our body that safety is possible (now), and building the capacity—over time—to start working with activation, reparent our inner parts (‘inner child’), heal attachment wounds, and complete stress responses that didn’t get to complete in the past, helping to restore the innate flow and flexibility in our nervous systems.
Insights from my clients
