About Me

Hi! I’m Erika.

Thank you for being here. I’ll share a bit about myself so that you might know some of where I’m coming from. You are always welcome to ask more.

My own journey with embodiment started in my early adulthood as I was studying somatic movement forms and performing as a dancer. I began to notice that the more time I spent in a moving body, the more that symptoms of past traumas began to subside and the more I felt safe in my own skin.

Later I began working as a journalist and sitting at a computer all day. I lost connection with my body and my symptoms resurfaced. It was through somatic therapy that I was eventually able to find deeper healing.

I feel so lucky that I now get to accompany clients through this transformative work. I love witnessing the brilliance in each client’s body and the surprise and wonder as they discover its wisdom.

I received my master's degree in 2021 through the Somatic Psychology program at the California Institute of Integral Studies and I worked at a community mental health clinic before going into private practice. I have also trained in a range of somatic movement approaches including the Tamalpa Life/Art Process, Gaga, Body-Mind Centering, and Open Source Forms, and I have pursued continuing education in nervous system regulation for trauma and attachment with Linda Thai, Deb Dana, and Amber Elizabeth Gray. I spent a year living off-grid close to the land and this also deeply informs my work, as does my own ongoing healing journey.

I see healing and social transformation as two sides of the same coin. My therapeutic approach is shaped by my experience in racial justice movement work and by decolonial teachings rooted explicitly in love. I am grateful to learn from Prentis Hemphill, Resmaa Menakem, Marika Heinrichs, Pat McCabe (Weyakpa Najin Win), Martín Prechtel, and Bayo Akomolafe, among others. I am lucky to be supervised by Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner Smruti Desai and to be a member of Shelterwood Collective.

I identify as a white queer/pan femme woman with experience of disability. I am a daughter, sister, and auntie raised in a working class town among the rolling hills and oak trees of Bay Miwok land in California's East Bay. I am inspired by movement, mystery, the ocean, and the wild.