Growing Capacity for Living with Change ~ Awakening Self Healing through Connection ~ In Service to Community and the Greater Earth Body
Somatic Resiliency for Awakening Agency, Healing and Capacity Building
For new clients: After scheduling your first session using the online scheduler, please follow this link to New Client Intake Form
“I’ve done a great deal of healing since the death of my husband 3 years ago. While sharing my story was definitely part of the process, the healing now looks like releasing what is stuck in my body through SE Touch work with Kari. Through her loving presence and intuitive, gentle touch Kari provides the support my body needs to remember how to release and heal. Our work together has helped reset my nervous system after years of being in fight or flight, improved my sleep, and helped me realize a greater sense of general well-being and vitality. I’m so grateful to Kari for sharing her gifts and highly recommend her as a practitioner.” ~Donna Helete, Grief Coach and Board President for Outside Now
Liberation from trauma is possible. There are so many ways that our body’s natural healing and recovery impulses are interrupted along our life journey. AND, the human body is incredibly resilient. We can see this in how so many continue living very productive and fulfilling lives given personal histories of abuse, dislocation, tragedy and despair. It turns out we can wake our body up from states of freeze and paralysis and also bring a sense of regulation to body’s that are stuck in the roller coaster ride of high highs and low lows. Rooted in the observation of wild animals, there is a growing body of experiential knowledge and empirical evidence that human nervous systems respond with regulatory health and balance if given the proper container of support and guidance. Somatic Resiliency Sessions provide a sound container of support and guidance incorporating the Somatic Experiencing® method along with practices in embodiment, nature connection, ritual and creative attunement. You will leave each session with tangible practices to implement in between sessions to support real and lasting change towards your wellness goals and intentions.
What is Somatic Experiencing®?
The Somatic Experiencing® method (SE®), developed by Dr. Peter Levine, is a potent psychobiological method for resolving trauma symptoms and relieving chronic stress. It resets the nervous system, restores inner balance, enhances resilience to stress, and increases people’s vitality, equanimity, and capacity to actively engage in life. The SE® approach can also release traumatic shock, which is key to transforming PTSD and the wounds of emotional and early developmental attachment trauma.
What is a typical Somatic Resiliency session like?
The Somatic Experiencing® trauma resolution method does not require a re-telling or re-living of the traumatic event, although sometimes we will go into content around the event or during the event so that your system can feel some activation. You may not have recollection of any particular traumatic event and be experiencing symptoms of acute or chronic nervous system dis-regulation. In such cases, we will simply begin with what you are experiencing and that will be our doorway into our work together. SE® offers the opportunity to engage, complete, and resolve, in a slow supported way, the body’s instinctual fight, flight and freeze responses. When appropriate, SE® touch will be used, to support and facilitate the release of trauma throughout the body. Inspired by your own experiences in our session work, I will reflect back to you some educational information of what just happened to help you in your sense making and understanding. Embodiment and nature connection practices may be offered to support your integration of the work you do in our sessions. If you are looking to deepen the spiritual aspect of the healing work you are doing, when appropriate and desired, simple elemental rituals (non-religious specific) may be offered as suggestions to further support your goals. Often times, if we are working together over a longer period of time, a renewed sense of agency and empowerment grows and naturally, there is a shift into what I call ‘creative attunement’ support, and if desired, sessions become more focused on supporting you bringing your creativity and gifts into the world.
What if I live out of the area?
Somatic Resiliency sessions can be done online. I use Zoom for distant sessions and have worked with clients effectively this way. Please schedule your appointment using the Zoom Room Online Somatic Resiliency Session option on the scheduler.
What kind of trauma can SE® treat?
Somatic Experiencing® can effectively treat developmental traumas (such as childhood neglect and abuse and ongoing medical and/or physical issues) and shock traumas (such as motor vehicle accidents, assaults, operations and falls).
What are some common symptoms that may indicate unresolved trauma?
anxiety, phobias, excessive thinking/worrying, and panic attacks
depression, quick mood swings, feeling stuck or lethargic, chronic fatigue
sleep disturbance, digestion problems, difficulty making decisions
isolating or avoidance behaviors, shyness, shame
attraction to extreme sports, dangerous situations
being extra sensitive to sound, light, touch, or transitions
emotional triggers, chronic physical illness, startle response, feeling jumpy, social anxiety, outbursts, or addictive behavior
Some results you may experience from our work together:
Feeling more calm, safe and supported in the world
A felt sense of internal resource, clarity and general ease in the body
Less anxiety, irritability, frustration, anger or other emotional triggers
More stress resilience - the ability of the nervous system to regulate in situations that in the past may have caused a fight, flight or freeze response.
Improved Sleep
More comfort with social engagement - improvement in the quality of relationships
An overall experience of being more PRESENT.
How long will our work together take?
The length of time and number of sessions will depend on several factors, including the severity and duration of the trauma(s) and the degree to which the trauma has effected the nervous system (whether you recall a specific event associated with your symptoms or not). It will also depend on your personal health and wellness goals. We will be in dialogue about this in our initial consultation session and will assess our progress throughout our time working together.
If you have specific questions for Kari, please send a message here:
Schedule a Session
NEW Cancellation Policy: 48 hour notice required for cancelling an appointment. If you do not cancel within 48 hours of the scheduled session time, the full session fee will be charged, with the exception of emergency situations.
Kari Stettler and Somatic Resiliency offerings reside on the stolen lands from the ancestral and current inhabitants of Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo tribal nations. These communities, currently represented by but not limited to, The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, who have called this place home for hundreds of generations before European and other mixed race settlers arrived, are the original and current human stewards of these dynamic ecologies. The diverse landscapes of this region which provide an abundance of food, medicine and textiles from which I benefit is an ongoing legacy from generations of their tending. Wherever you are reading this from, I invite you to take a moment, reflect on the Indigenous peoples of the place you call home. How can you learn more about them, their culture, their stories of past and present, and most importantly, what can you do to support local Indigenous led organizations, projects and movements? If you are living in or around the “Bay Area of California”, there is a list on the Allyship page of local Indigenous-led organizations and projects you can consider researching and supporting.