If you’re feeling stretched to your limit, you’ve come to the right place.
In this space, we grow your nervous system’s capacity, helping you feel more resourced and regulated from the inside out.
Here you’re invited to get in touch with your nervous system and practice body-based skills so you can navigate the stressors of life with greater presence and ease.
“Our sessions gave me space to notice what was working and what wasn’t—physically, emotionally, and logistically. Dara has a gentle but clear way of helping you hear yourself more deeply.” - A.W.
Hi! I'm Dara.
I am a certified Community Resiliency Model (CRM)® teacher and am currently at the intermediate level of Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner training. Underlying this, my practice and training has its foundation in a somatically-oriented Taoist meditation practice that I’ve been practicing for over 18 years.
My life path and career have been ever-evolving. Most recently I have worked as a nurse in the acute care setting specializing in behavioral health and medical-surgical nursing. While working as a nurse, I became a board-certified nurse coach. I weave together my training as a nurse, coach, and somatic facilitator into all of my offerings.
Prior to nursing and coaching, I have tended gardens, helped customers at a health food store, and taught English to international students. Read more about my journey
My approach to tending through somatic awareness
As a somatic guide and facilitator, I approach the journey into the body and nervous system with an abundance of care, caution, and gentleness. Tending starts with noticing and observing. Noticing the sensations present within your body is the first step. And then we become curious. Are the sensations pleasant? Neutral? Unpleasant?
We begin by focusing on pleasant and neutral sensations. You will be invited to stretch out your experience of these more comfortable sensations so that they have time to form an imprint on your nervous system. As you become familiar with these comfortable sensations and where you can feel them in your body, they become like a cushion or a buffer that can support you in moments of stress and discomfort. Cultivating these comfort zones within your body grows your nervous system’s capacity.
As your nervous system’s capacity grows, it becomes easier and more tolerable to engage with uncomfortable sensations and stressful moments in your daily life. In time, you may release stuck energies that hold old beliefs and patterns that no longer serve you. Releasing these energies also increases your nervous system’s capacity.
As your nervous system’s capacity grows, you will find that you can move through stressful times with greater ease and resilience.
What to expect in group events vs. individual sessions
During classes and group sessions, we focus on growing capacity as we cultivate pleasant and neutral sensations within your nervous system. Depending on the class, we incorporate skills and exercises that invite you to create internal and external resources, and explore movement and various forms of expression from an embodied perspective. We focus on skills and practices that you can easily incorporate into your daily life. There are frequent invitations to notice, reflect, and share within the group.
In 1:1 facilitated tending sessions, we combine coaching with somatic awareness to address and navigate active situations in your life. 1:1 sessions focus on capacity building through pleasant and neutral sensations. If any stuck/frozen energy is ready to be released, 1:1 sessions have the space to support this as well.