Embodied Leadership Development
Supporting the people carrying the work of change
Organizations & groups wanting to be proactive, and take collective responsibility for tending to the impacts of collective trauma in the polycrisis - not leaving individuals to figure out how to push through the daily stress. You want the work to embody the values that guide it. Your work is essential, and you want to cultivate greater capacity for sustaining it with integrity and resilience.
❋ Who is this for?
❋ What kinds of challenges does it address?
Collective trauma and compounding crises leave many organizations struggling with overwhelm, burnout, shorter fuses, decreased capacity for conflict & collaboration, and less collective access to our relational capacities, creativity and agency.
❋ What’s unique about this approach?
Politicized somatic work honors the brilliant wisdom in all the ways our bodies have learned to survive both individual and collective traumas. We normalize and honor these embodied strategies rather than shaming or trying to control them. By bringing greater awareness and attunement to these survival strategies, we can learn to meet the underlying needs, practicing pathways back to center - from which we have greater access to our power, to connection, and to choice.
I can work with groups in shorter and longer term ways, and sometimes I will collaborate with a co-facilitator of color as well, depending on the group’s demographics and what’s needed.
Foundational Workshops
Interactive introductions to embodiment, nervous-system literacy, stress responses, capacity, and practical embodied tools.
3 Hour Intro, Half-Day or Full-Day Retreat
Staff Capacity-Building Series
Multi-session experiences that give staff space to learn, practice and integrate the work over time, building more sustainable ways of navigating demanding work.
5-8 Monthly (two hours) Sessions, Multiple Half-Day Sessions over a year
Embodied Learning for Leaders
Deeper learning for leaders focused on getting to know our own embodied patterns, cultivating capacity for navigating tension, and practicing pathways back to center, connection, and choice - even under pressure.
Multi-Session Series, Half-Day or Full-Day Leadership Retreat
What does it look like?
What happens in me when I feel threatened, overwhelmed, or uncertain?
How does stress affect the way I lead, communicate, listen, and collaborate?
How can I stay present in difficult conversations without shutting down or becoming reactive?
How do I recognize my limits before reaching burnout?
What helps me return to greater steadiness, connection, and choice?
How do power, oppression, privilege, and organizational culture shape our embodied experiences?
❋ Participants explore questions like:
“I am so grateful for this learning! The helped me confront my own embodied patterns in a way that allowed me to continually work with them and find a way forward. But the applicability of the somatic practice extends far beyond that. Learning to pay attention to my own embodied reactions to the world has allowed me to become more intentional in my actions and relationships, and has impacted my life as a leader, a parent, and a partner. Rachel herself brings a spirit of calm and joy to this work that makes it not only good to do, but enjoyable. Anyone could benefit from exploring these practices with Rachel.”