Join the Trauma Research Foundation on a transformative journey to bring the wisdom of The Body Keeps the Score to life in a free online webinar series.
Every Body is Welcome
The only way we can change the way we feel is by becoming aware of our inner experience and learning to befriend what’s going on inside.
— Bessel van der Kolk, MD
This series offers more than passive learning about the connection between the body and mind. It is an invitation to reconnect with parts of yourself that may have been set aside and embrace a more curious and connected you. We have created a safe space to move, to explore, to discover.
That space is Integrate: A Mind-Body Practice for Working Through Trauma. Each month, we host free virtual, mind-body sessions led by experts in trauma and movement.
Whether you support others working through trauma or focus on healing your own, there is something for everyone. Practice during the session then walk away with easy-to-implement tools for whenever you need them.
Come as you are. Stay to discover who you were meant to be.
Next Session
Curious? Please join us in exploring, playing, and moving – to the extent that works for you. We look forward to seeing you here!
Shifting Out of Criticism and Control: Using IFS to Cultivate Self-Led Relationships with Food and the Body
with Jeanne Catanzaro
- Thursday, April 23, 2026
- 12:00 - 1:15 PM Eastern Time
The way we relate to food and our bodies reflects the pain and trauma we’ve experienced and often still carry, frequently rooted in early relational and developmental experiences. Shame, fear, and feelings of worthlessness mobilize protective parts that drive us to criticize, control, or disconnect from our bodies, disrupting our innate capacity to sense, trust, and respond to what we genuinely want and need. Efforts to be compassionate or mindful around food and the body often backfire because unresolved wounds continue to register as a threat, and protective parts persist in strategies they believe are necessary to maintain safety and keep pain at bay.
In this 75-minute session, Jeanne Catanzaro will explore how Internal Family Systems (IFS) facilitates reconnection with core wisdom, or the Self, by helping participants befriend protective parts. Through guided meditations, participants will experience unblending from a protector and learn to recognize the felt difference between protector-led states and embodied Self energy.
Jeanne Catanzaro, PhD, is a clinical psychologist with more than thirty years of experience treating eating disorders, disordered eating, and trauma. She first trained in psychodynamic psychotherapy, Somatic Experiencing, and EMDR before discovering the Internal Family Systems model, which has since become the foundation of her clinical work.
Jeanne is the author of Unburdened Eating, an IFS-based approach to healing relationships with food and the body. She has also contributed several book chapters on IFS and eating issues. In addition to her clinical and writing work, Jeanne serves as Vice President and co-owner of the Internal Family Systems Institute, where she helps guide the growth and teaching of IFS worldwide.
www.jeannecatanzaro.com
Come as you are. No special clothing or tools needed for this session.
The 2026 Season
- April
Shifting Out of Criticism and Control: Using IFS to Cultivate Self-Led Relationships with Food and the Body
with Jeanne Catanzaro
- Thursday, April 23, 2026
- 12:00 - 1:15 PM Eastern Time
The way we relate to food and our bodies reflects the pain and trauma we’ve experienced and often still carry, frequently rooted in early relational and developmental experiences. Shame, fear, and feelings of worthlessness mobilize protective parts that drive us to criticize, control, or disconnect from our bodies, disrupting our innate capacity to sense, trust, and respond to what we genuinely want and need. Efforts to be compassionate or mindful around food and the body often backfire because unresolved wounds continue to register as a threat, and protective parts persist in strategies they believe are necessary to maintain safety and keep pain at bay.
In this 75-minute session, Jeanne Catanzaro will explore how Internal Family Systems (IFS) facilitates reconnection with core wisdom, or the Self, by helping participants befriend protective parts. Through guided meditations, participants will experience unblending from a protector and learn to recognize the felt difference between protector-led states and embodied Self energy.
Jeanne Catanzaro, PhD, is a clinical psychologist with more than thirty years of experience treating eating disorders, disordered eating, and trauma. She first trained in psychodynamic psychotherapy, Somatic Experiencing, and EMDR before discovering the Internal Family Systems model, which has since become the foundation of her clinical work.
Jeanne is the author of Unburdened Eating, an IFS-based approach to healing relationships with food and the body. She has also contributed several book chapters on IFS and eating issues. In addition to her clinical and writing work, Jeanne serves as Vice President and co-owner of the Internal Family Systems Institute, where she helps guide the growth and teaching of IFS worldwide.
- May
Unlocking Rest:
Brain-Body Strategies for Better Sleep
with Linda Thai
- Wednesday, May 20, 2026
- 1:00 - 2:00 PM Eastern Time
In this one-hour experiential workshop with Linda Thai, we will explore body-based strategies to support falling asleep and staying asleep through the night.
Drawing from somatic therapies and trauma-informed practice, Linda guides participants in gentle, accessible exercises that help calm the nervous system and release patterns of tension that interfere with rest.
This session offers practical tools you can integrate into your nightly routine, fostering a deeper relationship with rest and repair.
As Thomas Dekker says, Rest is the golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.
Linda Thai, LMSW ERYT-200 is a trauma therapist and educator who specializes in brain and body-based modalities for addressing complex developmental trauma. Linda has worked with thousands of people from all over the world to promote mindfulness, recover from trauma, and tend to grief as a means of self care. Linda’s work centers on healing with a special focus on the experiences of adult children of refugees and immigrants. Her teaching is infused with empathy, storytelling, humor, research, practical tools, applied knowledge, and experiential wisdom.
Linda has studied Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Somatic Experiencing, Depp Brain Re-orienting, Brainspotting, Internal Family Systems, Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment, Havening Touch, Transforming Touch, Flash Technique, and structural dissociation of the personality, and offers the Safe and Sound Protocol, yoga, and meditation within her practice.
Linda works on the traditional lands of the Dené Athabascan peoples of the Middle Tanana Valley (Fairbanks, Alaska) with those recovering from addiction and trauma. She is passionate about breaking the cycle of historical and intergenerational trauma at the individual and community levels.
- June
Making Our Bodies Safe Again:
Escaping the
Fear Feedback Loop
with Karden Rabin
- Wednesday, June 17, 2026
- 12:00 - 1:00 PM Eastern Time
Details coming soon!
Karden Rabin is a nervous system medicine practitioner and an expert in stress, trauma, and psychophysiological disorders. He co-founded Somia and created the HEAL program, which teaches individuals how to heal chronic pain and illness through nervous system regulation. He also co-authored The Secret Language of the Body, a book exploring the nervous system-centered approach to healing, endorsed by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk and set to be translated into 10 languages.
After enduring debilitating pain for over a decade, Karden found healing by connecting the psycho-emotional and neurological roots of chronic pain. As a thought leader and outspoken disruptor, he empowers individuals with the knowledge to heal themselves, having helped thousands to end their suffering.
Over the past decade, he has contributed to organizations such as The Wounded Warrior Project, Starbucks, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, and the Trauma Research Foundation. Karden runs a private practice in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, where he lives with his wife and their two daughters.
- January
Accessing Authentic Self
for
Embodied Healing
with Loch Kelly
- Wednesday, January 21, 2026
- 12:00 -1:00 PM Eastern Time
In this 60-minute session, Loch Kelly will guide participants through experiential practices to un-blend from our protective parts and access our Authentic Self, the most effective healer of trauma.
Rooted in the world’s wisdom traditions and Internal Family Systems (IFS) psychotherapy, the Authentic Self is already present within us. However, only a limited amount of psychological healing and growth can occur without recognizing and understanding the authentic self. For some individuals with complex trauma, protective mechanisms may prevent access to deeper dimensions of consciousness, leading to feelings of dissociation or lack of safety. We will explore ways to honor these protective parts as valuable allies, inviting them to soften so we can uncover the already awakened consciousness of our Self-Essence.
Professional ballerinas, athletes, and yoga teachers have remarked that during Loch’s “glimpses”, they experienced their bodies from within for the very first time. Loch will share his Effortless Mindfulness + IFS “glimpse by glimpse method” for accessing the authentic Self anytime, anywhere.
Loch Kelly, M.Div., LCSW, is an award-winning author, meditation teacher, psychotherapist, and the founder of the 501(c)(3) non-profit Effortless Mindfulness Institute. Loch’s meditation and wellness app, Mindful Glimpses, won the Best Meditation App of 2025 on YouTube.
Loch has co-taught workshops with IFS founder Dick Schwartz on Accessing Authentic Self for Healing. His highly effective online and in-person courses synthesize ancient wisdom practices, neuroscience, and contemporary psychology.
Loch has collaborated with neuroscientists at Yale, UPenn and NYU to study how awareness training enhances compassion and well-being.
Loch is known for his warm sense of humor and his guidance in healing trauma done by accessing our authentic Self, which is already inherent within each of us. He teaches an advanced, yet simple map, methods and markers of how to live an embodied life of joy and compassion.
- February
Find Your Own Voice
to Help Others
Do the Same
with Bea Palya
- Thursday, February 12, 2026
- 1:00 - 2:15 PM Eastern Time
In this 75-minute interactive workshop, you will deeply explore what it means to “find your own voice,” both symbolically and physically. You will discover tools to reconnect your sound to your body, empowering you to:
– Heighten your presence
– Build trust and hold space
– Enhance your connection with yourself and your clients
– Engage effortlessly with your audience
– Authentically express yourself and listen more deeply in conversations
We will utilize vocalization techniques, visualization, energy work, playful voice games, and beautiful, simple melodies to warm up and strengthen our voices. These practical “voice-and-body” tools can easily be integrated into your daily routine, helping you ground yourself and your clients. Together, we will explore how to use our voices to regulate emotions—easing stress, softening anger, alleviating fear and pain, or amplifying joy.
In the “Auditive Soul Hunting” process, we will harness our own sound to reclaim our natural power and integrity. By providing your audience with this diverse toolkit and cultivating deep self-regulation through your voice, you will embody what it means to lead them on a similar journey.
Get ready for a fun experience and a rich, melodical embrace!
Half-Gypsy from the edge of a tiny Hungarian village, I sang myself into Carnegie Hall. Hungarian folk songs are my musical “mother tongue,” alongside Romani (Gypsy), Jewish, and Bulgarian music. After 40 years of performing on the biggest stages of the world, and with the encouragement of my friend Dr. Gábor Máté, I became a transformational voice teacher, because the path to wholeness I know the best is VOICE, SOUND and SONG.
I developed a unique vocal method that blends deep inner work with voice training. I lead a year-long Hungarian program, Énekeld magad szabaddá (Sing Yourself to Freedom), along with international group programs, workshops, and one-on-one coaching. Over 3,000 students have already experienced life-changing transformation through this voice work, and my 500 songs have inspired hundreds of thousands more.
I help people to find their authentic voice – both in a metaphorical and in a physical sense. After a decade-long experience in teaching about the embodied voice, I am so convinced that our wounds can only be healed when our voice is deeply connected to our own body and when we are getting in touch with our inner truth.
My method is a deep voice-related inner journey. It includes vocalization techniques, energy work, visualization, and practical exercises to warm up, open, and free the physical voice. It also incorporates songwriting—embracing personal history and transforming it into one’s original song as a tool for growth and self-realization.
Through this work, voice is no longer just a way of speaking—it becomes a path of deep healing.
- March
Food Therapy: Use Cravings As A Somatic Compass To Discover Your Unmet Needs
with Luis Mojica
- Thursday, March 26, 2026
- 12:00 - 1:00 PM Eastern Time
In this 60-minute session, Luis Mojica will guide you through somatic exercises combined with nutritional wisdom to gain a deeper understanding of your body and its cravings in a more embodied way. Explore your unmet needs through the body’s sensations and why our food cravings, from kale to pizza, should be considered essential information from the body.
Food was the first thing to soothe us as infants; it’s one of the most important relationships we can have, yet it’s also the one most often out of balance. Luis will lead you through three practices that will support a more balanced relationship with food, yourself, and your nervous system.
Luis Mojica is a somatic educator, nutritionist, and founder of Holistic Life Navigation. The heart of his work connects nutrition and trauma recovery with a focus on the nervous system, which you can learn more about in his forthcoming book, Food Therapy, published by Hay House in April 2026.
The 2025 Season
- December
Developing Somatic Rapport: An Energetic Approach to Reclaiming the Body with Presence and Grace
with John Amaral
- Tuesday, December 16, 2025
- 12:00 -1:15 PM Eastern Time
Join Somatic Energy developer John Amaral DC for a 75-minute experiential session designed to help participants restore connection to the body in a gentle, embodied way. This guided process teaches how to meet regions of pain, disconnection, or numbness not with effort, but with presence.
Through breath, subtle movement, energetic awareness and self-touch, participants will learn how to transform “it” (a symptom or isolated part) back into “me”—utilizing the energy held in the region to support the integration. Ideal for clinicians seeking tools for personal regulation or somatic interventions they can adapt for trauma-informed care.
John Amaral is an energy practitioner, educator, and founder of Body Centered Leadership and Somatic Energy.
Originally trained as a chiropractor, John has 30 years of experience working with patients from over 50 countries. His clients include A-list celebrities, professional athletes, globally recognized influencers and thought-leaders. John’s approach combines somatic awareness-enhancing tools and practices with energetic bodywork to help clients heal injuries, reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, and reach and sustain new levels of energy, clarity, and fulfillment.
- April
Waking the Tiger: A Somatic Healing Journey Peter A Levine, PhD, Developer of Somatic Experiencing®
with Peter Levine
- Wednesday, April 16, 2025
- 2:00 -3:00 PM Eastern Time
Somatic Experiencing®(SE™), developed by Dr. Levine, is a naturalistic and neurobiological approach to the treatment of trauma and other stress related disorders. SE offers a framework to assess where a person is “stuck” in the fight, flight, fawn, freeze, or collapse responses and provides clinical tools to resolve these fixated physiological states. It offers practical skills appropriate to various healing and helping professions, including medical and mental health providers, first responders, educators, and more.
Trauma can come from many things like war and abuse, but it can also come from a difficult birth, an automobile accident, loss of a loved one, or even an invisible threat that stokes fear. These protective mechanisms can get stuck in the body and many become frozen in the past, unable to be fully present in the here and now, and unable to move forward in life with ease and joy. For some, traumatic experiences may lead to chronic fear, anxiety, and depression, as well as various physical symptoms, like chronic pain, IBS, etc.
During this unique program, through personal stories, guided exercises, and theory, Dr. Levine will teach us how the SE approach gently facilitates the release of thwarted survival energy bound in the body, thus addressing the root cause of trauma symptoms, allowing us to better manage stressful times without overload, burnout, or regretful transgressions.
- Define how trauma responses are a set of defensive bodily reactions meant to protect us and how they may present in a patient.
- Identify how trauma-based perceptions remain fundamentally unchanged until the internal experience of the body changes.
- Demonstrate various techniques to aid with nervous system regulation.
Peter A Levine, Ph.D., is the developer of Somatic Experiencing®, a naturalistic and neurobiological approach to healing trauma, which he has developed over the past 50 years. He holds a doctorate in Biophysics from UC Berkeley and a doctorate in Psychology from International University. He is the Founder and President of the Ergos Institute for Somatic Education, dedicated to Community Outreach and Post-Advanced Somatic Experiencing® Training, and the Founder and Advisor for Somatic Experiencing International. He has taught at the University of California, Berkeley; Mills College; Antioch University; the California Institute of Integral Studies; and the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute. His work has been taught to over 30,000 therapists in over 42 countries.
Dr. Levine is the author of several best-selling books on trauma, including Waking the Tiger, Healing Trauma (published in over 29 languages); In an Unspoken Voice, How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness; Trauma and Memory, Brain and Body in a Search for the Living Past; and An Autobiography of Trauma: A Healing Journey.
In recognition of his groundbreaking therapeutic works, Dr. Levine has received Lifetime Achievement awards from Psychotherapy Networker and from the US Association for Body-Oriented Psychotherapy, an honorary award as the Reiss-Davis Chair in Los Angeles for his lifetime contribution to infant and child psychiatry, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Training on Trauma and Attachment in Children (ATTACh) for “his lifelong commitment to healing children through research, education, and outreach.” He served as a Stress consultant for NASA in the early space shuttle development and has served on the American Psychological Association task force for responding to the trauma of large-scale disasters and ethnopolitical warfare. He is currently a Senior Fellow and consultant at The Meadows Addiction and Trauma Treatment Center in Wickenburg, Arizona, and continues to teach trauma healing workshops internationally.
- May
Embodied Awareness:
Integrating Rhythm and Sensation in Therapeutic Practice
with Licia Sky
- Friday, May 2, 2025
- 12:00 -1:00 PM Eastern Time
How we experience our bodies impacts how we process sensations and memories and heal from traumatic events. Verbally-oriented therapists may wonder how to introduce embodied awareness into work with clients. Join Licia Sky and learn to follow the rhythms—of breath, heartbeat, footsteps, vocal expression, gesture, and conversation—and come into synchrony—attunement, alignment, proximity, safety, engagement, meaning-making, and play. Explore practices that guide attention to nonverbal awareness of physical sensations, orientation, attraction, and our split-second impulses and unconscious choices about relevance and safety.
Licia Sky is a somatic educator, artist, singer-songwriter, integration specialist, and bodyworker who works with people impacted by trauma and guides mental health professionals to use mindful meditation in movement, theater exercises, writing, and voice as tools for attunement, healing, and connection. She is a regular instructor in trauma healing workshops at Cape Cod Institute, Ketamine Training Center, and Esalen. For the past decade, she has been teaching expanded awareness in workshops to clinicians and laypeople worldwide.
- June
Embodied Empowerment:
Trauma-Informed Yoga
for Every Day Resilience
with Julie Fernandez from Exhale to Inhale
- Thursday, June 26, 2025
- 1:00 - 2:00 PM Eastern Time
Trauma-informed yoga (TIY) is a somatic practice designed to support survivors of trauma by restoring agency, choice, and connection to the body. It also offers tools that providers and supporters can use to co-regulate and stay grounded while holding space for others.
In this experiential session, Exhale to Inhale Lead Trainer Julie Fernandez will introduce key principles of TIY and guide participants through 2–3 accessible, grounding tools to regulate the nervous system, reconnect with the body, and practice presence. These tools are designed for real-time application—whether you’re navigating your own experiences of stress or trauma, or supporting someone else.
This session is open to survivors, service providers, and anyone seeking body-based tools for resilience, empowerment, and healing.
Julie Fernandez is a somatic trauma recovery practitioner, embodiment guide, and educator. A first-generation Latina and survivor herself, Julie brings a grounded, compassionate presence rooted in lived experience and extensive training in Somatic Experiencing, Family Constellations, expressive movement therapies, and trauma-informed care. She serves as the Lead Trainer and Director of Curriculum Development and Mentorship at Exhale to Inhale, where she develops trauma-informed programs for survivors and professionals. Her work is grounded in a deep commitment to nervous system healing, embodiment, and liberation—especially for those who have been historically silenced or underserved. Julie also runs a private practice, Metta Healing Arts, where she guides clients through somatic integration and embodied healing.
- July
Hip Hop Therapy:
Cultivating Community
through Rhythm and Rhyme
with J.C. Hall, LCSW
- Tuesday, July 22, 2025
- 12:00 - 1:00 PM Eastern Time
In this highly interactive session, J.C. Hall, a Hip Hop artist and therapist, will guide us to embody the therapeutic rhythm of rapping and invite us to write our own songs. Hip Hop therapy (HHT) is a culturally relevant and engaging therapeutic approach that leverages the power of Hip Hop culture to promote mental health and well-being. HHT serves as a platform for self-expression, empowerment, and social connection. Hip Hop’s ability to resonate with individuals on a personal level, along with its themes of resilience, community, and social justice, makes it a powerful tool for addressing trauma.
This session promises to be fun, empowering, and inspirational.
If you’re interested in understanding the science behind Hip Hop Therapy, we invite you to explore J.C.’s previous sessions:
1 – TRF Tuesday – Therapeutic Applications of Hip Hop Series – Rhythm And Poetry (RAP): Session 6
We will call on volunteers from the Zoom audience to join us on screen and share their raps. Could that be you?
J.C. Hall, LCSW, EXAT is a Hip-Hop artist and clinical social worker who runs the Hip Hop Therapy Studio program at Mott Haven Community High School, a “second-chance” school in the South Bronx. In 2013, Hall assembled a professional recording studio in an old storage room to provide youth the opportunity to engage in the therapeutic process through writing, recording, producing and performing their own music. The origins of the program are chronicled in the award-winning short documentary Mott Haven, which showcases the efficacy of Hip-Hop therapy in addressing trauma and grief in the wake of a school tragedy.
After the passing of his friend and mentor, Dr. Edgar Tyson, the originator of Hip Hop therapy, Hall created hiphoptherapy.com to serve as a centralized resource for those interested in learning about its theory and application. Due to the impact of his work over the years, Hall won a national Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service Benefiting the New York Community in 2020, as well as the 2024 Psychotherapy Networker Vanguard Award. Most recently, he was selected as a 2024 winner of The David Prize, which celebrates New Yorkers with ideas for extraordinary change.
The videos below offer more information about J.C. and his work.
Mott Haven 24-minute documentary
Good Morning America Highlight
- August
Guided Visualizations
for
Trauma Healing
with Kathy Hayes-Bloch, LCSW
- Thursday, August 21, 2025
- 12:00 -1:00 PM Eastern Time
This highly experiential program will guide participants through visualizations and meditative practices that foster a healthy sense of safety, resilience, and well-being. Practices will be trauma-informed offerings. All are welcome.
Kathy Hayes-Bloch, MSW, LCSW, is a seasoned psychotherapist who has accompanied many people on their healing journeys over the past twenty years. Recognizing the limitations of traditional mindfulness and psychotherapy, she has developed unique guided visualizations that help people who are healing from trauma cultivate an enhanced sense of safety, well-being, and resilience.
She enjoys teaching meditation groups and workshops. Kathy works with individuals and groups in Connecticut and internationally.
- September
Healing Chronic Symptoms
with
Nervous System Medicine
with Karden Rabin
- Tuesday, September 16, 2025
- 12:00 -1:15 PM Eastern Time
This impactful session focuses on the critical link between trauma and physical health issues. Findings from the landmark Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) studies reveal that exposure to one or more forms of trauma during childhood significantly increases the risk of various health conditions, including chronic pain, cardiovascular disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, and addiction, among others.
Conventional and complementary medicine often addresses these “physical” issues in isolation. However, they frequently overlook the vital role that trauma plays and its ongoing negative effects on the nervous system, which is a primary factor contributing to these health problems.
Karden’s work centers on the intersection of trauma and disease, integrating therapies from various fields to address the physical manifestations of trauma.
In this session, you will learn about the core frameworks that explain how nervous system dysregulation contributes to chronic illness. You will explore the direct connection between trauma and physical disease processes, moving beyond disconnected care models. You will discover actionable steps for yourself and your clients while gaining an empowering new perspective on health and personal agency.
Karden Rabin is an expert in stress, trauma, and psychophysiology, specializing in nervous-system-related illnesses. He co-founded Somia and created the HEAL program, which teaches individuals how to heal chronic pain and illness through nervous system regulation. He also co-authored The Secret Language of the Body, a book exploring the nervous system-centered approach to healing, endorsed by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk and set to be translated into 10 languages.
After enduring debilitating pain for over a decade, Karden found healing by connecting the psycho-emotional and neurological roots of chronic pain. As a thought leader and outspoken disruptor, he empowers individuals with the knowledge to heal themselves, having helped thousands to end their suffering.
Over the past decade, he has contributed to organizations such as The Wounded Warrior Project, Starbucks, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, and the Trauma Research Foundation. Karden runs a private practice in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, where he lives with his wife, Gillian, and their daughters, Leia and Zelda.
- October
Reinhabiting our Bodies:
Finding Center
& Holding Contradictions
with Prentis Hemphill
- Thursday, October 23, 2025
- 12:00 -1:00 PM Eastern Time
Come join us for an engaging experience that explores how personal and societal conditions shape our bodies over time. Through guided practices, we will reconnect with our physical selves, sensations, and presence while embracing contradictions and staying connected to our center. This session is especially valuable in today’s polarized environment, promoting personal understanding.
Everyone is welcome to participate in this journey of self-discovery and connection.
Prentis Hemphill is a writer, an embodiment facilitator, political organizer and therapist. They are the Founder and Director of The Embodiment Institute and The Black Embodiment Initiative, and host of the podcast “Becoming the People.”
For the last ten years, Prentis has practiced and taught somatics in social movement organizations and offered embodied practice during moments of social unrest and organizational upheaval. They have taught embodied leadership with Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity and generative somatics and served as the Healing Justice Director of Black Lives Matter Global Network from 2016 to 2018. Their work and writing have appeared in the New York Times, the Huffington Post. They are a contributor to “You are Your Best Thing”, edited by Tarana Burke and Brene Brown, “Holding Change” by adrienne maree brown, and “The Politics of Trauma” by Staci Haines. They live on a small farm in North Carolina with their partner, child, and two dogs. Their debut book, “What it Takes to Heal,” was published in June 2024 through Penguin Random House.
- November
When The Body Says Yes: Embodied Pleasure
& Trauma Healing
Kai Cheng Thom
- Tuesday, November 18, 2025
- 12:00 -1:00 PM Eastern Time
In this gentle yet powerful session, somatics expert and intimacy educator Kai Cheng Thom will offer participants transformative frameworks and practices that unlock the potential of pleasure and joy for trauma healing.
Drawn from the lineage of somatic intimacy coaching and somatic sex education, this work is grounded in embodied consent and nervous system science.
Participants will leave with a somatically grounded understanding of how pleasure and healing are intrinsically connected, as well as techniques that can be immediately applied for growing empowered choice and voice, de-shaming pleasure, and cultivating joy in their own lives and in work with trauma recovery clients.
Kai Cheng Thom, MSW, MSc, Qualified Mediator, Certified Professional Jungian Life Coach, and Certified Somatic Sex Educator, is a coach, process facilitator, and mediator whose work focuses on the intersections of trauma healing, Transformative Justice, and social change.
A noted theorist and practitioner in conflict resolution, Kai Cheng has made significant contributions through her writing and teaching to the integration and application of conflict transformation, crisis intervention, and body-based trauma healing methods in an activist context.
Kai Cheng maintains a private practice as a one-on-one somatic coach, consultant, and group facilitator. She draws from extensive professional training in a wide variety of healing and wellness disciplines, including politicized somatics through the Strozzi and Generative Somatics lineages, depth psychology, Processwork, somatic sex education, clinical hypnotherapy, yoga nidra, and Thai massage. She has trained hundreds of embodiment and wellness professionals as Adjunct Faculty with the Institute for the Study of Somatic Sex Education and a Senior Teacher at The Embody Lab.
What if...
What if you gave yourself permission to know what you know and feel what you feel?
What if acknowledging your body’s messages opened the door to recovery?
What if there is something new to discover here?
Neuroscience tells us that those “what-ifs” are opportunities for true and long-lasting healing. Evidence shows that acknowledging our inner experience is key to self-acceptance. When combined with movement, the connection between mind, body, and brain can open pathways to new ways of being.
Integrate will help you get in touch with feelings, sensations, and thinking to recover the disconnection trauma creates.
