Holistic Mental Health
My Story
I grew up in the mystic gray of rainy Western Washington State, with parents who loved me and did their best. But there was a tear in the fabric of our family's suburban dream, and I was the canary in the coal mine.
The night terrors began when I was two. By six, I was depressed. As I got older, I began having graphic, violent nightmares. No amount of therapy made them stop.
What I didn't know back then was that I was processing my parents' unfelt pain. They were never taught how to feel, so they pushed away the pain - and it landed in me.
Using academic achievement and rigorous self-discipline (including meditation and yoga) to cover the pain, I became full-time faculty at Oregon State University by the time I was 26, teaching courses in German and German studies.
But at the height of my academic career, the depression came back. And I had nowhere left to run.
It was then, through therapy, that I had a shocking realization: Despite all my yoga, meditation, and journaling, I had no idea how to actually feel my feelings.
My whole life, I had been thinking about feeling rather than allowing raw emotion to move through my body. The truth was, that absolutely terrified me. I had been bracing against feeling my whole life. And it had left me depressed, disconnected from myself, and unable to form healthy relationships.
Many twists and turns later, including (deep breath here - this is a lot!) tons of talk and somatic therapy, teaching dance, getting certified in trauma-informed yoga and teaching it in inpatient psychiatric hospitals, attending (and dropping out of) grad school for counseling psychology, getting married, and birthing two daughters, I became a holistic mental health coach full-time.
For me, holistic means seeing the wider context. What we call "mental" health is truly much more. It is embodied, relational, ancestral, spiritual, political, and ecological. Becoming emotionally well means addressing all layers. My approach is deeply informed by teachers who work outside traditional Western psychology (see the Gratitude section below for specifics).
Teaching has always my passion. And now, I get to teach the skills that saved my life - how to move with and all the way through emotions with courage and radical self-compassion.
Gratitude
I want to honor some of the amazing teachers and mentors who have inspired and informed the work that I offer:
Thank you to Tara Brach, whose Radical Acceptance meditation retreat I took as a teenager revealed the work of my life.
Profound thanks to Dr. Rocio Rosales Meza, who initiated me onto the lifelong path of unlearning the colonial mind, and showed me the importance of leaning into our spiritual guidance and healed ancestors as we work towards liberation for all.
Deepest thanks to Malidoma Somé and Sobonfu Somé, who both opened my eyes to a different way of being human.
Heart gratitude to Melinda Kaur, my Holy Fire Reiki teacher, who taught me how to embody unconditional love as energy healing. And thank you to Mark Lilly, founder of Street Yoga, for teaching me the power of trauma-informed healing for those who need it most.
Thank you to Dr. La Tasha Levy for being my coach and guide through a deeper understanding of Black history and anti-racism.
Deep gratitude to Prentis Hemphill, Alok Vaid-Menon, adrienne maree brown, and Sonya Renee Taylor, whose work has opened a portal in my heart and has taught me that joy, pleasure, embodiment, and collective liberation happen together.
Thank you to all the clients and students who have sat with me, shared their most intimate joys and struggles, and taught me volumes about what it means to be human.
Profound thanks to my soul sisters–you know who you are–who hold and witness me with loving tenderness so big it brings me to tears, and who always lead me back to myself.
Last but absolutely not least, thank you to my greatest teachers and inspirations: My two young daughters, Gabriela and Isabel, and to my husband Carlos for the unwavering support and the lightness of soul that always brings me home to myself.
Love,
Catherine