Writing facilitator, meditation instructor, psychotherapist.
Attention is a practice. Turning our attention to the heart of the heart of our experience - our grief, our sorrow, the denied or unmarked moments, experiences that have been cast out, cast away, the unspeakable, un-witnessed moments. And also joy, sweetness, connection and love, we often turn away from these too. We can bring curiosity and wonder to the usual habit loops of the mind and heart to see what is possible even amid our darkest of moments.
Through kind attentive presence there is the capacity to be close with ourselves and to begin to decipher long standing habit patterns, so we can enjoy more ease and intimacy in our lives. Working at the intersection of trauma-informed therapy, somatic practices, mindfulness, meditation and creative process, there is the possibility of insight, health, greater ease and joy. What might happen when we are close with ourselves, really intimate, when we can find a place to rest, right in the middle of everything? There is so much possibility.
Whether through therapy, meditation instruction, or writing immersions, my work is centered on softening into the tender places inside and creating new pathways and opportunities for meaningful loving. The central focus of my work is to offer explorations and curiosity that cultivates kind attention, compassion and discernment with what really matters to you. These include:
• inquiry that cultivates the capacity to be intimate and close with ourselves moment to moment
• explorations that invite spacious awareness, presence and clear seeing, that in the most difficult and challenging of moments can guide us skillfully with wisdom and open us into living with meaning and joy
• calming and finding safety in our nervous systems, developing habits for relaxation and a softening body, heart and mind.
“As a facilitator, Ellen conjures connectedness, intimacy, boundaried space and, above all, permission to access one’s creativity and bravery—and all of this via Zoom which seems impossible but is not with her steady and compassionate guidance. She teaches us how to witness ourselves and each other through the writing and listening process and in so doing, expands my sense of what’s possible.”