About Lauren
I'm Lauren, a Somatic Movement Therapist and Educator, Qigong teacher, mother, and founder of Berkana Somatic Wellness.
I offer virtual one-to-one somatic and embodiment sessions for adults, mothers, caregivers, and neurodivergent people across Canada, with limited in-person availability in Okotoks, Alberta.
I created Berkana for people who are tired of being told to push through, calm down, try harder, or fit themselves into systems that do not account for how their nervous system actually works.
I believe our bodies are not problems to solve. They are living, sensing, adapting parts of us that are continually responding to our experiences, relationships, environments, and demands.
My role is not to fix you or interpret your experience for you. I offer a steady, informed space where you can become more curious about what your body is communicating and explore what support may fit your life.
A personal connection
I understand this from the inside
I'm also AuDHD, and I understand what it can be like to anticipate everyone else's needs while losing touch with your own body and limits.
I know what it is like to carry a lot, to adapt constantly, and to feel like your own experience keeps getting moved to the bottom of the list. That lived experience shapes the way I work, though I do not assume it is identical to yours.
I approach each person with humility, curiosity, and respect for the many ways a nervous system can move through the world.
How I understand this work
I do not believe people need to be fixed, corrected, or taught to override themselves. Our experiences do not live in separate compartments. The brain, body, nervous system, movement, perception, relationships, environment, and lived history all influence one another.
I believe we can become more curious about our responses, understand the patterns that developed for good reasons, and create more room for capacity, agency, connection, boundaries, choice, and rest.
I want you to understand what we are doing and why we are doing it. I do not want to give you another technique to perform correctly without context. Education is woven into my sessions so you can develop a clearer understanding of your own responses rather than becoming dependent on someone else to interpret you.
There is no fixed protocol. We adapt the work to the person who actually shows up, not the person you think you are supposed to be.
01
Somatic and embodiment-based
We include your body, not just your thoughts.
02
Trauma-informed
We work at your pace, with choice and consent built in.
03
Respectful of different nervous systems
Your sensory needs, ways of communicating, and ways of being are welcome.
04
Practical
We connect the work to real daily life, not just what happens during a session.
What working with me may feel like
A space to be curious, not to perform
Sessions are not about doing things correctly. They are about becoming more familiar with your own experience.
We may explore how you respond to stress, change, sensory input, connection, relationships, boundaries, caregiving, and the demands of everyday life.
We may notice sensations, patterns, protective responses, movement habits, energy, capacity, or places where you feel disconnected from yourself.
You remain in charge of your participation. You can pause, change position, keep your eyes open, ask questions, decline an activity, or decide that something is not right for you. Nothing is done to you.
We may use
- Gentle movement and Clinical Somatic Exercises.
- Body awareness and interoception.
- Qigong, breath, and fascial awareness.
- Reflection and nervous-system education.
- Whole-body movement and somatic exploration.
Who I'm especially here for
People who are carrying more than most can see
- Adults who are carrying stress, overwhelm, difficult experiences, or too much responsibility for too long.
- Mothers and caregivers who spend much of their time managing needs, transitions, appointments, advocacy, and other people's emotions.
- People who feel disconnected from themselves, constantly on, shut down, braced, or unsure how to make room for their own needs.
- Practitioners, helpers, and educators who hold a lot for others and need a place to land themselves.
- People who are neurodivergent, highly sensitive, or supporting neurodivergent family members.
- Whether you're brand new to somatic work or have been doing the work for years, you're welcome exactly as you are.
What matters to me
Bodies are not problems
I do not believe our bodies need to be controlled into behaving better. Your responses make sense in the context of what your nervous system has experienced, learned, and adapted to.
No single right way
I do not believe there is one right way for a body or nervous system to function. Neurodivergent people do not need to be taught how to look more neurotypical.
Awareness creates choice
I believe awareness can create more choice. Education can reduce shame. Movement can become a way of listening rather than another demand to perform.
Collaborative and practical
Support should be collaborative, respectful, practical, and connected to the life you are actually living. It should not require you to perform calm or explain yourself perfectly.
My role is not to tell your body what it should need. It is to help you understand your experience well enough to begin hearing what your body may already be communicating.
Professional foundation
My education comes from both formal training and lived experience.
I completed an ISMETA-approved professional training program in somatic movement education and therapy through Homebody Healing Ltd. This provided a comprehensive foundation in somatic movement, Clinical Somatic Exercises, body awareness, experiential anatomy, sensory-motor experience, interoception, verbal guidance, embodied exploration, trauma-informed facilitation, consent-based practice, and the ethics of working with individuals and groups.
My professional foundation also includes nervous-system education, Qigong, fascial awareness, body-based practices, and whole-person education.
ISMETA-approved training programs are designed around professional standards for somatic movement education and therapy. The field is concerned with enhancing human function and body-mind integration, while recognizing that different somatic approaches have different educational and therapeutic emphases.
Credentials and ongoing education
- ISMETA-approved professional training in somatic movement education and therapy through Homebody Healing Ltd.
- Clinical Somatic Exercises and Education.
- Movement Therapy Practitioner Certification.
- Mindful Somatic Wellness: Embodied Trauma Skills for Caring Professionals, all three phases.
- Somatic EMDR Therapy Certificate through The Embody Lab.
- Trauma Through a Child's Eye Playshop with Maggie Kline and Conscious Connections.
- Currently completing the Beginning Level of Somatic Experiencing® training through Somatic Experiencing® International.
My Somatic EMDR education informs my trauma-informed understanding and body-based support. It does not mean that I provide EMDR psychotherapy or present myself as an EMDR therapist.
Qigong and embodied movement
Qigong is an important part of my personal and professional movement practice. It brings together gentle movement, breath, posture, rhythm, and focused awareness.
My qigong background includes training in Radiant Lotus Women's Qigong, developed by Daisy Lee. I am also continuing my qigong education through White Tiger Qigong, including study related to fascia, movement, and sports science.
In sessions, qigong may offer a way to explore groundedness, rhythm, breath, whole-body connection, and movement without force or performance. Practices are adapted to your body, preferences, energy, sensory experience, and capacity on the day.
These approaches are offered as educational and experiential practices. They are not presented as a replacement for medical care or regulated mental-health care.
Training details
I am currently completing the Beginning Level of Somatic Experiencing® training through Somatic Experiencing® International. SE, developed by Dr. Peter A. Levine, is a body-oriented approach to trauma and stress that emphasizes awareness, pacing, nervous-system responses, and choice.
My current Somatic Experiencing® training is continuing education within a larger professional pathway. I do not present myself as a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner or as having completed the full SE training. I integrate only what is appropriate to my current education, professional scope, and client needs.
Additional areas of study informing my practice include:
- Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB)
- Play Therapy
- Attachment theory and relational nervous-system work
Whole-person education
My approach is informed by a whole-person understanding of how the brain, body, nervous system, immune function, hormonal systems, movement, perception, relationships, and environment influence one another.
A meaningful part of my training explored the relationship between psychological experience, the nervous system, immune function, and the endocrine system. It helped me understand that stress and wellbeing are not only mental experiences.
In practice, this means I do not separate your body from your thoughts, emotions, relationships, environment, sensory experience, or lived history. We consider the whole context while staying grounded in what you are noticing and what is useful for your life.
Beyond credentials, I bring the knowing that comes from walking this path myself. I understand what it is like to feel disconnected, overwhelmed, and like you are failing the people you love most, and I also know the relief that comes from learning you do not have to carry it all alone.
Scope of support
My work may include somatic and movement practices, Clinical Somatic Exercises, Somatic Coaching, nervous-system education, body-based support depending on your needs, goals, and the scope of support that is appropriate.
One-to-one sessions are not emergency support or crisis care. They are not a replacement for medical care or mental-health services that require a regulated provider. If another type of support would be more appropriate, I will say so openly.
For virtual sessions, we discuss privacy, technology, consent, and the limitations of online work before beginning. I include informed consent and reasonable safeguards for privacy and confidentiality in virtual sessions.
Why Berkana
A name rooted in growth and becoming
For me, Berkana represents growth, new beginnings, and the nurturing of what is becoming. It felt like the right name for a practice built around the belief that people are already whole, and that support is about creating more room, not more pressure.
I wanted to create a space that does not ask you to arrive already healed, already calm, or already knowing what you need. A space where the process of becoming more familiar with yourself is the work, not a prerequisite for it.
You are not a problem to be solved.
You do not need to arrive with the right words, a perfect goal, or a complete understanding of what is happening.
You can begin with what is present. Together, we can become curious about your experience, build understanding, and explore what kinds of support may fit your body, your nervous system, and your life.
You are a whole person deserving of support, understanding, and choice.
Begin when you are ready
However you arrive, you are welcome here.Lauren
