Heart-centered healing as a creative practice: —Louise Ma
Explorations in art, visuals, sound, movement, somatics, healing, trauma, awareness and heart-centered consciousness evolution.
Somatic Sessions In the tradition of Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychotherapy
How do you know when you feel connected and inspired? Or disconnected and stuck?
How do you know when you feel heard, seen and safe?
How do you know—not just as a thought, but in the cave of your heart, in the dark silent ground under you, or in the marrow of your bones?
For myself, this practice has reconnected me to the innate intelligence of my body, and has started restoring within me the felt sense of belonging, safety and wholeness that a life of abuse, trauma and confusion had estranged me from. It has been the steadfast anchor in the midst of a chaotic world—rapidly shifting relationships and disintegrating institutions, including the religious and social structures from which I once sought—and failed to find—the stability I yearned for.
Hakomi honors the inherent sovereignty, dignity and wisdom of the client. As a practitioner it is my privilege to elicit and invite forth the clarity and nourishment that already lives in each client's being, often reaching far back into the forgotten crevices of the ancestral line that animates our blood, bones and tissues. This is a work that simultaneously empowers and disarms.
From my heart, I offer this invitation to you to share this path together of nourishment, healing and Self-discovery, resourced by the deepest roots of our true being—the One who already knows the way because They are the way.
If you feel the call—as I did—connect with me today.
FAQ
- The Hakomi Method is a relational practice for both healing and spiritual inquiry, developed by Ron Kurtz in the 70s. It draws on the wisdom passed down from Buddhist and Taoist traditions. The name "Hakomi" is a Hopi word, which translates to "Who are you?" or more exactly, "Who are you in relation to the many realms?"
- In Hakomi, we work experientially, playfully and collaboratively. The practitioner embodies an attitude of curiosity and a loving presence in the relational space, while integrating other methods of healing and guidance.
- Hakomi operates within five core principles:
- Organicity: Organicity refers to the fact that complex living systems, such as human beings, are self-organizing and self-directing. This means that as practitioners, we can assume there is a life-positive, self-directing, self-healing energy and intelligence at work within the client. Our task is simply to create the setting, the emotional climate that facilitates this natural impulse towards health and towards remembering wholeness.
- Mindfulness: The principle of mindfulness refers to the understanding that real change comes about through awareness, not efforting. As practitioners, we trust that if we can assist clients into their present-moment somatic experience, then their own awareness will facilitate whatever change or next step needs to occur.
- Nonviolence: Nonviolence is being mindful of the principle and presence of organicity. It’s the recognition that there’s a natural way that life is unfolding, and aligning ourselves with this organic, intelligent process. As practitioners, this means we have no intentions or agendas of our own that we aren’t willing to abandon at once if they somehow conflict with what is emerging with the client. It means we support our clients’ so-called defenses (their “management behaviors”); we don’t offer advice or interpretations, and we don’t ask questions unless doing so serves the client.
- Body-Mind Holism: Holism refers to the complexity and interrelatedness of organic systems, including human beings with our minds and bodies, hearts and souls. It is what allows us to holographically read a person’s life story in their posture or tone of voice, to infer an entire childhood from a single memory, to suspect certain core, organizing beliefs from simple repetitive gestures or words.
- Unity: Unity reminds us of the interconnectedness of all things, of all life, of all events. It is holism on a universal scale. As practitioners, unity reminds us of the ever-bigger picture, of the fact that we are intimately connected to each other, and connected to our culture, our environment, our world.
- I welcome working with folks who:
- Are hungry and curious to study their limiting patterns, beliefs, behavior and experience at the somatic, felt-sense level of being... and beyond.
- Are hungry and curious to gain a greater understanding of the workings of their subtle and energy bodies, and deepen their relationship with their own instincts, intuition and felt sense of their world.
- Have or want to cultivate curiosity and self-compassion in the face of strong emotions, such as grief, rage, shame, guilt or fear.
- Have some experience (or at minimum an interest) in mindfulness and meditation.
- Have some experience (or at minimum an interest) in a healing/therapeutic container.
- Would be able and open to working with a licensed psychotherapist for more specialized and structured support, if needed.
- I would likely refer you out or respectfully decline working together if:
- We have an existing relationship as friends, teacher/student, classmates, etc.
- You are presently experiencing bipolar disorder, major depression, schizophrenia, and/or any other conditions requiring consistent psychiatric medication or treatment.
- You are presently experiencing grave crisis, including (but not limited to) suicidal ideation, and/or addiction to alcohol or controlled substances.
- Deepening the benefits of healing and therapy practices using awareness and mindfulness
- Building fluency with somatic and nervous system-level experiences and meaning
- Resourcing and stabilizing the nervous system through awareness, organic movement and sound
- Building resiliency and authentic boundaries for empaths and highly-sensitive folks
- Welcoming or re-connecting with pleasure, power and bliss after sexual wounding, especially for female-bodied or AFAB folks
- Support for peoples of underserved, underprivileged and marginalized communities
- Integrating and processing loss, disasters and endings of relationships
- Regaining perspective, sense of safety and personal power after spiritual or religious abuse
- Unpacking spiritual and Kundalini awakening symptoms
- We can start with a free 30min consultation over Zoom or phone to see if it feels aligned for us to work together.
- We can work together in as few as one single session, or a series over a period of weeks, months or years. This is decided by the client.
- Sessions are generally 50-75min in length, over Zoom.
- Longer sessions may be available depending on individual need.
- Sessions are currently offered at a sliding scale of $90-130.
- I may also have openings for financially challenged clients, or systemically underserved clients in need of further reduced cost sessions. Please contact me directly to inquire.
- Payment can be made through PayPal or Venmo @seebytouch, before the start of each session.
- Sessions are completely confidential.
- I offer recordings of sessions by request, which are stored and delivered in any way that feels secure for the client.
- Please give me at minimum 24 hours notice if you'd like to cancel or reschedule, thank you.
- If you'd like, you're welcome to view or fill out the intake form for new clients.
- You can also view the pointers I offer to new clients on how to prepare for a session.
About Louise
I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area—native Ohlone* land—as an only child and first-generation American of immigrant and refugee parents from Taiwan and China. From birth—and even prior—my family life was deeply chaotic and challenging.
I grew up with a passion and talent for drawing and visual art making, and went on to attend The Cooper Union School of Art in New York City, where I studied design and drawing. After graduating, I spent another decade in the city working as a designer, mostly for nonprofits and media companies like WNYC and The New York Times. Professionally I was reaching many of my goals, but something felt strangely amiss in the other areas of my life, and in the places within myself I couldn't quite name.
A devastating apartment fire in 2010, followed shortly by the ending of a significant relationship, was a major turning point for me. Synchronistic events in my waking life, and powerful messages from my dreaming life, catalyzed the start of my search for freedom, understanding and peace.
My journey has taken me in and out of several spiritual communities and practices, spanning the country, from 2012 to the present. This year, in 2024, I am once again landing back in my home state, deepening my roots to play in community—and the living waters within.
- Right Use of Power:
- Currently studying the ethical use of power in therapeutic relationship with Cedar Barstow of the Right Use of Power Institute
- Hakomi Mindful Somatic Practice:
- Certified in the Hakomi Method Sep 2024 by Shai Lavie and Mukara Meredith
- Assisted in the 2023-2024 ISITTA training
- Completed the one-year ISITTA Innate Somatic Intelligence™ Trauma Therapy Approach training Oct 2022-May 2023 with Manuela Mischke Reeds
- Completed the two-year Hakomi Comprehensive training Mar 2021-Dec 2022
- Receiving Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychotherapy since 2019
- Meditation:
- Medicine Buddha practice since Mar 2024 with Lama Rod Owens
- Somatic meditation since Mar 2024 in the lineage of Julie Murphy (Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche)
- Solitary meditation retreat Jun-Aug 2020 at Crestone Mountain Zen Center, Colorado
- Solitary meditation retreat July 2019 at Vajrapani Institute, California
- Non-Dual meditation and inquiry since 2018 in the lineages of Adyashanti, Craig Holliday (Sri Aurobindo) and Pamela Wilson (Ramana Maharshi)
- Vipassana and Zen meditation 2016-2018
- Movement and energetics:
- Craniosacral Therapy since 2024 at McKinnon Body Therapy Center
- Continuum Movement since 2023 with Susan Harper and Kori Tolbert
- Aikido since 2016 in the lineages of Kazuo Chiba Shihan, Robert Nadeau Shihan and Pascal Fromentin Sensei
- Qigong-informed vocal exploration since 2015 in the lineage of Samita Sinha and Parvathy Baul
- Qigong since 2012 in the lineages of Tina Zhang and Mukti
- Other healing arts:
- Received Non-Dual psychotherapy and EMDR 2018-2020
- Received Reiki attunement levels 1 and 2 2016-2017
- Received traditional talk therapy, mindful somatic coaching, Neuro-Linguistic Programming and hypnosis 2014-2015
- Worked with ceremonial psychedelics and plant medicine 2015-2017
- Completed the Book of Life Master Course 2016 with Alexander Dunlop
- Self-study in Western and Tropic Vedic Astrology since 1995
Testimonials
Get in touch
Or, book the free 30min intro call or regular 75min session directly on my Calendly.
If you'd like, you may also view or fill out the intake form for new clients.
My email is louise.ma.manlin@gmail.com.
Technically speaking, our bodies are not exactly ours. What we call a body is an open-ended expression of an ongoing universal process that is in constant flux, arranging, re-arranging, and experimenting as new formations come into existence. The continuum of life on land takes place within the galaxy and humans alike. —Emilie Conrad, Life on Land
*I am honored to pay Shuumi (donation) in the form of land tax to Sogorea Te' Land Trust, an urban Indigenous women-led community organization that returns Indigenous land to Indigenous hands.
Copyright © 2024 Louise Ma.
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