Hi, I’m Kelsey.
I Trust the Body.
I love that bodies are imperfect. I love how they creak and grumble. The tightness across our shoulders, the aching in our chest, that acorn in our throat, these are forms of communication -- communication pulling us towards liberation.
I suspect you’re here because you’re ready to honor the wisdom of your body.
You may be here because you recognize a disconnect between your mind and body.
Maybe you sense your body is communicating with you but don’t know how to interpret its messages.
Maybe you simply want more balance and health in your life.
Maybe you’re in transition and would like the support of your body as you navigate change.
Maybe you feel the impacts of internalized white supremacy and patriarchy and are ready to reclaim aspects that have been lost.
Or maybe you’re ready for a shift that will support bringing more of who you really are into your work and personal life.
Whatever has brought you, if you’re struggling to connect to and follow the guidance your body, I’m glad you’re here. My life work is supporting women of color on this very journey.
My body and I have not always been friends. Like many women of color trained to adhere to white, patriarchal standards, my body was my adversary. Determined to present myself in a way that would meet others approval, I ignored anxiety and exhaustion to belong. I learned that being worthy meant not honoring the discomfort and insecurity I felt every day. I made myself smaller (literally and figuratively), put my needs last and prioritized leading with my brain.
I was anxious, depressed and unsure what I really wanted or who I really was.
All along though, my adversary, my body, was trying to guide me towards freedom.
Perhaps my story sounds familiar?
We all want to belong. We all want to feel seen and valued for who we really are. Though this is one of the features of our human condition, we live in a society that rejects difference and creates predetermined hierarchical boxes we’re expected to conform to. We’re shown that “worth” requires we find our place and thrive in this structure.
My formative years were spent surrounded by whiteness. I grew up in a white community -- a small suburb outside of Salt Lake City. My father is Black and my mother is white, and to my peers, I was “different.” My family also isn’t Mormon, a faith which centers family gatherings and community activity far beyond the Sunday service. I internalized my inability to fit in as something faulty within myself. I learned how to perform what I was “supposed to be” -- cheerful, friendly, smart, athletic.
I didn’t realize how disconnected from my body I was until I tried meditation. In my twenties, a friend introduced me to the practice of Shamatha meditation. In that first 5-minute session, and many sessions after, I was flooded with anxiety. I couldn’t place why or from what, and I got curious. I started to see how my anxiety had been with me for a looong time and, like a canary in a coal mine, indicated when something was “off.” I started listening to my body.
This pivotal experience led me to the study of somatics, learning more about the wisdom of my body, particularly abolitionist somatics, Pleasure Activism and InterPlay. The more I dropped below my head and followed my body, the more myself I felt. I learned how to not put my internalized oppression in the driver’s seat and gradually began to feel more equipped to make bolder decisions in my work and life.
Since learning how to trust my body’s wisdom I left my corporate job, started dancing every day, moved to the The Bay Area -- a place I always wanted to live, founded a meditation community in Oakland, co-launched a somatics series for artists and activists, published a viral article on the need for BIPoC only spaces, began teaching somatics in corporate and nonprofit spaces to BIPoC audiences, and started coaching women of color to connect to their body’s own liberatory wisdom.
Beliefs
Our Joy Is Our Compass
Following our joy reminds us of who we innately are. Basking in the sun, hugging someone you love, singing in the car – it’s the things that feel good, fill us up, and bring a smile or tear in recognition of life that reconnect us to our ourselves and ultimately to each other.
The Body Connects Us With Truth
The body is a source of profound wisdom. While our mind can talk us in or out of many different “realities,” the body never lies. When we connect to and honor what it knows, we can navigate our world with more clarity and confidence.
Ritual is Medicine
In western society even with more technologies than ever that could connect us, the opposite is true. So many are searching for meaning and feel adrift and alone. We have lost our connection to ritual. Personal and collective rituals help us place ourselves within a larger tapestry, grieve, celebrate and divine. They are essential to our bodies and the health of society.
Play Can Dismantle Oppression
Play creates opportunities to step outside of the social structures we’ve all learned to conform to. In play, no one is right, no one is wrong and (if you play with me) no one is in charge. We can relax, open and creatively experiment with new systems for relating, building and moving forward together.
You Are Worthy
Your presence on this planet is not a mistake. You have a gift that only you can offer to benefit others. Under systems of oppression too many of us have been silenced and question our worth. We can confront these societal forces by connecting with our body and learning to trust our inherent enoughness.
We Can Create a More Fair, Just and Inclusive Society
When womxn of color radiate unconditional confidence by connecting with our wholeness, we empower other marginalized bodies to do the same. It will be the voices of the marginalized many, those well familiar with the violence of the master’s tools, who will guide us towards the liberated society we long for.
I also believe…
in imperfection.
you are inherently enough.
in moving at the pace of the body.
vulnerability is strength.
in messy.
in not being productive.
in saying no.
everyone can dance.
in altars, incense and vision boards.
we are all unconditionally worthy.
our activism must also bring pleasure.
in a good night’s sleep.
there’s nothing wrong with being loud.
CREDENTIALS
I bring to my work certification as a Somatic Coach from the Strozzi Institute, Certification as an InterPlay Leader, more than 10 years of Meditation Practice and Certification as a Meditation Guide through Shambhala International, study in UnTraining and Karuna Training and a Master’s Degree in Magazine Publishing from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. More than this though, I offer warmth, authenticity, insight, and honesty to my clients.
A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT ME
I’m a Libra with a Gemini Rising Sign and a Scorpio Moon.
Numerology: 3
Enneagram: 3w4
I live in San Francisco with my partner and our rescue Pitbull/ Blue Heeler mix. These beings are the loves of my life. I was born in Huntington Beach, Calif. and my earliest photos feature me at or near a beach. Now living in a place, albeit a few hours north, where I can dip my toes back in the mighty Pacific feels like coming home.
