Training has given me tools,
practice has given me skills,
and life itself has given me tenderness.
Training has given me tools,
practice has given me skills, and life itself has given me tenderness.
All of this shapes how I hold space for you.
Here, you will find
the approach that guides my work,
and the commitments that keep it sacred.
Here, you will find the approach that guides my work, and the commitments that keep it sacred.
Belonging begins with choosing yourself.
MY APPROACH
The Roots of My Work
I came to this work seeking my own healing. The practices I found became not only my lifelines but also the pathways I now share with those I guide, frameworks that honor personal and collective healing.
A Turning Point
After a childhood braided with love, volatility, and silence, and a young adulthood marked by compliance and self-abandonment, a 2010 accident became a turning point. It set me on a path to explore somatic bodywork, healing circles, and intuitive art. These practices did more than heal me physically. They helped me release long-buried trauma and sparked a lifelong devotion to learning and sharing transformational practices.
(see more about my origin story below)
The Inner Realm
As my studies deepened, I began blending parts work with archetypes, a process I call Archetypal Parts Work. Through this, I discovered the Inner Realm, which revealed:
The Sacred Map of Belonging
Over time I realized that healing and harm do not occur in vacuums. Healing unfolds within a Sacred Map of Belonging — where self, community, earth, and spirit are inseparable, and ancestors walk beside us.Â
Harm, meanwhile, is shaped by the cultural and systemic forces that thrive on silence. Meeting trauma in these conditions requires deep care, which led me into anti-oppression studies and certification in Trauma Recovery Coaching. I am currently training as a Body Dreaming Facilitator, so that my work now weaves creativity, archetypes, somatics, and systemic awareness with greater depth and integrity.
Harm, meanwhile, is shaped by the cultural and systemic forces that thrive on silence. Meeting trauma in these conditions requires deep care, which led me into anti-oppression studies and certification in Trauma Recovery Coaching. I am currently training as a Body Dreaming Facilitator, so that my work now weaves creativity, archetypes, somatics, and systemic awareness with greater depth and integrity.
Today’s Offerings
Today, I continue to offer In Her Own Rite, a crown-and-scepter claiming retreat where women celebrate their sovereignty in sacred ceremony.
I also work with clients one-on-one through trauma-informed coaching, grounded in the Inner Realm and Sacred Map of Belonging frameworks, weaving deep listening, somatic awareness, and creative process to support recovery and self-leadership.
I am currently shaping two new curriculums:
Path of the Sacred Queen — an arts-based exploration of the Queen’s threefold nature: Sacred, Sovereign, and Significant, offering creative practices to help women embody their dignity, power, and purpose.
Journey to Sovereignty — a cohort-based process rooted in the Inner Realm, where we meet the Little One, the Queen’s Beast, and the Queen, and explore how their integration can release toxic shame and guide us into self-acceptance.
Journey to Sovereignty — a cohort-based process rooted in the Inner Realm, where we meet the Little One, the Queen’s Beast, and the Queen, and explore how their integration can release toxic shame and guide us into self-acceptance.
MY COMMITMENTS
These commitments ground my practice in integrity and care, so you know what to expect when we work together.
Lineage
and Respect
I honor the teachers who shaped me through compensation and attribution; and the Lisjan Ohlone peoples on whose unceded land I live and work, by paying a monthly Shuumi Land Tax to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust as an act of reciprocity.
Consent
and Choice
Your agency is central. You can pause, adapt, or opt out at any time. Your stories will be kept in confidence and only shared with consent. We move at the pace of your nervous system, not a curriculum.
Trauma-Informed Care
Safety comes first. If harm happens, we slow down, name it, and engage in a process of repair. I receive regular supervision from experienced trauma practitioners and engage in ongoing study to keep my practice accountable.
Access
and Equity
Sliding scale and scholarships are offered whenever possible. If cost is a concern, I’d love to talk about what’s possible for you. Please reach out HERE.
Justice and Accountability
I support community-based crisis responses over punitive systems. I continuously examine my biases through decolonizing frameworks and peer accountability.
Ongoing
Learning
I don’t claim perfection. My commitment is to keep listening, learning, and growing through your feedback, mentoring relationships, study, and spiritual practice.
I grew up in the San Francisco East Bay in a home where arroz con pollo simmered on the stove, grown-ups chain-smoked over heated card games, cousins tumbled underfoot, and my father played Latin boleros and Italian mazurkas late into the night. It was a world alive with food, laughter, and music braided with volatility, secrets, and unspoken wounds.
I was the one who noticed, felt deeply, and named what others wanted hidden. For that, I was dismissed and silenced, learning early that love could wound, that my sensitivity was a burden, and that my voice carried consequences.
As a young adult, I repeated the pattern, shrinking to fit and carrying burdens never mine to hold. My body broke under the strain of self-abandonment, pulling me into years of illness and financial instability. I stayed afloat through compliance, but at the cost of my spirit, until I no longer recognized myself.
Even in the unraveling, a thread remained—my connection to the sacred in nature, dreams, creativity, and faith.Â
Those lifelines whispered that something
more was possible, calling me to rise.
Rising meant facing hard truths. Yes, my power had been stripped from me in youth, but I had also learned to give it away for the illusion of belonging and safety. This was mine to own and to shift.
Rising was not a single act but a practice, daring to say “no” to harm and “yes” to thriving, each trembling choice a return to dignity, freedom, and belonging.
As a guide, this is where I meet you. As the one who felt and noticed. The one who laughed and danced. The one who lost and regained her voice.
I’ve had the privilege of sharing this work in a variety of ways including retreats, keynotes, publications, and nonprofit partnerships. These highlights reflect the breadth of spaces I’ve created and contributed to over the years.
These are some of the offerings I’ve created and led from the ground up, spaces born of my vision, frameworks, and facilitation.
“The most deeply touching, life-changing retreat!”
Lisa Palmer—Retreat Participant 2016, 2023
In Her Own Rite Retreat (2016, 2019, 2023)
Founder and Lead Facilitator of a crown-and-scepter-claiming retreat for women. Each gathering brought ~10 participants into archetypal healing, creative ritual, and sacred sisterhood.
Rise Up E-Course (2018)
A 30 day online course that gives women the space, support, and tools to identify their gifts, define their realm, and step into their Queendom. (Now part of The Path of the Sacred Queen, my forthcoming arts-based archetypal curriculum for feminine sovereignty.)
You Are Precious Workshop (2013)
Designed and facilitated a workshop for at-risk teen girls at the YMCAÂ blending art, and group reflection to nurture identity, self-esteem, and belonging.
Alongside my own signature offerings, I’ve had the honor of collaborating with nonprofits, schools, and colleagues to extend this work into new communities and contexts.
Soul Shoppe Programs (2019)
Facilitated 200+ interactive SEL workshops across 14 Bay Area schools, reaching ~8,000 K–8 students with trauma-informed practices in empathy and conflict resolution.
Crafting Love (Contributing Author, 2013) — Contributed the “Friend Valentine” practice, a creative ritual for cultivating connection and tenderness, featured in Minister Emeritus Maggie Oman Shannon’s book Crafting Love , which beautifully weaves together creativity and spirituality.
“I was mesmerized, entertained,
challenged, and impressed.”
Melody Ross — Founder, Brave Girls Club
Brave Girls Symposium (2018 ) — Keynote speaker for 400+ women, followed by a workshop session. My talk, Calling All Queens, invited women to step into self-leadership and become a blessing to their realms.Â
This work has taken many forms, but at its heart,
it has always been about the same thing: helping women come home to themselves.
With over two decades in creative leadership, I’ve sought out trainings that deepen my capacity to hold space with care. These highlights reflect how I’ve learned to weave safety, creativity, and depth into every space I guide.
(CTRC)Certified Trauma Recovery Coach (2023)
Certification in trauma neuroscience and the bio-psycho-social effects of trauma awarded by the International Association of Trauma Recovery Coaches. Gave me tools to recognize triggers, prevent retraumatization, and support recovery in one-on-one coaching.
BodyDreaming® Facilitator Training (in progress)
Multi-year training integrating Somatic Experiencing® with Jungian psychology. Focused on developmental trauma and cultivating self-regulation through the wisdom of the body and the symbols of the subconscious mind.
Expressive Arts Facilitation  — Harambee Arts, Nepal (2013)
Two-week immersion including survivor-led training and supervised facilitation in safe houses and orphanages. Strengthened my ability to adapt across cultures and guide creative healing practices with vulnerable populations.
Share what’s on your heart. I’ll hold it with care, devotion, and a little bit of 
magic. Just me, no mailing list.
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