about merreley
i'm a somanaut.
Props to Gil Hedley for the term "somanaut" as a way to describe someone who is dedicated to exploring inner space and the body. ​
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I have always been drawn to somatic and relational work and have spent the last 25+ years playing in the intersections of the body and psyche as a bodyworker, movement professional, certified coach, nature lover, mom and human.
the bullet point credentials:
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Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, SEP
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Somatic Practice: Touch Work For Trauma Therapists, Kathy Kain
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Dr. Ida Rolf Institute, Certified Rolfer
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Certified Co-active Coach, CPCC from Co-active Training Institute
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Certified Embodied Meditation Teacher through Realization Process, Judith Blackstone
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Certified MELT Method Instructor
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Certified Franklin Method Level 1 Instructor
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Certified SourcePoint Therapy Practitioner
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Licensed Massage Therapist
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Trained Birth Doula and apprenticed with a midwife for a couple years.
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Certified In Cranial Sacral Therapy
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Studied and practiced Yoga for many years
but more personally,
After becoming a mother, and while I was still in my marriage, I started doing group coaching with a women’s group, led by the woman who would eventually become my coaching mentor. I was in this group weekly for 10 years and it completely changed my inner space and, therefore, my experience of my life. I was stunned by the ability of good coaching to use just a few words to change my whole perspective of what was going on.
I was already a bodyworker at that time, and had my Rolfing practice. Rolfing gave me a deep appreciation for how our bodies hold, and in many ways determine, the way we experience our lives. As the years in my practice went by, I became more and more interested in the link between the body and the nervous system, and how we can learn to nurture and affect our nervous systems.
I began training in work that would build a heartier bridge between the body and psyche in my work: how to experience and guide other people to experience true embodiment through Realization Process, how to be with people on a transformative journey through process coaching, and how to help people shift their nervous system states with Somatic Experiencing.
My embodied coaching work is the integration of this path.
i live in valdez, alaska
With my partner and two children, a cat, a dog and 5 chickens. I have run a wellness center in town, Radiant Wellness, for 15 years. I love this land and never tire of playing in the Chugach Mountains and exploring the Prince William Sound surrounding Valdez.
I love to dance, I participate in both ballet and contemporary dance. I love to ski, hike, bike and to be outside. I am also a bee keeper, and you will often find me foraging for wild plants of the land and sea.
