Meet the Team
Embodywise and Hakomi California faculty members possess many years of experience teaching their particular specialties in somatic psychology both locally and internationally. Each instructor brings a unique perspective to their teaching as well as extensive professional background. Our team-based teaching model also includes talented teachers-in-training.
Hakomi California Faculty
Ashley Ross, MA, LMFT
Certified Hakomi Therapist
and Teacher
Ashley is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT 115141), a certified Hakomi teacher and a holistic reproductive health practitioner. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa and attended The Wright Institute in Berkeley, where she earned her Master’s in Counseling Psychology. Prior to attaining her MFT license, Ashley provided counseling to adults, couples and children and designed and facilitated support groups in a variety of settings. She has been a part of the Hakomi community since 2006. Ashley is currently in private practice in Los Angeles where she works with individuals, couples and groups. Ashley’s dual training in somatic psychotherapy and holistic health opened her to the benefits of using our bodies to achieve an integrated state of wellbeing. She brings this sense, along with a deep love of our messy humanness, to her work and teaching.
Brian Lim, LMFT
Psychotherapist
Hakomi Teacher-in-Training
Brian Lim is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT 105034) and Certified Hakomi Therapist, specializing in working with early developmental trauma and attachment. Brian’s background includes Neuro-Affective Touch, EMDR, Re-Creation of the Self training, sexuality-intimacy coaching, and a social justice/diversity lens of intergenerational trauma. He is located in San Francisco, serving adults and couples.
David Fish, MA, LMFT
Certified Hakomi Therapist
and Teacher
David is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LFMT 52446). He has been a Certified Hakomi Therapist since 1996. Cultivating mindfulness and compassion are central threads that run through all of his work, and since he sees awareness and change as best served by flexibility and the ability to perceive things from multiple perspectives, he also draws from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Functional Analytic Psychotherapy, Focusing, and relational psychodynamic approaches. David teaches Hakomi as an adjunct professor at California Institute for Integral Studies, and also leads DBT groups and sees clients at the DBT Center of Marin, where he helps people who struggle with intense emotions and impulsive actions, or borderline personality disorder. David is a seasoned meditator, and his warm, collaborative, down-to-earth teaching style is lively, well-informed and human.
Dominique Lando, MA, LMFT
Certified Hakomi Therapist
and Trainer
Dominique is a Certified Hakomi Therapist and Teacher, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT 44542) and an organizational coach. She works with individuals in California and British Columbia and coaches leaders and teams internationally. Dominique is a co-founder of Anam Cara in Berkeley, a community-based therapy center. She also serves as adjunct professor teaching somatic psychology in various graduate programs. She draws not only from her training in somatic psychotherapy, Sensorimotor Trauma Therapy, family systems and EMDR but also from her years of spiritual practice, and working in the field of community development as an activist, eco-psychologist and permaculture farmer. Originally from France, Dominique was raised in a diverse global family and she integrates her multicultural background into her approach. She places a strong emphasis on group synergy, which greatly informs her work as a teacher, coach and organizational consultant.
Emmy Akiyama, MA, LMFT
Hakomi Teacher-in-Training
Therapist
Emmy is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT 51047) and Registered Art Therapist, with a private practice based in Southern California. She has experience in hospital and community mental health, as well as school-based settings, providing psychotherapy and case management services for a diverse portfolio of patients. Emmy has been studying Hakomi since 2016, and her appreciation for the Hakomi Method continues to deepen as she experiences how it powerfully transforms clients, as well as the beings of the practitioners themselves.
Gal Szekely, MA, LMFT
Certified Hakomi Therapist and Teacher
Love Made Simple Founder
Gal is a Certified Hakomi Therapist and Teacher and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT 50301) with a private practice in El Cerrito. Gal is passionate about working with couples and individuals on relationship issues and, together with his wife, he founded The Couples Center, a relationship counseling and education center. Besides Hakomi, Gal teaches the Tamura Method, a form of therapy that integrates touch and table work in psychotherapy. He is an adjunct faculty member at the California Institute of Integral Studies and is an experienced teacher and workshop leader. In addition to a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology, Gal also holds a master’s in Social-Organizational Psychology and has a background in the business world and as a management consultant. His work is influenced by a long time meditation practice, his appreciation of the body and a multicultural background.
Jon Eisman, CHT
Senior Hakomi Trainer
Founder of Re-Creation of the Self
Jon is a founding member of the Hakomi Institute and a Senior Hakomi Trainer. For the past 42 years, he has taught throughout North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. He has developed numerous elaborations of and refinements to the theory and practice of Hakomi, while also incorporating neurobiology, attachment and elements of Selfhood into his teaching, and has authored several editions of Hakomi Training Manuals. Jon is also the creator of the Re-Creation of the Self model, a powerful and unique approach to working with psychological states of Self in therapy, group work, relationship, performance and spiritual practice.
Julie Murphy, MA, LMFT
Certified Hakomi Therapist
and Trainer
Julie is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT 83806), a Certified Hakomi Practitioner, and a Senior Trainer with over 35 years of experience consulting, teaching and working in the healing arts. Julie has led trainings for health professionals in Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychology, attachment psychotherapy and other special topics in the United States, Australia, Bali, Canada, China, Israel and New Zealand. Bringing together years of study and professional experience in the fields of anthropology, contemplative psychology, addictions, attachment theory, massage therapy, Buddhism, and poetry, Julie has developed an archetype-based personal growth method–“The Mythic Body”; a somatic approach to creative writing–“Embodied Writing™”; and co-developed the workshop “Waking Up from the Family Trance.” She also created the highly praised training “Attending to Attachment,” a mindfulness-based approach to working with adult attachment issues and relationship repair. Julie served as adjunct faculty at John F. Kennedy University and taught in the California Institute of Integral Studies Certificate Program in Mindfulness and Compassion in Psychotherapy. Julie has presented at numerous professional conferences including the American Massage Therapy Association, the Hakomi Institute International Conference, and the U.S. Association of Body Psychotherapy. Julie has been interviewed twice for The Global Summit. You can listen to her presentations here. In 2011, she published “Loosening the Grip of Addiction: A Mindful Recovery” in The Therapist. A practitioner of meditation for over 40 years, Julie’s teaching integrates a strong contemplative approach with cutting-edge research in neuroscience and human relationships. In addition, she has studied with master poets from all over the United States and her poems are published in numerous literary journals. These varied studies extend her range of teaching beyond psychotherapy to mindfulness and meditation, contemplative and creative writing, mindful recovery and embodiment. Julie maintains a private practice in Santa Cruz, offering somatic psychotherapy and addictions counseling to individuals, couples, adolescents and families.
Karen Daley, MA, LMFT
Psychotherapist
Hakomi Teacher-in-Training
Karen Daley, MA, LMFT
Hakomi Teacher in Training
Therapist
Karen is honored to be traveling with others on their journey…toward wholeness. She uses the Hakomi principles and practices as a container for her work as a licensed psychotherapist (LMFT 106479). Alongside twenty years of experience in the field of community mental health, she also brings ten years as a senior leadership trainer/organization development consultant with AmeriCorps and various other non-profits.
Karen co-created and for four years directed the Resilience Clinic at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, where the goal was to partner with families and build on their own knowledge by introducing both caregiver and child to nervous-system regulation and tracking, to mitigate the effects of stress.
She believes in collaboration and the power of equanimity as we deepen our awareness and understanding of our own social location as well as the social location of others. Karen believes in the transformative power of the Hakomi Method to facilitate deep healing both on an individual and a collective level.
When not with others, Karen can be found tending her garden or going on long walks.
Manuela Mischke-Reeds,
MA, LMFT
Certified Hakomi Therapist and Trainer
ISITTA Founder and Trainer
Manuela Mischke-Reeds, MA, LMFT
Embodywise Founder and Director
ISITTA Founder and Trainer
Hakomi California Co-Director
Hakomi Trainer
Manuela Mischke-Reeds, MA, LMFT, is a Certified Hakomi Therapist and Trainer, a licensed Somatic Psychotherapist, and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT 40823). She trains health professionals in the Hakomi Method in California, Australia and Europe. She recently developed a Hakomi based trauma and attachment training for clinicians in Germany. Manuela specializes in integrating somatic psychotherapy with somatic trauma therapy, attachment psychotherapy, infant mental health and movement therapy.
She serves as a faculty member at John F. Kennedy University and Sofia University (formerly the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology). She holds an MA in Somatic Psychology from California Institute of Integral Studies, and a BA in Dance Therapy from the Naropa University.
In addition, she has trained in various methods of working with trauma and counseled survivors of political oppression, torture and trauma. She is a practitioner of Somatic Experiencing, a trauma resolution method developed by Peter Levine. She is a graduate Fellow at the Napa Infant Mental Health Fellowship Program, led by Dr. Ed Tronick. She is a recent graduate of the Child Trauma Institute of San Francisco and has expanded her practice in working with children and parents suffering the effects of trauma.
Manuela has extensive training in the field of movement therapies, and is an authorized Continuum Movement teacher. She has also been a student of Buddhist meditation practice for many years and has authored two books: 8 Keys to Practicing Mindfulness: Practical Strategies for Emotional Health and Well Being and Somatic Psychotherapy Toolbox: 125 Worksheets and Exercises to Treat Trauma & Stress.
Nicole Heinrich, MA, LMFT
Certified Hakomi Therapist
and Teacher
Nicole is a Certified Hakomi Therapist and Teacher, and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT 35701) working with individuals and couples throughout California. Nicole began her long-term study and love of Hakomi in 1988 with Ron Kurtz and has been on the faculty of the Hakomi Institute of CA since 2011. She holds a master’s degree in Somatic Psychology from California Institute of Integral Studies and has over 25 years of clinical experience integrating somatic, relational, trauma-based and psychodynamic approaches into her work. Nicole has supervised dozens of interns throughout her career and taught graduate level classes at CIIS, JFK University and Antioch University, Santa Barbara. She has years of experience and training in various forms of bodywork, meditation and contemplative movement practices. With deep trust in the present moment, Nicole brings a depth of knowledge and an open heart to her teaching and therapy practice.
Rob Fisher, MA, LMFT
Certified Hakomi Therapist
and Trainer
Rob is a Certified Hakomi Therapist and Trainer, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT 22886) and a consultant and certified supervisor in private practice. He has served as an adjunct professor at John F. Kennedy University as well as the California Institute for Integral Studies where he co-founded the Certificate Program in Mindfulness and Compassion. He is the founder of Mindfulness-Centered Couples Therapy, which he teaches internationally. Rob is the author of a number of books, chapters and articles including Experiential Psychotherapy With Couples, a Guide for the Creative Pragmatist, which details the use of mindfulness and the body in couples therapy. He has presented his work at the Psychotherapy Networker Conference and has been a master presenter at the annual conference of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. He and his wife, Hu Ting Ting, teach mindfulness and nature workshops internationally. He lives in an old farmhouse in the Green Mountains of Vermont where he composes music and writes fiction and poetry.
Scott Eaton, MA, LMFT
Certified Hakomi Therapist
and Trainer
Scott is a senior faculty member of the Hakomi Institute of California, a Certified Hakomi Therapist and Trainer, and a California Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT 23906). A psychotherapist for over 30 years, Scott began studying Hakomi in 1994 and has been actively involved ever since. In addition, he has created and/or led workshops and trainings throughout the world for over three decades. Scott works with adults of all sexual orientations and specializes in LGBTQ issues, sexuality, spirituality, shame reduction, PTSD, recovery, and relationship dynamics. More recently he has been actively working with and coaching those in the process of spiritual awakening. Scott is a long-standing teacher of meditation and an avid world traveler.
Shai Lavie, MA, LMFT
Certified Hakomi Therapist and Trainer
Shai Lavie, MA, LMFT
Hakomi California Co-Director
Hakomi Trainer
Therapist
Shai is a Certified Hakomi Therapist and Trainer and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT 35526) with a private practice in San Anselmo, CA. Shai has been practicing Vipassana meditation for more than 30 years, has studied numerous psychological and spiritual approaches to human growth, and is certified in the Somatic Experiencing method of working with trauma. Shai has taught at Sofia University (formerly the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology) and at other graduate programs, and he has led trainings for numerous organizations, both in California and internationally.
Susan San Tara, MA, LMFT
Certified Hakomi Therapist
and Trainer
Susan is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT 43157) and Certified Hakomi Therapist and Trainer. She has been in private practice seeing couples and individuals since 2000. In 2007, Susan co-founded Anam Cara Therapy Center, in Berkeley, CA. Susan teaches Hakomi to clinical professionals and the general public, and also has served as adjunct faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies and John F. Kennedy University, where she received a master’s degree in Transpersonal Counseling. In addition to body-centered and mindfulness-focused psychotherapy, Susan has studied eco-psychology, Amazonian shamanism, energy systems and earth-based healing approaches for over 30 years. Weaving wisdom from the natural world, the poetry embedded in the body, a love of the divine mystery, and a profound respect for the human creature are the cornerstones of her work. Essential to Susan’s therapeutic and teaching work is her warm, nurturing, and friendly style, which sets the tone for a dynamic growth environment.
Embodywise Faculty
Arielle Schwartz, PhD
Clinical Psychologist
Developer: Resilience Informed Therapy
Arielle Schwartz, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist, EMDR therapy consultant, somatic psychotherapist, certified yoga instructor and internationally sought-out teacher. She is the author of six books, including The Complex PTSD Workbook, EMDR Therapy and Somatic Psychology and The Post-Traumatic Growth Guidebook. A leading voice in the treatment of PTSD and complex trauma, Arielle specializes in applied polyvagal theory for trauma recovery. Her integrative mind-body approach to therapy includes relational therapy, parts-work therapy, somatic psychology, EMDR therapy and therapeutic yoga for trauma. She believes that the journey of trauma recovery is an awakening of the spiritual heart.
Erika Lyla
Somatic Coach and Bodyworker
Erika Lyla
Somatic Coach
Bodyworker
Erika Lyla is a somatic coach and bodyworker with a practice in Oakland, CA (unceded Ohlone territory), and also teaches with generative somatics and Strozzi Institute. Erika works with people to reveal their power, potential, and purpose. She guides with love and laughter towards life grounded in authenticity and shaped by dream. She has been training groups and individuals in social and emotional development as well as creating and launching social emotional programs for over 15 years. Erika holds a Master’s Degree in Social Welfare from UC Berkeley and specializes in working with people facing psychiatric crises, survivors of sexual violence, and individuals healing from complex trauma. She has also worked with school age children as an afterschool teacher and program director. She continues to offer healing for individuals and communities as we collectively move towards liberation. In her free time, Erika loves family time, camping, snowboarding, hiking, paddle boarding, and delicious food.
Heather Sundberg
Insight Meditation Teacher
Heather Sundberg has taught Insight Meditation since 1999, completed the Spirit Rock/IMS Teacher Training program under Jack Kornfield, PhD and Joseph Goldstein, and is currently a member of the Spirit Rock Teachers Council. For the last three decades, Heather has studied with senior teachers in the Insight Meditation and Vajrayana traditions, completing three accumulated years of retreat. Her teaching emphasizes embodiment, heart practice, and wisdom-awareness practices.
Jennifer Dore, MD
Psychiatrist
Founder of Helios Psychiatry
Jennifer Dore, MD
Psychiatrist
Founder of Helios Psychiatry
Jennifer Dore, MD is a board certified psychiatrist specializing in psychodynamic psychotherapy and medication management for conditions such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, ADHD and addiction. She currently serves on the board of the Ketamine Research Foundation. Dr. Dore earned her MD from New York Medical College in 2007, with the highest academic distinction, Alpha Omega Alpha and holds a BA from Amherst College where she majored in English Literature. Upon graduating, Dr. Dore trained for three years as a surgical resident at Weill Cornell/NY Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Dore’s training subsequently took her to northern California where she joined the Stanford Department of Psychiatry as a resident physician. While at Stanford, Dr. Dore’s focus included the treatment of bipolar disorder, intensive individual psychotherapy, psychopharmacology, family and couples therapy, and medical decision making. Dr. Dore’s research in the area of bipolar disorder earned her recognition from the American Psychiatric Association during their 2013 Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Dr. Dore was also elected Chief Resident for her contributions as a leader and innovator. In 2014, Dr. Dore founded Helios Psychiatry with a mission to serve the local Bay Area community and innovate across a broad spectrum of traditional and pioneering treatments, including ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. Dr. Dore has worked with hundreds of patients and published numerous research papers including, most recently, a groundbreaking study into the effects of ketamine-assisted psychotherapy published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs.
Joshua Sylvae, PhD, LMFT
Psychotherapist
Somatic Experiencing Faculty
Joshua Sylvae, PhD, LMFT
Psychotherapist
Somatic Experiencing Faculty
Joshua Sylvae has been involved in the field of somatics for over two decades, also incorporating inquiry into many disparate fields including ecology, philosophy, and neurobiology. He holds an MA in clinical psychology (with an emphasis in somatic psychology) and a PhD in Higher Learning and Social Change, and is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. Joshua’s clinical practice is grounded in somatics, and he also integrates psychodynamic perspectives, mindfulness approaches, a systemic orientation, and a good deal of humor into his work. He is a faculty member at Somatic Experiencing International, leading the SE Professional Training in locations around the world, and is also Legacy Faculty for Peter Levine’s Ergos Institute for Somatic Education. Joshua’s background includes participation in social change efforts, movements for social equality and ecological defense, and he maintains a passion for encouraging and assisting communities working toward the creation of a just and healthful society. In 2019, Joshua launched The (r)evolve Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to educating the general public about human origins; he currently serves as the organization’s director. He envisions somatics becoming an integral part of healing and transforming our world.
Liron Cohen, LMFT
Psychotherapist
Love Made Simple Founder
Liron Cohen is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with a private practice in El Cerrito. Liron is the co-founder of The Couples Center, where she leads workshops for couples and a couples therapy supervision group. She is also an adjunct faculty member at CIIS, where she teaches couples therapy from a somatic perspective. She is known for her natural authenticity, intuition and ability to balance warmth and directness. She explores the realms of sound healing and shamanic hypnotherapy in psychotherapy.
Maci Daye, LPC, CHT
Psychotherapist
Founder of Passion and Presence
Maci Daye is an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist, Licensed Professional Counselor, and Certified Therapist and Trainer of Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychotherapy. Since 2010, she has led her popular retreat series Passion and Presence® in the USA, Europe and Australia. Shambhala Publications released her book, Passion and Presence: A Couple’s Guide to Awakened Intimacy and Mindful Sex in 2020. Maci has a doctorate in human sexuality from the Parkmore Institute, a master’s degree in human development from Harvard University, and an educational specialist degree in counseling from Georgia State University. She also completed the Level 2 Somatic Experiencing trauma training. Originally from the United States, she currently resides in Mallorca, Spain.
Mahshid Fashandi Hager, LMFT
Psychotherapist
Somatic Experiencing Faculty
Mahshid Fashandi Hager is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner. Originally from Tehran, Iran, Mahshid moved to Germany with her family after the Iranian revolution. After high school, she immigrated to the Kumeyaay territory, known as San Diego, California, where she now lives with her husband and two sons. Her professional life includes providing therapeutic services to clients from all walks of life in her private practice, volunteering for non-profit organizations in San Diego that offer resources to new incoming refugees, and attending Somatic Experiencing training modules in various capacities and supporting SE students. Mahshid is currently on the faculty track at Somatic Experiencing International and aspires to teach this modality to a broad range of helping professionals. In her free time, Mahshid enjoys traveling, hiking and writing.
Staci Haines
Developer of Generative Somatics
Staci Haines
Developer of Generative Somatics
Staci K. Haines is the developer of generative somatics. Her work emerges from the somatics tradition of Richard Strozzi Heckler, integrating Polarity Therapy, Gestalt, Vipassana meditation and Aikido. Staci integrates her extensive study of personal and social change, trauma and recovery and Neuro-Linguistic Programming into this unique and powerful work. She is a senior teacher in the field of somatics and leads courses in Somatics and Leadership, Somatics and Trauma, and Somatics and Social Justice. The current focus of generative somatics is to bring the transformative power of somatics to serve the social justice movement. She has been working and teaching in the field of somatics for the last 16 years. Since 1992 Staci has been working and organizing to prevent child sexual abuse. She is a founder of generationFIVE, a social justice organization whose mission is to end the sexual abuse of children within five generations through survivor leadership, community organizing, transformative justice approaches and movement building. Staci is committed to the intersection of personal healing and social justice work, and sees that both have to be addressed to bring the change and justice we want in the world.
Susan Harper
Continuum Teacher
Founder of Continuum Montage
Susan Harper
Continuum Teacher
Founder of Continuum Montage
Susan Harper is a Continuum teacher, a heart-soul counselor, and inspired teacher of perceptual and movement inquiry. She has been teaching internationally and contributing to the development of Continuum, which was originated by Emilie Conrad, since 1975. Susan is the developer of Body of Relating, Portals of Perception, and Living Dreams Seminars.
Staff
Manuela Mischke-Reeds,
MA, LMFT
Emmbodywise Director
Hakomi California Co-Director
Adele Gotlib
Bookkeeper
Administrator
Adele lives to nitpick. She also lives for praise. This combination of personality traits makes her extremely well suited for her job as Hakomi’s bookkeeper and sometime proofreader. In addition to bookkeeping experience, Adele has over 25 years’ experience as a typist-proofreader-copy editor, and has spent nearly as many years being unemployed, for which she is also very well suited. When not doing nothing, Adele enjoys spending her free time gardening, looking at birds and bugs, and playing the piano.
Hillary Keith
Office Manager
Hillary is an administrative professional with 34 years of experience in the management consulting, real estate and financial services industries. She has worked as a business manager for an organizational consulting firm specializing in team and leadership training, a financial advisor in the financial services industry and a realtor, property manager and project manager in the real estate industry. She is passionate about personal development and finds helping and serving others to be the most meaningful work. Hillary resides in Hobbs, NM and enjoys spending time with family and friends. One of the loves of her life is spending time with her two-year-old grandson, Tripp.
Robert Hickling
Web Designer
Hi, I’m Robert Hickling, designer and photographer, and also a graduate of the amazing Hakomi Comprehensive Training. I treat my commissions and clients as works of art. My mission is to create more vitality, inspiring stories, clean interface and beauty in the world through good design and photography.
My design career began in 1996 at Stanford University with a Bachelor of Arts in Ecological Design followed by a Master’s of Ecological Design at SFIA. Since then I’ve been lucky enough to design for people in the San Francisco Bay Area and far around the world, from being a visual designer for Yahoo! to bringing the first multimedia technology to help spread indigenous innovation in Mazvihwa, Zimbabwe. From the halls of a London creativity company to serving local musicians, actors, theater companies, filmmakers, architects, dance companies, coaches, therapists, and app companies, I’ve had the pleasure to engage a wide range of needs. My studio is in Berkeley, California.
Much gratitude goes out to my friends, family, teachers, clients and the grace of good luck. Don’t forget, this is always going on.