Outdoor Somatic Therapy in the Oakland Redwoods
I offer outdoor, walk-and-talk somatic therapy for women in Oakland, held among the redwoods at Joaquin Miller Park. The same work we would do in a session online — slower, closer to the body, and with the ground under your feet doing some of the holding.
Why Outside
Moving through a natural landscape can create more room for thought to move too. Walking, changing pace, and taking in what is around you can support a more fluid, expansive kind of thinking — especially when you’ve been sitting in one place, looking at screens, or circling the same thoughts inside four walls.
The landscape also gives us more to be in relationship with: the ground beneath you, the changing light, the temperature, the effort of the trail. These ordinary shifts offer natural ways back into contact with your body, without asking you to turn inward before you’re ready.
There can also be a sense that the work isn’t being held by the two of us alone. The landscape offers its own kind of steadiness around us. Being among things that are continually changing — moving through cycles of growth, rest, loss, and renewal — can offer a felt reminder that we belong to those rhythms too, and that nothing in us has to be static. The natural world becomes part of the therapeutic space and part of what holds us as the work unfolds.
What a Session Looks Like
We meet at the same trailhead each time at Joaquin Miller Park in the Oakland hills for a 60-minute session. We’ll spend about ten minutes walking into a redwood grove, where we’ll settle in for roughly 40 minutes of our work together. We’ll leave the last ten minutes to walk back, giving us time to close the session as we return.
Bring whatever will make sitting outside comfortable for you — a blanket or lightweight packable chair — along with water or a thermos of something warm. Wear comfortable walking shoes and bring a layer; the redwoods can stay cool even on warmer days.
We’ll talk through privacy before we begin, acknowledging that we’ll be meeting in a public space. If weather makes an outdoor session impractical, we’ll meet online instead.
You Might Be Drawn to This If
You’re craving more natural connection — with another person, with yourself, or with the natural world around you. Outdoor sessions offer a way to spend more intentional time on the land where you live, and to begin weaving a more direct relationship with the natural places that surround your everyday life.
You’re feeling restless, carrying energy that needs somewhere to move, or feeling a pull to experience yourself in a different environment or landscape. Sometimes changing where we are gives us another way to notice ourselves and what emerges. You still have the structure and support of a therapeutic session, with a different kind of space for whatever needs to unfold.
Availability
Outdoor sessions are currently available on a limited basis, with 1–2 openings for weekly sessions at Joaquin Miller Park. If you’re interested in meeting outdoors, we can talk about whether it feels like a good fit during your free 20-minute virtual intro session.
These sessions take place on Huichin, the unceded ancestral land of the Chochenyo-speaking Lisjan Ohlone people, who have lived in relationship with and cared for this land for thousands of years.
