Meet Ellen
My mom introduced me to yoga as a teenager and that marked the beginning of my “summer fling” with asana (yoga postures). In my early 20’s I dedicated myself to deepening my practice and that “fling” became a true love. As I studied and practiced intensively under senior and master teachers, my relationship to my body and sense of self began to shift. I remember, very clearly, beginning a class, and realizing that my practice provoked an intensity reminiscent of my years of competitive swimming.
This visceral experience helped me understand an imbalance I had within, and inspired my years-long journey towards yoga as therapy. As I developed my therapeutic tool-kit, I found Hanna Somatics and TRE®, practices that introduced me to a new way of understanding myself and others: the autonomic nervous system. In addition to these professional tools, I began Rinzai Zen training in 2015; this practice is both my somatic and spiritual North Star.
Today I view embodied movement and meditation as a path to healing and health in the body, mind, and spirit. It is a path I follow and passionately share with clients. My work is informed by Zen, Yoga, Hanna Somatics, TRE®, Structural Integration and Ayurveda. My intention is to help clients live more fully embodied and create a supportive environment ripe for sustainable transformation.
Credentials
Yoga & Somatics
C-IATY 1000 Hour Yoga Therapist
International Soma Yoga Institute
E-500 Register Yoga Teacher & CEU Provider
200 Hr Cert. - Prairie Yoga
300 Hr Cert. - Theresa Murphy Yoga
Primary Teachers
Tias Little - Prajna Yoga
Gabriel Halpern - The Yoga Circle
Theresa Murphy - Theresa Murphy Yoga
Ann Maxwell - Intl. Soma Yoga Institute
Molly McManus - Intl. Soma Yoga Institue
Rinzai Zen Training
Chosei Zen
Ken Setsuzan Kushner Roshi
Zen Integration Bodywork
Zen Integration Bodyworker
Alex Greene Apprenticeship
TRE® - Neurogenic Tremoring
TRE® Provider
TRE® For All - Global Certification
TRE® Global Certification Trainer
TRE® For All 501c3
What Clients Are Saying…
“I’ve always been someone who’d rather be in the library than at the gym. So when I seriously herniated a disc in my lower back, I was completely unprepared for the recovery process. While surgery was successful, I continued to experience incredibly weak core and leg muscles, and I was living with chronic nerve pain in my legs.
After multiple unsuccessful rounds of physical therapy, I met Ellen, and working with her changed my life. She met me where I was with my body and mind-body connection, which felt like rock bottom. She taught me fundamental somatics exercises for recovering command of my body, and radical knowledge for developing my own daily somatics practices. It’s not an exaggeration to say her therapy renewed my relationship with myself.
- M.G.
“For the last 15+ years I’ve learned to function outside of my body to suppress emotions and deal with chronic pain. Not only has Ellen helped me find the ability to listen to my body, but she helped me find my voice and confidence, both of which I was lacking. Ellen was a voice of strength when celebrating my success, and she also provided unwavering support when some of the work brought up “old stuff”. To infer that the work we’ve done together has been transformational would truly be an understatement. Not only has my physical pain reduced, my relationships with my family and partner have flourished due to my ability to self-regulate, effectively communicate my needs, and hold appropriate boundaries.”
- A.P.
Logo brushed by Esteban Martinez Sensei, founder of Gohitsu Shodo Kai
About My Logo
For my logo I chose the Japanese character (also known as a kanji) iki, or breath. While iki ‘s meaning includes the functions of inhaling and exhaling, it also has deeper and broader meanings.
The root of this kanji is ki, and means energy or spirit. In the Chosei Zen lineage we train to cultivate a strong kiai, a term that implies the expression of ki; one of the most potent tools we have for working with kiai is breath, specifically hara breathing.
In his book, China Root: Taoism, Ch’an and Original Zen, David Hinton beautifully expresses this kanji’s depth of meaning and the importance of breath itself.
“Meditation is the great heart of Ch’an practice, and meditation begins with the breath: sitting with the breath, attending to the breath. Breath helps settle thoughts and quiet mind. But in Ch’an, breath is much more. Life in, life out: breath reveals the entire conceptual framework that shapes Ch’an. Each breath arises from nothing and vanishes back into nothing, the essential movement of Tao: inhale and exhale, sound and silence, full and empty, life and death. Breath moves always at the generative origin-moment/place. And so, attending to breath, like attending to thought reveals how utterly we belong to that cosmological/ontological process of Tao.”
Book A Consult
This is an opportunity to meet and chart out a starting point together.