about
Learing to Listen
There is a quiet knowing inside of you.
You might feel it as a tightening in your chest.
A breath you didn't realize you were holding.
A subtle pull toward something you can't quite explain.
A sudden sense of ease when something is true.
Your body is always in conversation with you.
The question is whether you've learned how to listen.
I've spent a lot of my life learning this language.
For years, I overrode what I felt.
I talked myself out of things I knew.
I looked outside myself for reassurance.
I adapted—to relationships, expectations, circumstances, the needs of others—in ways that helped me belong and feel safe, but sometimes took me further away from myself.
That's part of what makes listening to the body complicated.
Our bodies carry what we've learned, too.
The ways we've protected ourselves.
The ways we've learned to stay connected, avoid conflict, be good, be capable, keep going.
Adaptation can become so familiar that it feels like truth.
It took time for me to realize that figuring myself out wasn't the answer. I needed to slow down and notice what was happening inside me.
A breath.
A sensation.
A movement toward—or away.
A yes that felt spacious.
A no that arrived before I had words for it.
The more I listened, the more I began to recognize the difference between what I had learned to do and what was actually true for me.
And that changed everything.
I believe lasting change begins with this kind of listening.
Not fixing yourself.
Not overriding what you feel.
Not becoming a better version of who you think you're supposed to be.
But developing a relationship with yourself that is steady enough to hear what's underneath the noise.
Because sometimes what feels like confusion is information.
Sometimes the tension you've learned to live with is asking for something.
Sometimes the longing you've been trying to quiet is pointing toward what is alive.
Currents
A body of work is shaped over time.
These experiences inform the way Lea moves, guides, and makes contact.
If you're curious, you're welcome to explore the undercurrents of the work.
My mom was one of the first Nurse Practitioners in the country. She earned a second master’s degree in Mental Health Care and integrated holistic approaches into her practice, long before they were widely embraced in medicine.
She wrote a thesis on therapeutic touch, taught Lamaze classes in our home, and ran a child care consultancy, with the motto: From a Tiny Acorn Rises the Mighty Oak. I carry this legacy forward, helping people grow up to reach their greatest heights.
As a young athlete, I pushed my body to perform. Discovering meditation, yoga, and dance in my early 20s changed everything—I learned to listen to my body and move in ways that felt good.
I began leading a movement practice, blending the inner eye of yoga, deep listening of meditation, and joy of dance. I was unaware of anyone else practicing conscious movement, but later discovered and trained with many master movers.
I experienced the tremendous healing power of practicing movement in community in a Friday night class called Unwind & Grind with April Axé Charmaine. This container invited sensual expression in a safe, liberating space.
After classes, we would linger as a community to enjoy potluck, connection and the afterglow of the dance. We called the freedom of expression that we found together the Kiss of Sol Vida—named for Axé’s company, Sol Vida.
My first company was Indiepreneur Power. As Creative Director, I was hiding online behind an adorable icon that I called The Thunderclap Kid. An astute pair of business coaches challenged me to become a personality brand.
I was terrified of being seen and worked in depth with a Life Coach to show up as a public figure. My work, which once centered on branding entrepreneurs, organically shifted into coaching people to show up for Calling.
In my early work as a Calling Coach, I found that people, myself included, were getting stuck. We might desire transformation, but the body perceives change as a threat. In order to transform long held patterns, we need to bring in the body.
Training as a Somatic Coach and Bodyworker at the Strozzi Institute gave me a practical framework and repertoire of embodied practices and processes to support profound, lasting change.
This is the work I offer
Through Somatic Coaching and Bodywork, I create spaces where you can slow down, come back into your body, and begin to notice what is here.
We listen for the patterns you've been carrying.
We make room for what wants to be felt.
We explore what you're ready to loosen, and what becomes possible when you no longer have to leave yourself behind to move forward.
Over time, this kind of attention becomes a practice of trust.
You begin to know your own signals.
To feel the difference between what you've learned and what you know.
And little by little, to let what you know on the inside shape how you live on the outside.
You may begin to recognize a no before it becomes resentment, stay connected to yourself when a relationship gets difficult, and make decisions without needing endless reassurance.
My work is grounded in lived experience and years of dedicated study.
I grew up as an athlete, learning to push my body to perform. In my 20s, yoga, meditation, and conscious dance began to change my relationship with my body. What began as a different way of moving became a different way of listening.
My academic background in professional writing and interdisciplinary humanities gave me a grounding in language, storytelling, and the ways we make meaning from our experiences.
In my early career, I worked in writing, design, and web development, helping entrepreneurs bring their ideas and original work into the world.
Over time, I became increasingly curious about what it takes to show up for what matters to us. What happens when knowing what we want isn't enough to help us move toward it?
Somatic practice gave me a way to explore that question.
I trained intensively as a Somatic Coach and Bodyworker at the Strozzi Institute. Over the years, this work has changed the way I make decisions, meet uncertainty, and move through change in my own life.
Today, I work with people who have learned to adapt themselves to relationships, expectations, or circumstances, and are ready to listen more closely to what is true for them.
