THE BODY BEFRIENDED
trauma healing & nervous system care for
people who want to do more than just talk about it
RELEASE STORED
STRESS & TRAUMA
safely contact
fight/flight/freeze that lives
in your nervous system in ways that allow it to resolve
GROW YOUR CAPACITY
learn how to be present to
more of your life
-the good and the bad-
without getting overwhelmed
RE-PATTERN RELATIONSHIPS
replace self-defeating patterns with new ways of relating to self, others, and the world
Asa Dean
Somatic Experiencing Practitioner
After enough time of living with a stressed out nervous system our bodies begin to shut out more and more of life - including the very experiences that can help us to regulate and heal.
Before trying to feel the intensity of pain and trauma, it's important to learn how to take in the 'good' moments of life, even the teeny-tiny things.
So many of our deepest hurts are relational in nature - much of our deepest healing occurs in relationship.
Taking time to explore novel and supportive ways of relating allows for self-defeating patterns to be replaced with healthy boundaries, access to co-regulation, and more vitality.
Many of my clients report:
More presence
Greater self compassion
Increased sense of personal power
More access to creativity and pleasure
More ease in setting healthy boundaries
Finally making sense of long-standing challenges
Reconnecting with lost parts of themselves
Greater access to their needs and wants
Less pain and overwhelm
Better sleep
'Love & Light'
'Feel it to Heal it'
Many models of healing either prioritize focusing on the 'good' or quickly facing all of the 'bad'.
While both of these have their place, alone they are not enough and can often create stagnation or more overwhelm.
Going at 'the pace of your nervous system' is a skill that can be learned
and leads to more satisfying and lasting change.
By valuing both the softer qualities of compassion and curiosity
as well as more decisive ones like discernment and healthy aggression
we develop a more full humanity that can successfully navigate more of life.
What People Are Saying
"Asa is an incredible human being with a massive heart and so much wisdom about the body. His presence gave me a sense of safety that I had never experienced before with another human being. His softness combined with knowledge made it really easy for me to trust him. I found profound healing through my work with Asa and keep on finding deeper healing with him by my side."
- Celeste González
Love & Leadership Mentor - www.devoteeoftheheart.com/linktree
"Asa created a nourishing and flexible container which felt safe to experience and experiment with some of the many parts of my psyche. When exploring these parts, they would be welcomed by Asa and met with a brilliant balance of inquisitive uninhibited play and rooted grounded awareness. Having my vulnerability witnessed and held with such patience and grace has been extremely helpful in the rewiring of my nervous system. I would confidently recommend this creative healing experience to anyone. I feel immense gratitude for the gifts and teachings I have received in these sessions."
- Stephanie Thomas
"Asa is a healer of great integrity. In his own way, he creates a space that is infused with a stabilizing force of compassion, attunement, and safety that naturally invites one into their journey of healing. His experience is apparent in the expression of his intuitive insight, adaptability, skillful touch and professional manner. Asa provided me with resources, tools, and guidance to feel empowered and engaged in the direct experience of my body and tapping into the wisdom it holds."
- Dariya Quenneville
Founder of Finding Polaris - www.findingpolaris.org
"I have experienced Asa to be as adventurous as he is compassionate, as fun-loving as he is reverent, and as hilarious as he is wise and thoughtful. I have vast amounts of respect and admiration for the ways Asa is both dignified and humble in exchanging real time, relational feedback. He is someone with whom I can trust my deepest secrets and share my deepest fears. He is someone in whose boldness I can trust in difficult conversations and whose softness I would trust caring for my children."
- Michael Polon
My belief is in the blood and flesh as being wiser than the intellect.
-D.H. Lawrence
Are you struggling to return to a positive and resilient baseline? Feeling easily overwhelmed?
Maybe things that were once simple have you feeling like you're stuck in fight or flight, or too shutdown to even deal with life?
Your nervous system is likely stuck in 'threat mode' - normally an exceptionally helpful feature of our biology but when left 'on' it turns our lives (and our bodies) into a battleground.
While methods like talk therapy and other forms of mental understanding are useful for certain issues, they don't get to the core of things when our self-protective system gets hijacked.
If you can't talk or understand your way out of it and your usual ways of shifting or coping aren't working - its time to tune into your body's wisdom.
Resetting your nervous system to a place of resiliency and vitality requires working directly with your physiology - with our bodies. This is what we're all about at The Body Befriended.
I'd love to help you feel better while uncovering the innate strength and wisdom your body possesses.
Meet Asa
One of my greatest joys is helping people transform experiences of suffering into those of possibility and belonging. Getting to witness the vulnerability, magic, and even humor that occurs along the way is the icing on the cake.
My own life began as I was born at home in Atlanta, Georgia. Within two weeks I was admitted to the hospital for an emergency heart surgery, which apparently was a success! My life has included addiction, close encounters with death at early ages, and the shame and confusion of growing up in a family and culture that represses, over- and under-sexualizes bodies, and otherwise attempts to cut us off from our selves.
I have found teachers in mountains and oceans, in meditation halls and plants, and in exceptional psychotherapists, bodyworkers and clients. I graduated from the Pacific Center for Awareness and Bodywork in 2015 where I later returned to teach. I have also completed Dr. Peter Levine's 3-year Somatic Experiencing training, a psycho-biological methodology for resolving the effects of accumulated stress and trauma. I practice massage therapy, wilderness therapy and facilitate rights of passage. I incorporate elements of all of these as well as other somatic methodologies into my work with clients.
I live in Durango, Colorado where I like to play in the snow and sun. Be in touch for a free consultation to see if we may be a good match for working together.
GET IN TOUCH
Want support with your journey of trauma healing or to learn more about Somatic Experiencing?
I'd love to hear from you...