A FREE 90-MINUTE LIVE CONVERSATION — ON ZOOM
Somatic Therapist vs. Plant Medicine Guide
A Live Debate on Trauma, Spirit & the Body
Two women steeped in somatics and plant medicine for almost 20 years each. Two different paths meet the body, mind and spirit to support healing, trauma integration and becoming free. One works with nervous system regulation, somatic exercises and intuition. One works with plant medicine in ceremony, intertwined with the spirit realms. They agree on some things, disagree on others, and some things are beyond what words can convey. ✨
🗓️ Sun. September 27 (Mon. Bali) · ⏳ 90 minutes, live on Zoom · 🎁 Free, registration required
🕗 Sun. 27 @ 5pm Vancouver (PT) · Sun. 27 @ 8pm Toronto (ET) · Mon. 28 @ 8am Bali (WITA)
DOES THIS SOUND LIKE YOU
You’ve heard of somatics and plant medicine and are curious about the healing benefits and wisdom of them both
You also sense there's more to healing than you've been able to discover so far.
You may have tried talk therapy, supplements, yoga, rest, maybe a retreat or two, and some of it helped. Your mind may understand your past well, yet your body, mind and spirit still feel stuck.
What are the missing pieces that might live beyond traditional, mainstream healing frameworks? Those pieces might be living in the body, the spirit, or are just waiting to finally be met by you.
So if:
🪞You've heard of somatics and trauma integration, and you still don't quite get what it offers.
🪞You've heard about plant medicine, and it pulls at you, but it also feels scary to access or you're afraid of losing control.
🪞You carry something in your body or fluctuating or numb emotions that keeps coming back, no matter how much you understand it mentally.
🪞Your health has been a puzzle for a while, and the usual answers have only taken you so far.
🪞You sense there are other doors, and you are curious whether it is somatic, plant medicine, or both.
This conversation is for you. 💛
THE HEART OF THIS CONVERSATION
One struggle, two very different medicines
Most healing advice picks a path and defends it. The somatic people distrust the pace of the medicine, and the medicine people find the body work too slow or missing spirit. We are going to have that conversation out loud, as two women who respect each other, and don’t agree on everything.
THE SOMATIC WAY 🌱
Slow, steady & safe
Somatic work helps your body finish what trauma or chronic stressors never completed. No forcing things open; it happens bit by bit over time, which helps it to hold. You learn to feel what is happening inside your gut, nervous system and body, and let it settle, until your body stops bracing against the threats and danger that have passed long ago. Spirit, energy and ancestral work can also be included.
THE PLANT MEDICINE WAY 🔥
Deep & held with care
Plant medicine and ceremony open a door to your subconscious mind and spirit's knowing when memories are stuck with no way to access them. When we have been immersed in rigid ways of thinking and being with little access to the body, this can be a great way in. It can go deep and move fast, which is what makes some people nervous. Held in a safe, well-held container, that same depth is where stuck fear loosens and something ancient can be remembered.
One helps you access your subconscious mind through your body and recover deep safety over time. One opens you up to your subconscious and spirit, and gives you insight almost immediately about where you’ve been stuck.
Where we disagree is worth watching. Where we meet is where the real conversation begins.
Honest conversations
WHAT OUR 90 MINUTES TOGETHER LOOK LIKE
This is a real exchange between two practitioners, with room for you to feel your own responses along the way. Camera on or off, engaging or not, whatever you feel on the day.
We arrive together
We each share who we are, Jaya guides a brief nervous system practice to help you land in your body, and Athena sings an ikaro to land in your spirit.
🪞
Where trauma lives
We name how trauma affects us all and how our modalities work with it.
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The debate out loud
The real disagreements, fast opening versus slow building, spirit first versus body first, etc. What each of us has seen that the other has not. (Jaya has sat in Athena’s ceremonies and Athena has received Jaya’s somatic sessions!)
Where we agree
The common ground that supports the whole human under the debate, and what it might mean for you.
🪞
A short practice to sense your own nervous system state and connection with your spirit
A somatic exercise to feel where you are in your own body and spirit right now, so you can experience both directly.
🪞
A warm close, and what's next
We open the space for questions and a look at where both of our work goes deeper.
🪞
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"Thank you Jaya. You actually healed me more than anyone I've ever seen therapy over the last 30 years. Something about you seeing my grandmother and how her trauma has affected my own health. Working with it has started to heal me, and the intergenerational trauma that I've carried for decades. Now I feel the strength of all my Mother's within ~ it's so surprising to me how much stronger I finally feel."
— Dr. Molly Shorthouse
BScBMBS(Hons) FACRRM (AST Mental Health), Australia -
"Before sitting in ceremony with Athena, I was intimidated and terrified of plant medicine from previous experiences. This narrative has been fully rewritten by sitting with Athena. The containers she holds are claimed with such love that all elements and beings become present. Her medicine only leaves room for finding your power, your voice, your unique medicine. I have found my truth, time and time again with her, in deeper and deeper ways. And if you find yourself at one of her ceremonies, you will find yours too."
— Emma P
Astrologer & IT worker, BC Canada
YOUR GUIDES
Meet Jaya
I'm a Master Somatic Therapist and Certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, an energy therapist of 18+ years, on a path rooted in mysticism for just as long. Across more than 10,000 sessions, I've helped people feel their nervous system patterns and begin to integrate them. I know these patterns from the inside too, especially after giving birth to a son with ongoing, complex health needs. My work names what is happening in the body and supports the slow, titrated change that truly lasts. We go slowly, because finding the safety to face what once overwhelmed us is what supports a nervous system to shift for good. We include connection with spirit and the ancestors to help the whole human come full circle.💙
Certified SE Practitioner (SEP)
10,000+ sessions; 18 yrs practice
International Retreat Facilitator
Found School of Sacred Somatics
MA, Peace Studies background
Parts & Shadow work
YOUR GUIDES
Meet Athena
I'm a medicine woman and curandera of almost 20 years, and the founder of Earth Temple Retreats. During the early years of my apprenticeship and training, I lived in Peru with my family and organized retreats for Shipibo Maestra grandmothers. One of my primary focuses and specialties today is the beautiful tradition of plant dieta, dieting various plants for their health and healing benefits, an ancient form of Amazonian healthcare. My work bridges ancient shamanic practice with modern therapeutic care, holding high-integrity, trauma-informed spaces where deep healing can happen. Through ceremony, plant dieta, and sacred sacrament, I guide people into direct connection with the Great Spirit and their own divine nature. I trust the innate human capacity to heal when safety, love, and faith are present.🌿
Medicine Woman & Curandera
19 years of practice
International Retreat Facilitator
Founder, Earth Temple Retreats
“Memoirs of a Medicine Woman”
Trauma-informed facilitation
SAVE YOUR SEAT
Two healing paths, one conversation. Come find yours!
It's free. Just register with your name, email, and add it to your calendar, so your future-self remembers to show up for you! If you can’t attend live, a recording will be emailed to you💛
From people who've done this work
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"I am blessed to have found true teachers in my life. I consider Athena to be one of those. Athena is real, allowing space for you to grow and rise and expand in your own gifts and become empowered to heal yourself. She does an amazing job of leaving her ego away from ceremony, so the purity of the work may come through.
I never knew what to expect from ceremony, but I felt so safe and supported that I continue to get called back!
I appreciate and respect everything Athena does. She truly walks her talk and is an incredible soul to be in the presence of. I recommend connecting with her in whatever capacity to are feeling called to. Your life will be uplifted."
~ Kristina
Sound Healer, Mother, Ottawa, Canada -
"Jaya, what a powerful energy you hold. I am so grateful for what you did for me, I felt such a release. My back pain that has been with me for decades is gone. Thank you for showing me the link between mind and body. The Somatic training on the retreat taught me so much about mind body awareness. The examples and practical training was perfect. The way you treated and released the trauma I experienced at birth has shifted me to another level. Your ability to hold space and intuit what needs to be addressed is very strong. You are confident, well informed, yet also calm and humble. Thank you so much!"
~ Jan
Engineer, Capetown, South Africa
WHERE OUR WORK GOES DEEPER
This conversation is the first thread. Our retreats and trainings are where you learn to weave.
A single evening can open a door. Walking through it is the longer work, and each of us holds a place for that. Jaya's path is the body, the December Somatic Retreat in Bali and the online trainings, where your nervous system slowly learns that it is safe to rest and befriend embodied freedom. Athena's path is ceremonial plant medicine October retreat in Utah and online plant dietas at Earth Temple, where spirit and sacred medicine open the door for deep healing.
At the end of the live conversation, we will each share where our work goes next, so you can follow whichever path is calling you. 🌸
Learn more about Jaya's Bali retreat here and online trainings here. Learn more about Athena's ceremonies and retreats here and online plant dietas here.
Embodied practice in the Yoga Shala overlooking Ubud’s sacred rivers ~ Somatic Retreat in Bali this December.
October Utah medicine retreat with Athena!
Somatic practice at retreats in Bali!