Improve your results in trauma treatment. Help clients reconnect with their somatic intelligence through powerful, integrative techniques.
Somatic Psychotherapy & Trauma-Sensitive Movement Retreat — Develop Powerful Trauma Treatment Skills While Experiencing the Transformative Power of Somatic Practice Yourself
Join Manuela Mischke-Reeds, MA, MFT, for an immersive 7-night retreat combining professional training with personal renewal on Costa Rica's Pacific coast. Learn practical, evidence-informed somatic psychotherapy and trauma-sensitive movement techniques you can immediately apply in your work with trauma, PTSD, complex trauma, anxiety, and stress-related disorders. Through interactive lectures, live demonstrations, and experiential practice, you'll learn to assess client readiness for body-based interventions, recognize trauma through nervous system and movement cues, and help clients move toward resilience, regulation, and lasting healing.
Blue Spirit Retreat Center, Nosara, Costa Rica · January 9–16, 2027
My newest book, Embodied Pschedelic Therapy, is now available for order online!
Hello, I’m Manuela Mischke-Reeds, MFT — a somatic trauma psychotherapy expert, international Hakomi trainer, and movement educator.
I have spent three decades pioneering somatic approaches to trauma recovery, weaving together therapeutic practice, teaching, and cross-cultural experience. My work is grounded in a multicultural lens—shaped by living and teaching across diverse contexts—and dedicated to making healing practices accessible to individuals, communities, and leaders worldwide.
Alongside this international work, I have maintained a private practice in Northern California for over 30 years, working directly with clients. This clinical foundation continues to shape and refine the practices I now teach worldwide.
I have worked with many forms of trauma, including the profound impacts of torture, kidnapping, and sexual trauma. Often, clients cannot find words for their pain, but their bodies speak volumes.
Through studying diverse somatic therapies, I learned to recognize and interpret the body’s language: subtle shifts and expressive movements, postures and gestures, breath patterns and sounds. These expressions reveal where fear and healing coexist in the body. Decoding this silent language reveals the body’s innate somatic intelligence and opens the path to recovery.
Building on this realization, I have applied, researched, and innovated somatic therapies for trauma treatment. My work integrates somatic approaches with emerging modalities such as psychedelic-assisted therapy, and led to the creation of ISITTA™ (Innate Somatic Intelligence™ Trauma Therapy), an integrative, movement-based method for healing trauma.
Early in my career, working with torture survivors showed me that talk therapy alone could not heal such profound pain.
Some of my most sought-after professional training programs include:
Hakomi — a mindfulness-based somatic psychotherapy method that deepens therapeutic presence and effectiveness
“ISITTA™ (Innate Somatic Intelligence™ Trauma Therapy) — a pioneering integrative, movement-based method I developed for healing trauma.”
Hakomi Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy — integrating somatic and psychedelic-assisted methods to expand trauma treatment possibilities
Hakomi-Informed Somatic Coaching — applying Hakomi methodology within a coaching framework to support transformational change
Continuum — a movement-based somatic therapy that supports trauma resolution and nervous system regulation
Upcoming Events
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The Therapist Seat at PVI conference - Sitges
Join us September 22, 2026, live in person or virtually online, for The 2026 PVI International Gathering: Navigating Conflict with a Resilient Nervous System. This conference explores how polyvagal principles help individuals and communities move through conflict with flexibility, groundedness, and connection, with global experts, Embodiment Sessions, learning, co-regulation, and community.
September 22, 2026 · Sitges, Spain
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Somatic Psychotherapy & Trauma-Sensitive Movement Retreat
Join internationally renowned somatic trauma therapist Manuela Mischke-Reeds, MA, MFT, for an immersive 7-night retreat combining professional training with personal renewal on Costa Rica's Pacific coast. Learn practical, evidence-informed somatic psychotherapy and trauma-sensitive movement techniques you can immediately apply in your work with trauma, PTSD, complex trauma, anxiety, and stress-related disorders. Through interactive lectures, live demonstrations, and experiential practice, you'll learn to assess client readiness for body-based interventions, recognize trauma through nervous system and movement cues, and help clients move toward resilience, regulation, and lasting healing. Earn up to 19 CE hours in an all-inclusive package (starting at $3,225) that includes lodging, gourmet vegetarian meals, and access to the beach, saltwater infinity pool, and spa.
Blue Spirit Retreat Center, Nosara, Costa Rica · January 9–16, 2027
We can all reconnect with our innate ability to self-heal.
For immediate insights, consult my books:
Somatic Psychotherapy Toolbox: 125 Worksheets and Exercises for Trauma and Stress (PESI, 2019)
Embodied Psychedelic Therapy: A Somatic Guide (W.W.Norton, 2025)
Trauma-Sensitive Movement: 96 Somatic Techniques to Support Nervous System Regulation and Embodied Transformation in Therapy (PESI, 2025)
8 Keys to Practicing Mindfulness: Practical Strategies for Emotional Health and Well-being (W.W.Norton, 2015)