Welcome to the Intersection of Trauma Therapy, Somatic Psychology & Mindfulness

Hello, I’m Manuela, Trauma Expert and Embodied-Dharma Teacher

Bestselling Author
Founding Co-Director & Senior Faculty of Hakomi Institute of California
International Psychology & Mindfulness Educator
Trauma-Somatics for Organizations & Executives
Licensed Master Psychotherapist
Cross-cultural Change Agent
& Believer in the Resilience of People

For over 25 years, Manuela Mischke-Reeds, LMFT’s, career as a pioneer in the field of trauma recovery and healing has spanned the globe.

  • From early work with torture survivors from Latin America and South East Asia

  • To consulting with Silicon Valley CEOs to help them become more compassionate and effective leaders

  • Offering a multicultural lens while training and speaking on international platforms in New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Columbia, Tanzania, Israel, China, and more

  • Working to restore the nervous system of firefighters through embodied mindfulness practices and therapy

  • Training mental health professionals in somatic therapies

  • And developing influential curriculum integrating trauma and stress techniques that changed the toolkit for a generation of therapists and thought leaders

Trauma can be a gateway to healing individual and collective experiences.

I began my professional life working with torture survivors and soon realized that talking about their pain wasn't enough to heal their trauma.

While it was a vital part of the process, it was not enough to simply hear what my clients were experiencing: flashbacks, states of frozenness, night terrors, anxiety and depression—the classic symptoms of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). 

These clients did not have the complete language to express their pain but their bodies did.

I learned the body’s expressions and patterns of breath—and began to discover the pathways in which fear and healing coexisted in the body.

Decoding this silent language of the body revealed its innate ability to heal.

We can all reconnect with our innate ability to self-heal. “Somatic” means of the body

Just as emotional intelligence rewards us with rich relationships with others, somatic intelligence allows us to

  • Heal oneself using the language of the body

  • Transform overwhelming stress

  • Recover from trauma symptoms

  • Learn to thrive with a growth mindset

  • Become more compassionate and effective leaders

  • Tune in and become mindful

  • Have better and more conscious relationships

  • Strengthen our communities by comprehending the interplay of how trauma impacts every layer of society

  • Our bodies hold innate wisdom that we can access for ourselves and others