Is to guide counter-oppressive, collapse & trauma-aware, neurocognitive-aware, and accessible somatic, embodiment, meditation & Radical Dharma offerings for folks with limited access to resources, and their co-conspirators.
I envision a future where the somatic, emotional & revolutionary healing & repair needs of all oppressed peoples are easily accessible and fully resourced through transformative approaches counter to state institutions and center collective solidarity.
Healing at the root causes & conditions that are typically symptom-placated & unconsciously upheld by underlying & interlocking systems of oppression.
Reducing harm through generative conflict, sustaining relation through rupture & repair, and not doing the state’s work for it by cultivating alternatives to the state carceral system.
Removing the colonialist levers that bar entry to restorative healing for those that need it most.
Increasing interdependent agency through collective wisdom share, without manipulative advertising tactics. FREE resource share & community vetted referral networking.
U.C. Berkeley Awareness Training Institute & Greater Good Science Center Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program w/ Jack Kornfield & Tara Brach, Scholarship recipient and 2023 graduate.
Mindfulness Mentor Training Program w/ Jack Kornfield & Tara Brach, CloudSangha, FULL scholarship recipient and 2024 graduate.
Living Dharma Program, Spirit Rock Meditation Center, partial scholarship recipient, 2024.
Certificate in Collaborative Impact & Leadership, UMSL Community Innovation & Action Center, 2024.
The Politics of Trauma 2.0: Embodied Transformation in Polarization, Grief and Overwhelm w/ Staci Haines, 2025.
Embodied Conflict Resolution Certificate w/ Kai Cheng Thom at EmbodyLab, 2025.
Mindfulness Meditation Teaching Certification embedded DEIA 6-month module, Jan '22.
The Power of Awareness Course Certification w/ Jack Kornfield & Tara Brach - U.C. Berkeley & Sounds True, 2020
International Spring Retreat: Blossoming of Insight w/ Christiane Wolf MD PhD, Celeste Young, Jake Dartington, InsightLA, 2021
White Awake: Radical Anti-Bias Education - Cultivating True Comrades In Struggle, 2022
artEquity: Everyday Justice, Anti-Racism Training, 2022
Adult Mental Health First Aid, National Council for Mental Wellbeing, 2022
Youth Mental Health First Aid, National Council for Mental Wellbeing, 2023
First Aid, CPR, AED, Red Cross, 2022
Virginia Polytechnic University - Bachelor of Arts: Mass Communications, Minor English: Creative Writing, Minor: Studio Art, 2003
As I continue my journey on the path as a Somatic Systems Weaver this list will grow and evolve along the pace that my offerings do, and shall likely never be an exhaustive list.
I am by no means an authority on the entire field of somatics & embodiment, all of Radical Dharma & Buddhism, nor am I a licensed therapist or certified to diagnose or treat physical or mental illness, and do not study or work in the clinical setting. I am a layperson who approaches these teachings & technologies in their counter-institutional, pre & post colonial wisdom as a pathway to offering counter-oppressive healing the best that I am able in this body, in my lived experience, toward loosening the conditions and perpetuation of systemic oppression & collective suffering of our world. I earnestly choose to walk the Engaged Eightfold Path as an active participant in composting the fallout of intergenerational trauma and oppression. I am but another candle along the way of non-hierarchical, non-carceral, non-pathologizing, community re-pair as an uninvited, far-from-home, visitor currently residing upon the occupied, and forcibly ceded lands of the Osage Nation, Illini Confederacy and Missouri Peoples past and present. I humbly take the following steps to establish a Revolutionary Somatic curriculum that is as accessible, inclusive, equitable and diverse as possible.
For there are no captains on Starship Earth, only crew.
I welcome all feedback if you have taken a class, practice session or workshop with me at this form or reach out to me at deanna@sovereign-somatics.com. Sharing your experience contributes to my practice of consciously uprooting my unconsciousness, as a daily awakening BEing in our world.
My Communication & Discussion Agreements, which are foundational to the virtual community, in-person facilitation and all online interactions, are adapted from the East Bay Meditation Center / VISIONS INC. Community Agreements for Multicultural Interactions.
I abide by the professional code of ethics established with my teaching certification as well as the traditional, Buddhist 5 Precepts.
All course work is offered sliding scale, establishing a solidarity economic structure that invites those with more systemic privilege to give generously & earnestly towards accessible healing for those with limited access to resources (aka the Buddhist concept of “dana” in 2025 Radical Dharma language).
My teachings, talks and resource lists include quotes, concepts, examples and links credited to teachers & guides of all identities.
Closed captioning option is available on virtual sessions. Audio version available for blog postings. Inclusion of visual aid slides available as widely as possible.
Refraining from usage of AI as widely as possible. No original writings or teachings are produced with AI support, some marketing apps use AI without my ability to turn it off. I additionally support localized policy efforts to ban data centers from my community and push legislative agendas to force AI companies to pay for their own usage & infrastructure as well as divest from racial capitalist & war profiteering surveillance technologies.
Continuing anti-oppression and anti-racism training and grassroots engagement.
Inclusion of feedback forms (with an anonymous option) for all coursework and a commitment to directly addressing occurrences of my own bias and harm openly and directly.