About

On this Page: My Path, Training, Testimonial Excerpts

My Path to Bodywork, Birth, & Beyond
Seeds Were Planted....
Since my youth, I have had a deep personal interest in cultivating and promoting emotional and physiologic wellness, as I had a strong conviction that body/mind/spirit have great capacity for healing and vitality. I always wanted to understand what may be at the root of disharmony and learn ways to promote balance through gentle, nurturing, holistic approaches addressing the cause, rather than what I frequently observed others doing -- ignoring problems or only treating symptoms.

In middle school, when a close family member was diagnosed with cancer, I was interested in how food could contribute to healing, how acknowledging and healing pervasive anger and other insidious psychological, emotional, and spiritual wounding could be powerful medicine, how self-care could and probably must require far more than treating the symptoms. My interest in food as medicine, harmony of mind/body/spirit, and self-care very much informs my work to this day.

In high school, when the effects of a major car accident -- which occurred years earlier, during which I was tossed around in a van without seatbelts tumbling down a hill -- caught up to me, I instinctively rejected our family physician's advice to simply take 3 Advil 3 times a day. I knew that was only putting a band-aid on a significant imbalance/trauma and that there was far more that needed to be done than this. This led me into the world of hands-on touch support as a way of supporting balance and integrity in body, mind and spirit.

Interests and experiences such as those described above inspired me to gather knowledge for my own wellbeing and ignited a passion to share with and support others in a deep and meaningful way -- especially along the path towards greater health, self-care, consciousness, connection, and joy.

First Calling....
See here to read about the impact of experiencing my first professional massage and calling to align myself and my future in the healing arts.

Discovering a Bodywork + Self-Care Practice which Sparks Joy for Me
See here to learn about the importance of Breema® (the "Art of Being Present") in my journey.

Awakening Call to Support Families Through Birth....
See here to learn how I discovered the important need for and desire to provide the incredibly valuable service provided by Doulas.

My Training
Bodywork
With over 1,000 hours in professional bodywork training, this began at Santa Fe's New Mexico Academy of Healing Arts, followed by the Bay Area's National Holistic Institute. I soon became nationally certified as a massage therapist through the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork. Thereafter, I continued my training in professional therapeutic touch elsewhere, including:

Myofascial Release I & II & Myofascial Unwinding (with John F. Barnes)
CranioSacral Therapy (Upledger Institute)
Reiki, Emotional Freedom Technique ("EFT") (aka "Tapping"), & Quantum Touch (HCH Institute)
Breema® (with Jon Schreiber, D.C., and countless other Instructors at the Breema Center)
Chi Nei Tsang (abdominal massage) (with Gilles Marin)
Zero-Balancing (with Fritz Smith, MD)
Integral Touch of Birth (with Debra McLaughlin, CPM, LM, CST; Adrienne Caldwell, BCLMT; & Marcello Windolph, Fasciatherapist DBM)

Wisdom Traditions & Contemporary Practices of Consciousness & Well-Being
While my interest in and exploration of gentle, holistic self-care practices of consciousness and well-being began before formal training, my well-being / self-care offerings are informed by years of formal training and practice, such as the bodywork training (described above), yoga (listed below), and more. For example,

My 720 Hour massage certification at NHI was as a Massage Therapist & Holistic Health Educator and accordingly included education on how to support my own as well as my clients' self-care and well-being. Likewise, my bodywork continuing education included EFT (aka "tapping") and Self-Breema Exercises® training, both of which are great self-care practices which I offer to my clients).
I have completed extensive training with Isa Gucciardi at the Foundation of the Sacred Stream (Berkeley, CA) in its Transpersonal Psychology, Buddhist Psychology, Energy Medicine, Applied Shamanism, & Depth Hypnosis programs.
Beyond taking various personal Yoga classes and retreats over many years in various Yoga styles, including hatha, vinyasa, restorative, and yin, I have also completed the following yoga teacher trainings and yoga continuing education workshops:
- Integral Yoga 200 Hour Basic Teacher Training (with Swami Ramananda, E-RYT 500, C-IAYT, Swami Divyananda Ma, E-RYT 500, and Mukunda Morozumi, E-RYT-200)
- Integral Yoga Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training (with Lara Kohn Thompson, E-RYT- 500/PRYT, LMT, & Beth Donnelly Cabán, E-RYT 500, RN, CBE, Birth Doula)
- Integral Yoga Stress Management Teacher Training (with Swami Vidyananda, E-RYT 500, C-IAYT & Swami Ramananda, E-RYT 500, C-IAYT)
- Yin Yoga Teacher Training (with Bernie Clark & Diana Batts)
- Completing 10/2021: Therapeutic Yoga Teacher Training (with Cherie Clampett & Arturo Peal)
- Trauma Informed Care Training — Trauma Sensitive Yoga (with Kelsey Gustafson)
- A Taste of Phoenix Rising: Yoga Therapy & Mind-Body Psychology (with Claudia Bartsch)
- Yoga and the Pelvic Floor: For Women (with Leslie Howard)
After years of rewarding personal practice of TRE® ("Tension, Stress & Trauma Releasing Exercises"), I completed extensive training to become a Certified TRE® Provider so that I could teach TRE® safely to others.
Trauma & the Restoration of Self (with Bessel A. van der Kolk, MD (pioneer, researcher, teacher in post traumatic stress and author of the acclaimed book The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma) and Licia Sky)

Birth and Postpartum Support
I have completed Birth Doula and Postpartum Doula training at Natural Resources (San Francisco, CA) and Labor Doula, Postpartum Doula, & Home Birth training through Cornerstone (San Francisco, CA). I am a Certified Birth and Postpartum Doula through Cornerstone. I have continued my training elsewhere, including:

Integral Yoga Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training (with Lara Kohn Thompson, ERYT- 500/PRYT, LMT, & Beth Donnelly Cabán, E-RYT 500, RN, CBE, Birth Doula)
Spinning Babies® (with Gail Tully, CPM)
Spinning Babies® (with Nicole Morales, CPM)
Tracking Spirit in the Birth Environment (with Isa Gucciardi, PhD)
Innate Postpartum Care (with Rachelle Garcia Seliga, CPM)
Postpartum Sealing (with Tema Mercado, CPM, LM)
Integral Touch of Birth (with Debra McLaughlin, CPM, LM, CST; Adrienne Caldwell, BCLMT; & Marcello Windolph, Fasciatherapist DBM)
Interdisciplinary Workshop for Childbirth Professionals (with Augustine Colebrook, CPM)
Rebozo Workshop (with Gena Garcia-Kirby)
BLS-CPR Certification

What's In the Works: Yoga Therapy & Polyvagal Theory with Marcia Miller

Certified:

~ Birth Doula ~
~ Postpartum Doula ~
~ Prenatal Yoga Teacher ~
~ Yoga Teacher ~
~ Massage Therapist ~
~ Breema® Practitioner ~
~ TRE® Provider ~

Soizig is also a
Spinning Babies® Aware Practitioner and a member of the San Francisco Doula Group.

~ Testimonial Excerpts ~
See here to read these testimonials in their entirety and/or to read others.

"My Breema session with Soizig has had a powerfully profound impact on me...
life-changing!!!" ~excerpt from Troy C's testimonial

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"she had so many great suggestions... it was fantastic to have Soizig... leading to an amazing delivery experience... I really felt like she was dedicated to making the birth experience as amazing as possible for us. I absolutely recommend her as a doula!"
~excerpt from A.L.'s testimonial

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"Soizig put me instantly at ease and her presence seemed to envelop me in a warm cocoon of healing and safety... I felt sweetly cared for and grounded...
Especially recommended...for anyone at any time inhabiting a body!" ~excerpt from L.K.'s testimonial

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"It was so peaceful and nurturing. I honestly didn't want it to end... I would highly recommend Soizig and her Breema services" ~excerpt from Denise D.'s testimonial

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