I’m grateful you’re here, welcome

I’m a polyvagal-informed somatic coach & psychedelic integration guide, with a MSc in social and cultural anthropology that deeply informs how I engage with the world and others. I’m a traveller across altered states and the world. I live nomadically, love deeply and long for life’s unknowns, while choosing to feel safe, whole and contained in my body.

I’m also a writer and editor, who’s led content teams for travel tech startups. I continue to work in these roles, plus I use my editorial skills to support entrepreneurs and coaches.

I’m consistently working towards embracing how we can hold the ‘both-and’; how we can be many things, hold many complexities and not need to take an ‘either-or’ approach. I believe we are all so much more capable than we know in this moment, and I believe in leaning into trust and acceptance. Less forcing, more flowing.

❁ Certifying as a mind-body somatic coach and becoming polyvagal-informed, learning to meet and regulate panic, anxiety, process my emotions fully and re-embody after years of disassociation

❁ Conducting ethnographic research at an Ayahuasca lodge in Ecuador for my MSc in social and cultural anthropology, and spending two months writing from the Galápagos

❁ Learning how to support others in preparing for and integrating psychedelic experiences, including Ayahuasca, San Pedro & Psilocybin

❁ Leaving my life in London – choosing the jungles and beaches of Latin America, and finding community in Panama

❁ Living on a remote island of 200 people in Panama for 6 months where I processed a lifetime of stagnant emotions and confronted behavioral patterns

❁ Understanding the importance of social cohesion after such extreme isolation (as if Covid lockdowns weren’t enough!)

❁ Experiencing hours of coaching and therapy to support my embodiment, vision and clarity & to step into my role as a guide

❁ Crying a lot, and making all kinds of sounds and movements, as I came into sobriety and made space for feeling

❁ Becoming aware of the anxious attachment style driving my life, soothing that part of me that feels frightened of being abandoned

❁ Allowing myself to experience and receive meaningful connections, widening my network of friends globally

I believe in a perpetual state of becoming, while also embracing our being qualities. There is no destination, only discovery. What has my path of self discovery looked like?

“I am a human being, meant to be in perpetual becoming. If I am living bravely, my entire life will become a million deaths and rebirths. My goal is not to remain the same but to live in such a way that each day, year, moment, relationship, conversation, and crisis is the material I use to become a truer, more beautiful version of myself. The goal is to surrender, constantly, who I just was in order to become who this next moment calls me to be” – Glennon Doyle, Untamed

My trainings & education

  • I trained to become a certified mind-body coach with The Embody Lab, with teachers including somatic experts Dr. Scott Lyons, Staci Haines and Manuela Mischke-Reeds. Spanning months of study, I gained intellectual and embodied understandings of interoception, neuroception, proprioception and exteroception. I’ve studied embodied introjections and reflections, mapping our body stories, embodied conflict resolution, integrating tensions, conditioned tendencies, working with boundaries and requests, embodying complexity, resisting norms and more. I learned to facilitate a cycle of change through the framework of awareness > feeling > expressing > embodied insight > action, and I came away with a toolkit of somatic practices that I use in my coaching practice.

  • I learned nervous system regulation – including how to shift out of stress responses and into states of engagement, resilience and creativity – with Dr. Stephen Porges and Michael Allison. I studied Allison’s model of The Play Zone, a blended state of safety and mobilisation; of being engaged and metabolically active with our minds and body but not from an underlying place of threat. The Play Zone is grounded in joy, exuberance and deep focus, while the body and mind are aligned, connected to our passions, to others and the world. I refer to this model with clients. We practice tracking, managing and mastering our bodily state – shifting through the performance hierarchy with awareness and efficiency. 

  • I’ve studied psychedelic facilitation, integration and ethics with the likes of Simone Weit of Zendo Project, Adam Aronovich and Licia Sky of the Trauma Research Foundation. Modules included intercultural competency and epistemic humility, trauma and psychedelics, how Zendo harm reduction principles inform psychedelic facilitation and the role of community in psychedelic facilitation. I took a particular interest in learning about an embodied approach to the psychedelic healing journey, and the importance of establishing a relationship with oneself and increasing bodily awareness as a first step towards navigating and transforming trauma. Somatic practices are hugely supportive in the process of psychedelic preparation and integration.

  • I earned my Master’s in Social and Cultural Anthropology at UCL, conducting ethnographic research into Ayahuasca tourism and neoshamanism in the Ecuadorian andes. During this time, I lived at an Ayahuasca and San Pedro retreat centre, volunteering and participating in ceremonies. I completed modules in psychological anthropology, cultural psychology, and the anthropology of religion, plus I audited a module in the history of madness and its cross-cultural perceptions. I wrote papers on cross-cultural understandings of the self, individual and personhood, liminal space and meaning-making within neoshamanism experiences, drawing on rich ethnographies. I bring boundless curiosity and an understanding of cultural differences to my coaching.

  • Somatics comes from the Greek word soma, meaning “the living body in its wholeness.” It refers to the study and practice of understanding the body as an integrated, sentient experience rather than just a physical structure. The body is viewed as more than a collection of bones, muscles and systems – we see it as a dynamic and interconnected living system that holds emotions, memories and patterns of behavior.

    Somatics takes a holistic approach to personal development that integrates the mind, body, and emotions. This method goes beyond traditional talk-based coaching by encouraging embodied practices such as breathwork, mindful movement and grounding techniques. We begin from the place that the mind are interconnected, focusing on understanding how emotions and life experiences are stored and expressed in the body. This practice emphasizes the role of physical sensation and movement in shaping our thoughts, behaviors and overall well-being.

    The body is seen as a key resource for insight and change; it is a source of intelligence and self-awareness. By paying attention to bodily sensations, movement and posture, somatics provides insights into how we experience and interact with the world. I’ll guide you to explore bodily sensations, postures and patterns of movement to uncover unconscious habits and emotional blocks. By tuning into the physical body, you can access deeper levels of self-awareness and unlock new possibilities for growth. Somatic practices help release tension, regulate emotions, and cultivate a sense of presence and agency in your life.

  • ☯︎ My 3-month online Signature Embodiment Mentorship is $1440, which can be paid off on a monthly basis across three months at $480/month.

    ☯︎ My 1:1 and group Somatic Sessions in Bocas del Toro, Panama are $25/per person for a group class and $45 for a 1:1 session. I offer a package of 5 1:1 sessions for $200.

  • The process starts with booking a free 30-minute minute call with me. This initial conversation is a chance for us to connect and talk about what you’re looking for in a coaching partnership. This call is an opportunity to share your story in a relaxed, no-pressure environment.

  • Polyvagal-informed coaching focuses on helping you work with your nervous system to move out of stress-driven responses and into states of connection, calm and clarity. With training from the Polyvagal Institute, I use insights from polyvagal theory to help you understand how your body’s automatic responses shape your thoughts, emotions and behaviors.

    Your nervous system constantly scans your environment, your body and your relationships for cues of safety or danger – without your conscious awareness. These assessments influence your physiological state, which becomes the foundation for patterns like stress, overwhelm or unhelpful habits. Polyvagal-informed coaching works with this system, helping you understand how these patterns emerge and guiding you toward healthier ways of responding.

  • Josephine is a certified somatic coach, and a cultural anthropologist and journalist by training. She earned her Master’s in social and cultural anthropology from UCL, following two months of ethnographic research into Ayahuasca tourism, in the Ecuadorian Andes, and has since lived nomadically in the Americas. Formerly a Londoner, her professional background in travel and lifestyle journalism has seen her review wellness retreats, trends and hotels in Europe.

    As a journalist, she’s babbled at trees and submerged herself in ice for Telegraph Travel, taken in a CO2 bath in the Czech Republic to report on age-old spa traditions for ABTA Magazine, spent the night in an Italian 11th century chapel for Culture Trip, and covered Ukrainian Fashion Week for an independent fashion magazine. As a digital nomad, she’s led editorial teams for travel tech startups, powered by blockchain and AI, commissioning and shaping content and core brand identities.

    Within the somatics, embodiment and psychedelic integration spaces, Josephine has undertaken trainings with The Embody Lab, The Polyvagal Institute and Chacruna Institute. Her somatics and polyvagal teachers include Dr. Scott Lyons, Dr. Stephen Porges, Staci Haines and Manuela Mischke-Reeds, while she has studied psychedelic facilitation and integration training with the likes of Simone Weit, Adam Aronovich and Licia Sky of the Trauma Research Foundation.

  • Anthropology taught me how to ask meaningful questions, consider ethics, and engage fully with the complexities of human behavior and belief systems. These skills are integral to my coaching practice. Central to social and cultural anthropology is ethnographic research – immersive fieldwork to study the dynamics of an environment through participation. My training in this method enables me to cultivate a heightened sense of presence and listening, and attunement to both verbal and nonverbal communication.

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