With Paul David Shea, RSMT, E-RYT

About My Approach

I believe healing happens not only through insight, but through relationship and trust — with ourselves, our bodies, our stories, and our lived experience.

This work exists alongside the broader vision of Breathing Lotus Living Arts, where healing is approached through multiple pathways of embodiment and connection. My somatic therapy practice offers a more individualized space to explore trauma, grief, nervous system healing, and emotional well-being through a trauma-informed lens.

My trauma-informed approach rooted in the understanding that difficult experiences often leave imprints beyond language. While traditional conversation can offer meaningful understanding, healing can also emerge through the body's wisdom and through creative forms of expression.

Together, we may explore experiences through:

• Somatic and body-based awareness

• Talk therapy & Self Inquiery

• Expressive movement practices

• Therapeutic and mindful writing

• Touch-based bodywork (when appropriate and collaboratively agreed upon)

• Nervous system regulation practices

• Mindfulness and embodied presence

Every session is collaborative and adapted to your needs, pace, and comfort.

Areas of Support

I work with individuals experiencing:

• Grief and loss

• Trauma and post-traumatic stress

• Anxiety and chronic stress

• Life transitions

• Emotional numbness or disconnection

• Relationship challenges

• Identity and meaning-making

• End of Life Care

• Experiences of overwhelm, burnout, or feeling "stuck"

Trauma and Grief

Grief and trauma often ask for gentleness rather than urgency.

Sometimes loss changes our relationship with the world, with our bodies, and with ourselves. Trauma can create patterns of protection that once helped us survive but may no longer serve us. Together we create a space where healing does not require force or performance.

Our work may involve learning to listen to the body's signals, creating safety, making space for emotion, and finding ways to reconnect with meaning, movement, and aliveness.

One Frequently Asked Question

What is Somatic Therapy?

Somatic therapy is a body-centered therapeutic approach that recognizes the connection between emotional experience, physical sensation, and the nervous system. Rather than focusing solely on thoughts or memories, somatic work invites attention to what is happening in the present moment within the body.

By integrating awareness, movement, expression, and relationship, somatic work can support healing in ways that feel grounded and embodied.

Healing does not mean becoming someone new. Sometimes healing is a process of returning — slowly, gently: to the parts of yourself that have always been waiting.

I would be honored to support you there.