My interest in embodied psychotherapy emerged gradually, through both clinical work and personal experience.
As I moved through traditional psychotherapy training, I became increasingly aware of a recurring pattern, both in myself and in the clients I was seeing. Insight was present. Language was present. Understanding was present. And yet, for many, the felt experience of change remained limited. Patterns were named, but not always transformed.
In my own life, I noticed a similar divide. While I could articulate what I was thinking and feeling, my body told a different story that was marked by tension, fatigue, and a sense of disconnection that insight alone did not resolve.
This gap became central to my clinical curiosity. It raised a fundamental question: What supports change that is not only understood, but lived?
That question led me toward somatic and neuroscience-informed approaches that attend directly to the nervous system and the body’s role in how experience is organized. As these methods became part of my own practice and my work with clients, the difference was clear. When the body is included, change becomes more stable, integrated, and sustainable.
This work is the result of that integration—bringing together depth-oriented psychotherapy, neuroscience, and embodied practice in a way that respects both complexity and pace.
I’m Alex. I work with women and adolescent girls who are capable and self-aware, yet feel disconnected from their bodies or stuck in patterns that don’t shift through understanding alone. Much of my work focuses on bridging that gap: between insight and experience, reflection and embodiment, coping and integration.
meet the founder
Many protective patterns develop early, shaped by relationships, expectations, and environments where it wasn’t fully safe to feel, express, or slow down. Over time, they can become so familiar that they begin to feel like personality, temperament, or simply “how I am.”
Because these responses live in the body, they don’t reliably shift through awareness alone. You can understand where they come from and still find yourself responding in the same ways. When the body is approached with patience and attunement rather than pressure, new possibilities emerge. Emotional experience expands, protective responses soften, and change becomes felt—not just understood.
This understanding is what informs how I work: slowly, collaboratively, and with deep respect for the body's process. When the body is approached with patience and attunement rather than pressure, new possibilities emerge. Emotional experience expands, protective responses soften, and people often begin to develop a greater sense of trust in themselves.
Much of what we experience as disconnection is not a failure of insight, but a protective response held in the body.
This is what I came to understand—both personally and through my clinical work. When the body has learned to stay guarded or tense, experience naturally narrows. Sensation dulls, emotional range contracts, and life can begin to feel distant or muted—not because something is wrong, but because the nervous system is doing what it learned to do to cope.
Often, these changes begin quietly. A pause where there used to be reactivity. The ability to notice discomfort without shutting down. A growing trust in internal cues that were once ignored or overridden. Over time, these small moments accumulate, reshaping how safety, agency, and choice are experienced.
Rather than learning new ways to override symptoms, many clients begin to recognize and respond to their internal experience with greater trust. Change emerges not as a dramatic breakthrough, but as something integrated into daily life—reflected in how stress is navigated, boundaries are held, relationships are experienced, and emotions are felt.
These shifts tend to last because they are learned through lived experience—not just understood intellectually.
Over time, many clients notice a shift in how they relate to themselves and their experiences. Emotional responses that once felt automatic begin to soften. There is often a growing sense of steadiness, internal space, and trust in their ability to navigate what they feel.
For some, this looks like finally being able to process experiences that had been avoided or held at a distance. For others, it means feeling more present in their bodies, relationships, and daily lives without needing to push, suppress, or over-manage their emotions.
WHAT TENDS TO SHIFT
A dual Columbia graduate, my training integrates traditional psychotherapy with neuroscience. My clinical work has focused on anxiety and stress-related conditions, depression, low self-esteem, grief, and trauma—areas where the nervous system plays a central role in shaping experience.
Earlier in my career, I served in the military and later worked within the VA setting, providing psychotherapy to veterans navigating PTSD. That work profoundly shaped how I understand the body’s response to prolonged stress and trauma, and reinforced the limits of approaches that rely on insight alone.
This led me to pursue advanced training in neuroscience and somatic approaches that attend directly to the mind–body connection. While talking and reflection are essential, they are not sufficient on their own. Incorporating the body allows the work to reach the level where patterns are actually held—and where meaningful, lasting change becomes possible.
This way of working didn’t come from theory alone. It was shaped through years of clinical practice, advanced training, and sustained contact with the realities of trauma, stress, and the nervous system.
The foundation beneath this work matters—because depth requires grounding.
expertise
That's why I believe we absolutely must incorporate the body if we want to show up and feel differently.
Client retention rate after first month
94%
average client decrease in PHQ score
5.3
average client decrease in GAD SCORE
4.8
satisfied clients served
130+
average client satisfaction rate
4.9
master of social work, columbia univ.
msc
master of neuroscience, columbia univ.
msc
completed sessions to date
3000+
my credentials
2010
I graduated high school and joined the military, enlisting in the Air Force! With little resources, but big dreams - I needed a way to fund my education.
The Timeline
Through the years
I finished my four-year enlistment and moved out to Spain to teach English whilst finishing up the last of my bacehlor's degree. Both my body and my spirit needed a little re-set after what was an intense experience!
2014
Completed my bachelor's degree in Psychology, alas feeling like I was making moves towards my mission!
2015
After spending about two years in Barcelona, I moved to New York and enrolled in the post-bacc pre-med program at Columbia University! (At the time, I thought I still wanted to go on to medical school to be a Psychiatrist.)
2016
Plot twist! After years of sleepless nights, my body was begging me for a better way, and I decided to pivot slightly and instead enrolled in Columbia's Social Work program to do psychotherapy. I also got certified to be a mindfulness meditation teacher, understanding firsthand the importance of a holistic approach to wellbeing.
2019
I finished my graduate studies and began working as a full-time psychotherapist! At this time, I also began intensive somatic training to use in tandem with my work.
2021
Fascinated with the brain-body connection, I decided to pursue another graduate degree to further dive into my studies and enrolled in the Neuroscience program at Columbia University.
2023
I launched Ritualize!!! A dream of mine for well over a decade! While there were lots of twists and turns along the way, we arrived... and yet? The journey continues!
2025
Can't wait to see what else unfolds along the way...
here & now
Finally lighting my beautiful candles
Making my own jewelry
That first sip of coffee
Meditating and taking time to recharge
Reading psycho-thrillers in Autumn
Journaling my morning pages
Enjoying a long sauna session
Summers by the beach
My favorite things in life look a little like this.
from our wonderful clients
“Alex holds a deeply embodied presence. I always felt safe and held throughout our sessions, and truly understood in the process.”
“I can’t thank you enough for being such a meaningful support. Alex is exceptional at what she does, and her impact is undeniable.”
“I’m deeply grateful for your support over the years. I’ve worked with several therapists, but I’ve never felt so genuinely understood.”
Again and again, I’ve seen that lasting change rarely comes from forcing ourselves to be different. It emerges through greater awareness, self-understanding, and experiences that allow the nervous system to feel safe enough to respond in new ways.
This work is not about fixing what is broken. It is about creating the conditions for greater flexibility, connection, and trust in yourself over time.
Over more than 3,000 therapy sessions, I’ve witnessed the many ways people adapt to survive difficult experiences. What appears on the surface as anxiety, self-criticism, emotional overwhelm, perfectionism, or disconnection often reflects strategies that once served a protective purpose.
If you’re here, there is a good chance you’ve already spent time trying to understand yourself. You may know where certain patterns come from, yet still find yourself feeling overwhelmed, disconnected, self-critical, or stuck in ways that don’t seem to shift.
Therapy offers an opportunity to move beyond understanding alone. Together, we explore the patterns, beliefs, emotions, and protective responses that may be shaping your experience, while creating space for new ways of relating to yourself and the world around you.
The goal is not simply insight, but meaningful change—greater awareness, emotional flexibility, self-trust, and the ability to respond to life’s challenges with more choice and intention. Together, we work toward that change at a pace the body can trust.
Over time, many clients find that they feel more connected to themselves, more grounded in their relationships, and more confident in their ability to navigate life’s challenges.
So, what does this mean for you?
