About Me — so glad we’ve crossed paths

Susan Reis | Integrative Somatic Practitioner, Developmental & Psychosynthesis Coach

Nervous System Reorganization · Relational Repatterning · Contemplative Depth · Psychosynthesis & Developmental Integration · Conscious Growth

My background is as a meditation teacher and somatic nervous system work was a natural evolution because, from my perspective, it is the same work of building capacity for presence. In genuine contemplation what stands in the way of inner spaciousness is what needs to be processed.

This work rests on that philosophy. Trauma is not ‘stored in the body’ but in perception, in the sense of self and other through which we experience, and the body is the vehicle through which this is expressed or braced against. When that perception cannot fully be realized, it organizes around protection. Presence is the capacity to meet and metabolize it, compassion is what makes that possible, and the body-mind connection is the channel through which it moves.

My approach is fundamentally developmental: grounded in modern neuroscience, refined with psychosynthesis, and deepened by timeless contemplative wisdom, refining perception and meeting unconscious material wherever it lives: breath, posture, tension, emotion, connection, and identity.

My work is contemplative but also deeply personal. I know firsthand the experiences of disconnection and chronic pain, and I meet each person with the presence and care I once needed myself. My death doula work has been among my greatest teachers; it is where presence, which is another word for surrender, is most fully demanded and most fully given.

I weave three dimensions of the self: the personal, interpersonal, and transpersonal, opening the capacity for deeper connection with ourselves, others, and life itself, and moving beyond endless fixing of the past into renewed inspiration.

I live in New York City, I don't belong to any one method or tradition, and I center a deep respect for the complexity and potential of what it means to be human. I love to support others in building the capacity for presence, our own manyfold complexity, and a life lived from the inside out, so experience can move through us. I’m glad we’ve crossed paths.

—Susan Reis

Certifications , Trainings, and Experience

Neuro & Emotional Processing

  • MS in Applied Neuroscience (in process)

  • Certified Integrative Somatic Trauma Practitioner

  • Certified in Brainspotting (BS)

  • Dynamic Attachment Repatterning Experiencing Certified Practitioner (DARe)

  • Somatic Experiencing (SEP) Practitioner-in-Training

  • Biodynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release System Certified Practitioner (BBTRS)

Presence / Contemplative / Subtle Systems

  • Certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher

  • Compassion-Based Resilience Training Certified Instructor (Nalanda Institute)

  • Contemplative Practice teacher (non-dogmatic Christian Mysticism rooted presence and spiritual practice)

  • Nejang Healing Yoga Teacher (non-dogmatic Buddhist Vajrayana practice of subtle energy points aligned somatic breathwork)

  • Reiki Practitioner

Identity / Psyche / Meaning

  • Certified Hypnotist (NGH)

  • Certified Psychosynthesis Life Coach

  • Graduate Certificate in Jungian Studies & Analytical Psychology (Pacifica)

  • Archetypal & Evolutionary Astrologer

Physiological Retraining

  • Certified Buteyko Breathing Instructor

Existential / Acute

  • Volunteer End-of-Life/Death Doula

  • Hospice Volunteer

  • Living/Dying Project Volunteer

  • NOVA Crisis Response Trained & Volunteer

  • ICISF Individual & Group Crisis Intervention Trained

Values

Self-Acceptance & Individuation

Transformation isn’t about becoming someone else—it’s about shedding protective identities and returning to who you’ve always been. Individuation means deep self-acceptance, de-conditioning, and reclaiming your own inner authority—awakening radical self-worth and intrinsic meaning that isn’t dependent on external validation.

Not Just Healing, but Being

I don’t pathologize every quirk or keep you stuck in endless cycles of healing. My work supports you in moving beyond the need to endlessly fix, into the freedom of simply being—ever-evolving, present, and whole.

Compassionate Presence

Healing doesn’t come from a single modality but from presence itself. I integrate diverse tools while prioritizing attunement, resilience, and compassionate presence as the foundation of every session. What I call compassionate presence is at the core of my work and life philosophy.

Integrity & Care

I’m a somatic practitioner grounded in extensive training, contemplative wisdom, and ethical integrity. I take my clients’ care seriously, continue to learn and refine best practices, and communicate transparently if something isn’t a fit for my work. I also maintain my own self-implemented client-centered confidentiality protocols, which you can ask me about at any time.

Heart Mysticism, Trauma Science, and Healing from the Inside Out

Contemplative wisdom, known as mysticism in the past, has carried the arts of presence, resilience, and expanded consciousness as pathways of self-healing long before modern neuroscience has begun to affirm them. Rather than lineage doctrine, what I refer to as simply heart mysticism is rooted in direct, intimate contact with experience and the inner world, and the transformation of the heart. I ground this early orientation through nervous system and trauma-resolution science as human experience grows increasingly complex.

From this view, healing is not about fixing but about returning to loving presence, pure will, and our true self at our core. This return unfolds through the careful development and integration of a grounded sense of self and the processing of experience, allowing awareness to settle into a deeper center of gravity and lived wholeness.

Compulsiveness, dogma, and certainty are not consistent with healing or mysticism. Both require humility, unknowing, and presence. Through this orientation, we enter a living feedback loop between psyche and life, where past and future are continuously re-participated from timeless present awareness — retaining the innate capacity to unfold in each moment with a lightness of being and heaviness of aliveness.

—Susan Reis