Welcome!
I would love to support your journey of trusting your inner wisdom, clearing away old patterns and developing new ways of being.
I love taking walks in the forest, near the lake or in the rolling hills near my home-this lifts my heart and spirit!
Since I was very young, my life revolved around movement, nature, and a sense of the sacred. I grew up in a multi-cultural community in Oakland, California, where I still live with my family and cats. My parents raised us in a service-oriented church full of song and celebration, so I grew up with a palpable sense of the sacred. In college, my favorite class was Spiritual Dance- where we explored sacred movement traditions from around the world and danced at the beach under the moon.
In graduate school, I received an M.A. in Transpersonal Counseling became a Registered Dance/Movement Therapist. In my twenties, I began a healing journey where I have consciously danced to work out my feelings, talked to magnificent oaks and granite peaks and co-created healing movement circles with women.
In my first ten years of psychotherapy practice, I primarily used Dance/Movement Therapy in working with individuals and groups. In the next ten years, I studied and practiced a more subtle form of somatic therapy, Hakomi Mindfulness-Based Psychotherapy.
In 2008, I was “called by the trees” to help people connect to nature for healing. Soon afterwards, I discovered the field of Ecotherapy and began studying, training and practicing it. I loved it so much I began teaching it at John F. Kennedy University, online, and in person and in 2013, founded The Earthbody Institute.
My daily, sacred time with the land near my home, has become the central part of my life and work since then. Connecting with redwoods, bay trees, poppy-filled hills, sky and sun are an intimate part of my day and support my healing work.
About six years ago, one of my twins came out as queer. She was followed two years later by her identical twin. My extended family embraced these changes within an amazing amount of acceptance and love. We have been deeply supported on this journey since the beginning with PFLAG. With a special place in my heart, I work for families and individuals who are moving through gender-affirming transitions.
In the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, I reaffirmed my commitment to practicing anti-racist work and since then have been learning with Resmaa Menakem and solidarity groups. We have shifted The Earthbody Institute to actively center embodied social justice, equity and inclusion, and practice a continual attentiveness to our personal and organizational impact.
In the last four years, I became certified in Brainspotting, a brain-based trauma therapy technique. I am phenomenally impressed with how deeply and quickly it shifts adult and childhood trauma and long held patterns in the mind and body. I now use it as a main therapeutic tool.
With over 30 years in the field, I continually weave all my different modalities into my work, depending on what’s most needed at the time. I love meeting you exactly where you are in your life, and exploring and co-creating where you want to go. I hope to meet you and support your journey to more authenticity, joy, energy, and life satisfaction!
With heart,
Ariana
Climate Aware Therapist
This practice is inclusive and welcoming to all
EDUCATION
Master of Arts in Transpersonal and Counseling Psychology, John F. Kennedy University, 1989
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Religion Studies, Santa Clara University, 1982
Dance Movement Therapy coursework for R-DMT Registry, Hayward State University, 1990
RECENT ADVANCED TRAININGS
Climate Psychology in Practice, with Barbara Easterlin, 2022
How to Facilitate and Host a Climate Cafe, 2022
Thrive Beloved Community Journey, 2022
Foundations of Somatic Abolitionism, with Resmaa Menakem, Education for Racial Equity, 2022
My Grandmother’s Hands, Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending our Hearts and Bodies, Year-long Practice Group, 2021
The Climate and Environmental Crisis: A Primer for Psychotherapists, with Wendy Greenspun & Elizabeth Allured, 2021
Brainspotting Phase 4, with David Grand, 2021
Certification in Brainspotting, 2020
Expansion Brainspotting, with Lisa Larson, 2020
Brainspotting Phase 1 & 2, with Lisa Larson, 2019
Ecopsychology Certificate, with Craig Chalquist & Linda Buzzell, 2019
Magic, Medicine and Mysticism, Shamanic training with don Oscar Miro-Quesada, 2017
From Trauma and Dharma, a Somatic Approach to working with Trauma, Manuela Mische-Reeds, 2016
Attending to Attachment, Mindfulness Based Approaches to Healing, Julie Murphy, 2015
The Work That Reconnects, Five-day training with Joanna Macy, 2015
The Nature of Council Leadership Training, School of Lost Borders, 2014
Mirroring the Four Shields of Human Nature: The Art of Storytelling and Listening,
School of Lost Borders, 2013
Ariana Candell 