My name is Jonathan Kennedy. I am the founder of Liberating Bodies Somatic Coaching and a Certified Integrative Trauma Coach through the Aura Institute (now a part of the Integrative Psychology Institute). I am in training to become a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner through Somatic Experiencing International, and I have studied Life Coaching with the Life Purpose Institute and Spiritual Direction with Stillpoint.​

 

Previous to this, I was working for a tech startup. That was never "the plan," however. I have a Master’s degree in Comparative Religion, Ethics, and Pastoral Care and Counseling from Claremont School of Theology (2009). After graduating, I stumbled my way into working in science and technology administration. After an amazing eight years supporting graduate students and research groups at Caltech, I took the startup job. A few years later, I decided it was time to leave--time to seek a vocation more resonant with a deeper sense of purpose, more in line with my natural skills and inclinations. So I am here, now, working to support you in your journey of growth and transformation through somatic coaching.​

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While the work I do takes place in a 1:1 coaching relationship, my work extends beyond "just" the individual. I believe that individual trauma healing and somatic freedom are interwoven with the creation of a more just, sustainable, and life-joy-love-affirming world. Part of healing is confronting the ways that harmful systems like white supremacy, patriarchy, and exploitative capitalism have damaged us as individuals. Acknowledging this interconnection is no different from acknowledging the ways in which an unhealthy family can affect who we are and the traumas we carry. At the same time, I believe we must address the ways we, intentionally or not, contribute to those same harmful systems, just as we would examine the role we play in our current families and seek to not pass on to others the traumas and harms that we experienced.

 

Social, political, and economic realities can destroy or support our ability to live fully and in healthy relationship to ourselves, one another, and the Earth. Our individual traumas can inhibit our abilities to engage with the world and work for its transformation, particularly if we are seeking to affect the world in ways that do not recycle harm into the work we are doing. At the same time, systems rooted in racism, greed, sexism, dehumanization, etc. inflict ongoing traumas on individuals, families, communities, even countries.

 

In my practice of coaching and spiritual direction, I integrate these awarenesses to address how various social systems and realities impact my clients' lives, both internally and externally. I am rooted in the belief that healing, growth, and liberation are inseparable (see Prentice Hemphill's, What it Takes to Heal). To live truly liberated lives, we must engage the full range of traumas, identities, and social systems that shape our lives. My clients bring a broad range of embodied experiences. I am an able-bodied, cisgender, heterosexual white man in my 40s with a history of mental health struggles. Whatever your overlapping identities might be, however they coalesce into the unique person you are, I am here to support you on your journey toward emotional healing and embodied freedom. This is a new idea to many many people. If you have questions, please bring them to your consultation call. If we have to take more time to discuss them, we will. 

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Please use my contact form to ask questions or to request a free 20-minute phone call to explore whether my coaching and/or spiritual direction is a good fit for you.