Meet Laura McKellin | Somatic Counselor & Yoga Teacher

We had the good fortune of connecting with Laura McKellin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Laura, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
My friend, Charlie Birch, calls it the “work-life-play” balance and I love that perspective. You could replace “play” with pray, rest, connect, integrate, advocate etc. You can fill in the last slice of pie with anything that makes life yummy or meaningful to you. Balance is so elusive because you never know the next turn life will take, and each chapter of my life has required a different alchemy for balance. When I was younger, balance was about learning, growing, and working hard. Now, I listen to my body and practice living honestly, kindly, and softly. After two years of continuous uncertainty, ongoing stress, constant change, loss, and burnout, it is such a gift to listen to my body and practice responding to her needs.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a somatic counselor and dance/movement therapist that provides care for those seeking healing and relief from anxiety, depression, and trauma. And what a time it is to be offering this work! People often ask me,”What is somatic?” We hear this word thrown around all the time these days. What does it mean? Somatic psychology is a whole field of psychology that views the self as a form of living wholeness and works to heal the whole living being. The root word, soma, comes from the Greek language and translates to “body”. However, the Greeks did not separate the body from the mind. Soma views the body, mind, and soul as one. This constellation of you, your soma, includes your thoughts, emotions, sensations, movement patterns, muscle tension, motoric movement, holding shapes and gestures of the body. It also includes your sense of soul or soul purpose in this world. What I love most about this work is that it is holistic and welcomes all of you into the healing process.

When I first started providing this work in 2013, I had been teaching yoga full time for four years and I was given the opportunity to provide trauma sensitive yoga in the PTSD and inpatient units at the Veteran Administration Hospital in Denver, CO. I had no idea that this leap of faith would support the creation of Comeback Yoga, a non profit that provides free yoga to veterans and their support network. I loved the challenge and excitement of being on the forefront of a new frontier offering, mentoring, and training teachers in my own style of trauma sensitive yoga derived from my clinical and theoretical studies at Naropa University in Boulder, CO. My approach is grounded in the works of David Emerson, Peter Levine, Stephen Porges, Bessel van der Kolk, Ron Kurtz, Francine Shaprio, and Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen. I will be forever grateful for this opportunity and my ability to be in service and to offer this care.

From my experience I have learned that the body is wise and innately self healing. I help my clients connect to this power by teaching them embodied tools to tap into this inherent and potent medicine that lives within us all. I provide private and personalized somatic sessions in the LA area, and teach my clients the process of embodied awareness that involves unconditioning, unlearning, and rewilding. I find so much joy in bringing people back into their bodies, and find it is very powerful to do so in the comfort of their own homes.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would start the weekend off with a yoga class at Shefayoga Venice then drive up the coast to Malibu to beach hop for the afternoon, with El Matador State Beach’s beauty being the highlight and catch a fresh bite on the way home. There are so many great options on highway 1, my favorite is Malibu Seafood. Day two would begin with brunch – I love Bru’s Wiffle, Gjusta, Salts Cure, Shutter’s on the Beach, and Rose Cafe- followed by a tour of my favorite local hangs in Venice and Santa Monica. Other activities we’d do include biking from Santa Monica up to Malibu or down to Manhattan Beach, shopping on Abbot Kinney, and of course, a stop at the world famous Venice Skate Park. I love to keep things simple, spontaneous, and easy. That said, most weekends I am known to end up at a concert …or two.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Alternative and creative approaches to life appealed to me from a very young age.I remember reading “Dharma Bums” and “Electric Kool-aid Acid Test” in High School.  There are so many people whose creative and embodied work paved the way for my approach to healing.I feel compelled to thank the consciousness expanders in the field of somatic psychology: Susan Aposhayn, Christine Caldwell, Zoe Avstreih, Ryan Kennedy, Arielle Schwartz, and Barb Maiberger. The teachers and mentors I learned from during my studies in Boulder, CO: Derise Anjanette, Merryl Rothaus, my Naropa graduate Cohort, and my yoga family Maggie Haller, Bonnie Pierce, and Katrina Kopeck.

Website: www.lauramckellin.com

Instagram: @lauramckellin