Stephanie Parker (she/her) is a Black, Queer intuitive somatic healer (Somatic Experiencing Practitioner in Training), licensed Nia movement instructor, and anti-oppression facilitator based in Oakland, California. She creates safe, affirming, sacred, decolonial spaces, guiding in a nonhierarchical way that allows collective wisdom to emerge from the group. Stephanie is initiated in Afro-Cuban spiritual practice, and weaves sacred ritual into all of her offerings.

 

She was called to the path of ancestral healing by her own body’s divine act of refusal in the form of severe upper body-wide nerve pain, a condition that led her to step away from both her social justice organizing work and decade-long career in the tech industry. Stephanie’s search for relief led her to her first Nia Dance class, where she experienced the physical release of trapped emotions, loving intergenerational community, and the embodied sensation of feeling both freedom and safety at the same time. It was this spirit-led encounter that served as a catalyst for her decision to walk in her purpose as a healer.

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In her work, Stephanie draws upon the modalities that have been most supportive in her own healing journey: Somatic Experiencing Therapy, Nia Dance, Chronic Pain & Inflammation Research, Yoga, Parts Work, and Trauma-Informed Nonviolent Communication. She brings a liberatory, anti-oppressive lens to these modalities, and pays respect to some of her greatest teachers who did the same: Malidoma Patrice Somé, Resmaa Menakem, Assata Shakur, Angel Kyodo Williams, and Frantz Fanon.