my story

I moved to Boston at 18, beginning what has been a 37-year journey of education and mind-body practices in search of a deep understanding and experience of healing and wholeness. Drawn to working with children and families, I started my career in early childhood education. Around that time, I took my first yoga class, in the carpeted hallway of a community center nearby. I fell in love with yoga - its mindful breathing, philosophy, and moving meditation.

Through my yoga practice, acupuncture, psychotherapy, homeopathy and herbal medicine, I found support for my own healing. In 1996, I completed yoga teacher training and had my first serious experiences with meditation focused on the Bhagavad Gita. This early practice of yoga and meditation has influenced everything I’ve done since.

Over the next few years, I taught yoga, trained and practiced as a massage therapist, and had children. During my first pregnancy, I met a postpartum doula at our home birth class and immediately knew that I was meant to support new parents and infants through the early days, weeks, and months of finding a new normal as a family.

I also continued my meditation and spiritual studies in a Christian Mystical tradition. This path brought me and my young family from Boston to the West Coast, where we settled in Seattle in 2001 with our three children under five. It was then that my vision of providing postpartum doula care began to take shape. I worked as a postpartum doula while also serving as a minister-priest and director/co-director of a meditation center and spiritual school until 2012. This period of my life was devoted to community, service, and disciplined spiritual practice. It was meaningful, transformational, and also exhausting.

In 2005, I returned to school for a master’s in Organizational Psychology, which helped me recognize myself as an agent of change - a realization that laid the foundation for my work as a health coach. After graduation and several years of working within organizations navigating change, I longed to continue my exploration of healing and wholeness.

In 2012, I took a year-long sabbatical from my ministry, during which time I immersed myself in the study and practice of nonviolent communication, peace practices, and restorative justice. It was clear that it was time to step away from spiritual community and to come back to myself. Alongside this, I came to realize that I had failed to be a true friend to myself in meditation and in life, and that I had pushed myself too far. I was navigating chronic pain and trauma that needed my attention.

As life quieted, I turned my focus back to healing through gentle bodywork, completing my certification as a reflexologist, and returning to a consistent yoga practice while training in adaptive yoga. Working again within the field of holistic health and mind-body wellness set the stage for my readiness to step into my life as a health coach.

Coaching is a space where all the best parts of myself can express and support others. My clients might not know it, but I often leave a session joyfully exclaiming to an empty room, “I love coaching!” I’m in awe of the resilience and capacity of the human spirit and humbled by the courage it takes to know oneself deeply, be on one’s own side, and try something new. I believe in self-responsibility, self-advocacy, and the healing power of having a compassionate witness to support one’s unfolding. I’ve had many practitioners, teachers, and friends who’ve helped me get to this space, and I’m truly honored to be trusted to support others’ healing and expansion.

In the summer of 2017, our car was unexpectedly hit while I was driving on a highway outside of Boston. The shock and injury from the impact of the car accident defined the next several years for me. I sustained a neck and shoulder injury, a mild traumatic brain injury, and PTSD. In addition to 18 months of headaches, balance issues, and chronic pain, I struggled with cognitive challenges such as memory, initiation, and executive function. I worked with a cognitive therapist, physiatrist, and holistic chiropractor through the slow process of recovery.

I couldn’t understand why the healing took as long as it did. I was grappling with sleep disturbances, joint and muscle pain, digestive issues, weight gain, metabolic concerns, anxiety, and brain fog. Perhaps aggravated by my inability to think clearly post-accident, I didn’t initially realize that many of these symptoms were due to perimenopause. Only in retrospect have I come to feel deep tenderness and patience with myself during that time. Healing takes as long as it takes, through all of it, I’ve become more aware and compassionate in response.

As I was able, I returned to coaching and postpartum care. Most recently, I was invited to stand as a menopause doula alongside a friend of a friend moving through surgical menopause. The same spark of knowing that first ignited when I met a postpartum doula returned to me. I found The Menopause School and completed my certification as a menopause doula. Navigating menopause can be confusing, and no one should go through it alone. I wish I had a menopause doula myself - it would have helped.

As my body and brain healed, the pandemic years followed, and were marked by profound grief, loss, and uncertainty for all of us. Even now, as the world continues to shift in ways that we can’t predict, we’re faced with challenges that often feel overwhelming. Stress is high and it’s impacting our health. We need to generously take care of ourselves and take care of one another with kindness, compassion, and patience.

As I reflect on my own story, I feel a deep sense of acceptance and gratitude for it all. The love and the heartbreak of life are both necessary in the process of transformation. Healing is never a straight line, it can be hard and it’s complicated at times, but it’s purposeful. From my first experiences with yoga to my work as a health coach and menopause doula, each step brought me closer to an understanding of what it means to heal, both individually and collectively.

I know firsthand the power of self-compassion and the importance of having a supportive witness. I don’t take lightly the trust placed in me by those I work with, and I remain deeply committed to helping others uncover their own strength and healing potential. I don’t underestimate what I’ve been prepared for - I’ve learned to hold space, offer presence, and witness the unfolding of others. It’s an honor to make myself available to anyone who can benefit from the work I do.

I’m here for you if you need me.
Cella