ASHLEY BERRY IS A BAY AREA-BASED PROFESSIONAL WHO WEAVES SOMATIC, EROTIC, AND CONSCIOUS COMMUNICATION PRACTICES TO SUPPORT INDIVIDUALS AND COMMUNITIES TO EXPERIENCE GREATER SAFETY, INTIMACY, PLEASURE, AND CONNECTION WITH SELF, OTHERS, AND NATURE.
I am currently prioritizing inquiries from folks who are attempting to make sense of their lives in this time of upheaval and quarantine related to COVID-19 and its emotional, cultural, and economic ripple effects.
If you are feeling lost, scared, confused, and in need of an anchor, please reach out.
If you are feeling strangely activated, awake and inspired, and seeking greater clarity and contextual understanding for your experience, I look forward to discovering how I can best be of service as a Reflector.
ABOUT ME
Living In The Comfort Of Our Own Skin
My personal and professional life has been a rich exploration into embodiment, mindfulness, reclamation of sexual energy as life force, and conscious relating as pathways to experience a peaceful sense of ease and connection.
My background is in psychology, Hatha yoga, Thai massage, herbalism, various forms of expressive movement and dance, conscious communication practices (including The Way of Council and Non Violent Communication), sacred sexuality and kink, the intersections of grief and pleasure, and exploring the unconscious through art, dreamwork, and movement. These explorations have supported me to experience greater sovereignty and intimacy, with the ultimate goal of experiencing true belonging with self, others and the natural world.
My spiritual path is one of learning to be human, learning to be in a body, and learning to consciously communicate and connect with self, others, and nature in service to what I see as the reason we are here: to be in relationship with the aliveness within and around us through a multi sensory experience, and to enjoy a sense of belonging within this experience. In cultivating an ever more conscious and loving relationship with the aliveness that is unfolding, exactly as it is unfolding in each moment, we come to see how everything has it’s place. We also begin to access our innate capacity to shape our own experience in ways that open the aperture on what is possible for us to create for ourselves.
Radically accepting what is has no complacency in it. It is not a process of looking at oppressive internal and external structures and saying “Ok, I guess that’s how it’s going to be so I’ll just submit to this inevitable and tragic reality.” No, it is not that. Rather, it is a courageous willingness to perceive what is, as it is, and thus open ourselves to perceive what is possible to create with the situation or the materials at hand. It’s saying “Ok, this is what’s happening, AND, I would prefer to exist within a structure that supports safety, liberated expression, and belonging for all beings. What are the materials I can see, and how might I use those materials in conjunction with my own gift and interests, to help create a new system more in alignment with my own values?” Through this process of acceptance that leads to clear seeing, we begin to discover greater agency and choice in how we play with the materials of our life. We start to take ownership over each moment as a choice point: how do I want to respond or play with what is here, in this moment? And to what end?
Imagine two artists faced with a seemingly discordant array of materials: some conventionally pretty; some frustratingly unwieldy to work with; some downright confounding; some so tiny as to seem maddeningly elusive and imperceptible. One artist looks at the materials and throws up his hands in defeat, believing he will never be able to create beauty from this madness, disheartened as he is that these were not the materials he had wanted. The second artist, rather patiently and with playful experimentation, begins to make choices about how to relate with the materials, orienting them together in space and time in various configurations until coherence emerges. And in the event that coherence does not emerge, there is the possibility of a simple delight at the creativity and learning that happened in the process.
Which kind of artist do you want to be on the canvas of your life?
APPROACH
Creative Alchemy Rooted in Embodiment
Our work is anchored in a relationship to the physical body, utilizing breath and sensation as a point of focus and ground. In circumstances where the relationship to the physical body does not yet feel fully safe or available, we use relationship to the Earth body and environment as the primary anchor.
Within this container, which honors your body and beingness as your Guru (Gee, You Are You), my role is one of presence and paying attention on multiple levels, in order to identify key themes of your life experience.
“To pay attention means we care, which means we really love.” - Krishnamurti
I weave what I perceive into a coherent message, and deliver that message to you with clarity, kindness, compassion, and curiosity. The process of reflecting your Self to you is intended to support self understanding, self compassion, and eventually integration as you move towards an ever more friendly and loving relationship with your whole self, exactly as you are. There are no problems to fix. Growth and transformation occur naturally in the field of radical self acceptance. Once we see clearly what materials you are working with, we begin an alchemical process of transforming the raw material of your experiences into a meaningful, creative life story.
I pay attention to the following as the foundation of my practice:
1) Somatic cues (posture, breath, facial expression, movement and stillness patterns, gestures).
2) Emotional states (attuning to perceive overt or underlying presence of fear, grief, anger, shame, joy).
3) Mental states (attuning to communication style, mental habits, thought patterns, language choice).
4) Relationship states (description of relationships, ways of relating witnessed in sessions, consent capacity, responsiveness, reactivity, receptivity, capacity to take in connection, attunement to desires, relationship to sexual energy).
5) Intuition/messages from soul/spirit/psyche (does not depend on any particular set of spiritual beliefs, but it helps if you believe in some kind of higher power. Includes working with the unconscious, messages from spirit guides, and messages from the land/the elements).
My intention and desire is to support you in encountering yourself in increasingly kind, compassionate, creative, exciting, inspiring, and possibility-oriented ways, at a pace that feels both safe and appropriately challenging. I take joy in meeting you where you're at and walking alongside you in the direction you most want to go.
LIFE COACHING SESSION
Life throws many surprises at us, and while we cannot predict the outcome of any situation, we can take control of how we respond to certain situations. With my coaching sessions, you’ll learn about acceptance and how to exert your power of choice over whatever life may throw at you.
CAREER COACHING SESSION
This service is a favorite among many of my clients, as it is often times one of the keys to a happier, healthier life. My job is to give you the tools and techniques to achieve a balanced and fulfilling lifestyle. After several sessions, you will become well-versed at handling issues whenever and wherever they arise. Call now to schedule a session.
“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does”
William James
SCHEDULE A SESSION
500 Terry Francois Street San Francisco, CA 94158
123-456-7890
