About me

Kelly Foss

Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner

Bodyworker & CranioSacral Therapist

My Story

THE LEAD-UP

Hello, I’m Kelly. Originally from Richmond, VA, and born with an adventurous spirit, I’ve moved farther and farther west, to Chicago, Los Angeles, the Bay Area, and the Big Island of Hawai’i before calling Joshua Tree, California my home. This corner of the universe is a magnet for creative and independent thinkers who are excellent at navigating extremes, and I love that. Joshua Tree is an incredible ecosystem for transformation on a cellular level, a place of rare beauty where humans and wildlife have a grip on what it takes to survive.

Not knowing you, your strengths or your struggles, it’s important to me now to let you know I wasn’t expecting to become passionate about bodywork and somatic healing at all. Not part of my original life plan—until something unthinkable happened to me.

REAL TALK

When I was 28 years old, I experienced not one, but two, life-disrupting injuries. One required a year of recovery and a commitment to physical therapy. I tore my ACL in a ski accident that was completely my fault, a byproduct of being too inexperienced and too intrepid. The other was a near death experience, by way of a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) that included a skull fracture and stroke, and significant time off work. This one rattled me severely, was most certainly not my fault, and changed me completely.

Through that experience, I grew to appreciate my body and how incredible it is to stand on two legs and walk around without extreme vertigo, to think two coherent thoughts back-to-back without painkillers. Our lives here on this planet are ephemeral in the scheme of things, and it’s a rare day I lose sight of that. It took months and years to get to the poetic perspective, and before that mindset arrived were many chapters of pain—on physical, emotional, spiritual and interpersonal levels.

As I healed, I discovered that being resilient took lots of work. I lost my sense of smell for two years. I experienced distorted hearing for weeks. I came to know chronic neck and shoulder pain, and I tried so many new-to-me solutions to see what could help me feel better. Before that point, I couldn’t justify spending money on what I believed were esoteric New Agey modalities. There’s lots to love about deep tissue massage, CBD oils and a well-timed cold compress, and though they brought immediate relief, I also discovered they were incomplete at addressing the root cause. Our bodies are beautifully designed, programmed to heal—and somatic work (specifically CranioSacral and Somatic Experiencing) helped me do that on a more profound and lasting level than other forms of therapies.

It’s been 12 years since then. In that time, my unrelenting curiosity led me to explore and learn so much that my decision to practice professionally felt like the natural next step. Somatic work helped me move into the present and connect to my body on a new level, one I couldn’t have imagined without living through the challenges. It helped me uncover my own limiting beliefs and work through old memories tied to emotional live wires stored in my body. I became brave enough to look at the impact of trauma from childhood and adolescence and how it shaped my identity and interpersonal relationships. Over the years, practicing this work has deepened my perception and skills and I am able to expertly attune to subtle physiological shifts as well as emotional nuance. My work is strategic and intuitive, and my favorite modalities involve dialogue—the ones I practice are those I have personally found to be the most transformative work there is.

Outside of this work, I love yoga, live music, hiking and soaking up nature, reading actual books, road trips and travel, and being present for the people in my life.

I invite you to work with me to heal and restore deep connection with your body. It would be an honor to work with you to facilitate the growth you’re capable of.