Hello, my name is Ryan Cooney.  I hope you enjoyed the brief newsletter and I am looking forward to continuing to help facilitate the growth of our Southern California Somatic Experiencing community.  

I work in sports medicine, as an Athletic Trainer at Oceanside high school.  I will have advanced in 2018 and I’m really looking forward these last two trainings.  I also don’t want to end there.  I will definitely be looking at Kathy Kain’s trainings in 2019 and I also hope to assist in the future.

I live and work in Oceanside CA.  Basically, my wife Natalie is the reason I began SE.  Natalie and I both have always been drawn to the connection of the mind and the body.  One day she bought Peter Levine’s book “Waking the Tiger,” which she loved and so I read it and was captured by this different way of looking at how people function in life, adapt, or get stuck. With some more encouragement from Natalie I started the trainings.  

The trainings have been so transformative in my life and work.  In my position I am there as a first responder and then outside of that I assess, diagnose, and rehabilitate injured student athletes. I love working with High School kids and although I don't get to use SE in a one on one setting often the work I’ve been doing for myself and gaining understanding and skills from the trainings has changed dramatically how I assess and treat athletic injuries and the students as a whole.  

I love all the concepts that the SE trainings have presented.  I think I always come back to the basics as the things that matter the most to me, and I feel like in SE, one of the most basic things is your presence. The idea of being grounded in the space you’re in, with welcoming love and attention for another.  I’ll never forget walking into the trainings each time and feeling that presence from the Trainer.  I'll also never forget in the training doing an exercise on being present for the first time. Colors and details came into focus and it seemed like everything just became more real.  It was such an eye opening and life changing experience and it’s so nice to share that experience with others like you all. 
My hope is that through this small little newsletter we can begin cultivating connections and other ways to share these unique experiences, advice, and knowledge with each other.
-Ryan Cooney