SoulLight Ecotherapy

Get out of your head and into the trees.

SoulLight exists to provide relief from the stress and overwhelm of modern life, and a healing path into deeper connection with self, nature, and community. By slowing down and listening to nature, we make way for deep wisdom to come forth — generating renewed energy in our relationships, justice in our organizations, and well-being in our communities.

Offering groups and gatherings in the parks & trails of the East Bay Area (Ohlone Land) since 2017.

 

About Sammy: SoulLight Creatress

As a human, Sammy is warm, intuitive, and inclusive: with a passion for writing, reading, and ancestry, as well as community-building and spending time in nature.

As a facilitator & guide, Sammy draws on her gentle and playful nature to invite people of all ages to slow down and tap into the healing benefits of time in nature.

As a mentor, Sammy is committed to supporting the unique gifts and sensitivities in each child or teen: helping them feel seen and loved for exactly who they are.

By facilitating sessions in a respectful, playful, and caring way, Sammy supports people to feel more confident expressing their feelings, needs, and challenges while learning to listen with care and empathy to their community members, and the living world around. In this way, Sammy helps people feel a profound sense of belonging and home, which creates the emotional connections we need to thrive.

Degrees & Certifications

  • Certificate in Permaculuture Design (Occidental Arts & Ecology Center, 2022)

  • Certificate in Adult and Pediatric CPR/AED (American Red Cross, 2024)

  • Certificate in Wilderness First Aid (Sierra Club, 2023)

  • Certificate in Ecopsychology (Holos Institute, 2019)

  • Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Analysis (Pomona College, 2009)

  • Certificate in Environmental Problem Solving (Arava Institute, 2008)

Trainings & Coursework

Work Experience

  • 20+ years of experiential education and facilitation roles in non-profit & social enterprise.

  • 18+ years organizing & volunteering for social and environmental justice.

  • 3+ years of coaching & leadership development with Ward MacDonald Consulting

  • 4+ years of 360° Feedback for Ego Free Leadership with Learning as Leadership

Teachers, Mentors, & Guides

I am deeply grateful to all of the teachers, mentors, ancestors, and guides who have assisted me in finding my path and finding my courage to walk on it. Here is an incomplete (& growing) list:

Ecotherapy Mentors & Guides

Consultants & Collaborators

Writers, Leaders, Earth Loving Activists

Ancestor Guides:

  • Elizabeth Ham Rosen & Walter Rosen

  • Chin Chur (Hannah Ham) & Ham Ho Yong

  • Jacqueline Levey Kanofsky & Alan Kanofsky

  • Barnet Gluckman & more from the forests of the Pale, including mystery Rosza…

With a deep bow to my ancestors for their guidance, love, and ongoing wisdom.

Sammy’s Story…

I’ve loved nature since I was a kid.

My mom is an acupuncturist and a wild woman… she taught me a lot of what I know about edible & medicinal plants, along with the importance of keeping warm & living in balance with the seasons.

My dad is an emotions-focused therapist who grew up in a town famous for growing mushrooms. When I was young, he took me to lay in fields and watch the clouds go by.

Both of my parents told me stories of roaming free in the woods in childhood, which formed the backdrop of my fantasies. From the age of 6 or 7, I remember talking to the trees in my front yard and feeling like they listened, and even sometimes spoke back…

In my adolescence, I began to deepen my conversations with the natural world. While struggling with severe anxiety and analysis-paralysis in my teens and early twenties (trying to figure out my life), I began to take long walks in the woods, in order to listen for guidance, and find stillness.

I found solace in the way the trees asked me no questions, and I felt so at ease in their presence. Since then, immersing myself in nature has become the quickest way to return to my soul. Through both solo time and time spent in community, I (re)discovered my place in the world, and awakened a passion for helping others find theirs, too.

As an extroverted writer & community builder, being in nature and connecting with trees has become my primary form of self-care and motivation. I believe it can be yours, too.

For all the practices and gifts nature has offered me in service of my healing, I am deeply grateful.

My Purpose

Having been blessed with the time to spend hundreds, if not thousands, of hours forest bathing— wandering in the woods and listening to the trees, getting inspired to move and practice meditation, make trail art, create ritual and song, learn ancestral skills, and walk barefoot, re-wilding myself with the support of plant medicine, prayer, and guidance from the spirit of the land, I created Soul|Light as a way to draw from my overflowing cup and offer this type of healing work to others.

By slowing down and feeling beauty in the present moment, I intend to co-create a world in which every living being can feel healthy and free. I feel incredibly lucky to have found my way onto a path that lets me hold space for people while they experience sacred moments with themselves, nature, and other people— discovering relief, deep connection, and renewed sense of joie de vivre.

I believe that my purpose in this lifetime is to help people call on their SoulLight to find belonging in the web that sustains and nurtures us all, in these times.

What Clients are Saying

  • "Sammy is a skilled and welcoming facilitator who creates a safe and warm, nurturing container. She is incredibly well-versed in anxiety management practices, which she interweaves with the nature connection practices she offers. The prompts and activities she brings to sessions are grounded in practices I can apply immediately in my life."

    - J.S.

  • "Sammy is an amazing mentor and guide, because she's able to share from her own experiences the challenges that she's faced and overcome. She also has an amazing network of peers who know a lot about things that young people are fascinated to learn about: things that they're not going to learn at school-- like how to find food and how to find medicine that might be right under your feet..."

    - Taj J.

  • "Sammy’s facilitation is stellar, clear, and inclusive. I’m using the tools she’s introduced daily.”

    - Brittany B.

  • “I love the way you hold space with confidence and compassion. I am SO happy our girls get to work with you ... you are the biggest silver lining of COVID in our lives!”

    - Jackie S.

  • "Sammy is so amazing. She's a great listener and a great help. She's helped us create a community where we can truly be open about anything."

    - Sophie P.

  • "If you could talk to every person for even just an hour, the world would be a better place."

    - Charla S.

SoulLight’s Commitment to Equity & Inclusion

SoulLight’s equity-based pricing model is based on the understanding that the world is unjust. As we strive toward a society that supports each being to live in safety and full expression, we must acknowledge that historical inequity and harm continues to be enacted on a daily basis— and work to repair it in both action and spirit.

As such, the following groups and individuals are invited to attend Soul|Light programs on a give what you can basis.

  • Formerly incarcerated people of color… May you heal and be free.

  • Indigenous people… May we learn to respect land as living, and support rematriation.

  • Black people impacted by slavery. May you be protected from harm and may the resilience and culture(s) of your ancestors be a blessing.

  • First generation immigrants and refugees (documented and not) to the U.S… May you find love, peace, and acceptance wherever you go.

In addition to this, no-one will be turned away from a SoulLight program for lack of funds.

Questions or feedback on this model? Please reach out!

Soul|Light’s Values

  • Slowing Down & Valuing Rest

  • Self Love & Acceptance

  • Trusting Intuition & Body Wisdom

  • Diversity + Justice = Health

  • Small is Beautiful

  • We are Earth / Earth is Wise

  • Finding Flow & Balance

  • Honoring Ancestral Connections

  • Re-matriating Native Land

  • Giving Thanks & Reciprocity

  • Nature as Health Insurance

white dandilion

Soul|Light’s Vision

SoulLight’s vision is for free individuals, healthy communities, and a resilient planet. For communities that celebrate individuality while also honoring our interconnectedness. An economy that functions in harmony with our ecosystems, offering just and abundant opportunities for healthcare, learning, and dignity. For a return to ritual, community care, and spiritual ecology. Sitting around a fire at night to laugh, cry, and tell stories.

We believe this vision is not only possible, but already happening, at the mycelial level. It is our work to show up, find our soul light, and become a part of the great turning!

Let’s talk about how to get you into nature.