Hi! I’m Kayla. I’m a clinical psychologist-in-training (PhD), nature-based meditation teacher, Earth tender, Buddhist practitioner, and writer. My heart’s work weaves through relationships – between the heart and the mind, between people and land, between healing and awakening.

I am a PhD candidate in Clinical Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, where my research focus is in Earth-Based Depth Psychology – healing through remembering ourselves as part of the living world. I hold an M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University with a focus on Spirituality and a B.A. from Duke University in Public Health.

I’ve been deeply fortunate to study with a number of beloved Buddhist teachers of Earth-based traditions: Mark Coleman in nature-based Insight Theravada; Amita Lhamo as a lineage holder in the Vajrayana tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and the Lakota Dream Tradition; and Dr. Nida Chenagtsang in the healing Vajrayana tradition of Tibetan Medicine. I wrote my master’s thesis as a collection of stories from nearly 100 nights over the past 5 years spent camping in the wilderness on silent meditation retreats or training at Buddhist monasteries and practice centers.

I have spent nearly a decade training in contemplative healing arts: nature-based and trauma-informed meditation facilitation, somatic body-oriented trauma healing, herbalism, energy healing, and dreamwork. As a student of the Earth, I hold the elements and the plants, animals, and fungi of the natural world to be some of our greatest teachers. My approach begins with trust in the body’s innate wisdom and a return to our larger Earth body as doorways to our true nature and more vibrant, authentic, integrated living.

Training

Education

• (currently) PhD in Clinical Psychology with a focus in Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute

• M.A. Columbia University, Masters in Clinical Psychology, Concentration in Spirituality and Mind Body Practice

• B.A. Duke University, Public Policy & Global Health

Contemplative Training

• Beyond my professional education and training, the well of wisdom I draw from comes directly from my own experience in nearly 1000 hours of intensive meditation training, monastic residencies, and close mentorship from Buddhist teachers. I’ve trained with my teacher Mark Coleman, a senior teacher at Spirit Rock in the Insight Theravada tradition, influenced by Advaita Vedanta and Tibetan traditions as well as a deep love of nature as a wilderness guide and environmental activist. I have sat 6+ meditation retreats with him at ecodharma centers and camping in national forests across California and New Mexico. I also graduated from his yearlong nature meditation teacher training Awake in the Wild. I study closely in an intimate sangha with Amita Lhamo, a teacher with direct transmission in the Dudjom Tersar lineage of the Vajrayana tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. I have also spent over 6 weeks of retreat training in the Vajrayana Tibetan tradition at Pure Land Farms, founded by Tibetan doctor and dharma teacher Dr. Nida Chenagtsang in the spiritual healing tradition of Tibetan Medicine. I spent a month living and training at Green Gulch Zen Center & Farm, a Soto Zen Buddhist monastery in Muir Beach, where I received daily teachings from the abbots, the sangha, the land, and the rhythms of daily monastic life.

Healing Arts

Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, with Dr. Peter Levine

• Currently in training within a 3-year practitioner certification program focused on healing stored trauma in the body.

Certified Nature Mindfulness Teacher, Awake in the Wild with Mark Coleman

• Yearlong apprenticeship with Buddhist nature dharma teacher Mark Coleman, focused on building a depth of personal nature practice and skills to lead others in contemplative healing immersions in nature.

Mindfulness Coach, Unified Mindfulness Level 1 and 2 Teacher Training

• Trained mindfulness teacher certified through Unified Mindfulness, which offers a secular system of meditation practice inspired by the teachings of Zen master and neuroscience researcher Shinzen Young.

Certification Training in Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT), Pain Reprocessing Therapy Center LLC

• Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) is a system of psychoeducation, CBT, and somatic techniques that retrains the brain to interpret and respond to signals from the body without fear or hypervigilance in order to break cycles of chronic pain.

Certified Level 1 & 2 Reiki

• Trained with Reiki Master Lara Elliott in energy healing in the Japanese Zen Buddhist Tradition of Reiki.

Certification in Folk Herbalism, School of the Sacred Wild with Marysia Miernowska

• I am a certified Herbalist, trained in folk herbalism and plant spirit medicine with Marysia Miernowska through the School of the Sacred Wild. This training has been a re-immersion into the rhythms and languages of the natural world through nature-based meditation, medicine-making, ritual, and ceremony.

Certification in Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness, The Lineage Project

• 20-hour training intensive designed to support competency in offering trauma-sensitive mindfulness practices, with a focus in supporting youth facing challenges in homeless shelters, schools, and the justice system.

Clinical Research Assistant, NYU Langone Integrative Medicine

• In the Integrative Health department at NYU Langone's Rusk Rehabilitation Center, I supported research investigating: meditation for patients with autoimmune disease or neurological disorders, yoga for traumatic brain injury patients, energy healing for chronic pain. I supported preparation of guided meditation scripts and offered guided meditation to patients.

72-Hour Certification in Permaculture Design, Circle Permaculture

• Having spent time living and working on farms and offering meditation and mindfulness workshops to farmers and activists, I also received my certification in Permaculture Design – a system of regenerative farming practices that promote ecological harmony between human beings and nature.