Hi! I’m Rita
I hold a PhD in psychology, I am a certified yoga teacher, and a dedicated tantrika. I am trained in Compassionate Inquiry® – a trauma-informed, gentle therapeutic approach to working through the deeper layers of the mind-body system, as developed by Dr. Gabor Maté. I am also completing my training in the trauma-informed, tantra-inspired VITA™ method of love and relationships coaching, as developed by Layla Martin. I find this combination of compassionate holding and desire-focused return to aliveness is just the ticket to awakening the True Self and living a life of joy and pleasure.
I started my coaching work because I felt like I wasn’t fully present in my life, and especially in how I connect to my emotional, sensual, creative life force energy within my own body. In this space of disconnectedness within myself, it was impossible for me to build solid, loving, satisfying relationships. As I began this process of awakening my aliveness by reconnecting to my heart and to my body, I thought I was basically fine overall, just doing a few tweaks. More or less like switching out a squeaky floorboard in an otherwise perfectly fine house.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered I ended up remodeling the whole house!
I know these practices have the power to unlock your power and give you the life that is true to who you really are, which is why I am so delighted to be sharing this process with you.
You may be wondering how I got here.
Let me tell you my story
Spoiler alert: it has a happy ending! But not before a few bumps and bruises along the way.
Before my journey into coaching began, my life looked great on paper. It was December 2018. My best friend had flown halfway around the world with her new husband (who is also a good friend of mine) to spend the holidays traveling with me around the natural beauty of my new home in New Zealand. I had completed my Ph.D. in psychology two years before, immediately landed my dream job, and moved to my dream city….In theory, I was living a dream.
And yet, I was miserable.
On the outside, I was able to use my drive and ambition to carve out a life of achievement and independence. It was what I had worked so hard for across so many years. But I couldn’t enjoy it, not really.
Overlooking a beautiful beach, with my best friend – on that 2018 December morning – I was totally inaccessible to that love that I most wanted. Even though it was right there.
Underneath the dream facade of my outer life, on the inside, my heart was still raw, wounded, and hidden away by layers and layers of defensive, avoidant distance. I was terrified of being alone, but a series of toxic romances made me even more terrified of being together. It seemed like no matter how hard I tried, I could never find someone to love me as much as I wanted to be loved. And it would never matter how much I achieved, I would never be enough.
I was so afraid people would see who I really am and discover how irredeemably awful I was. I thought I would exchange my awfulness for hard work. Be smarter. Prettier. More pleasant. More perfect. So perfect, that I would never give them a reason to dislike me. And then they would have to love me, right!?
In my eagerness to earn love, I was putting everyone else’s opinion ahead of my own. So much so, that I genuinely had no idea who I really was.
All of that began to change once I found my way back into my body, into my heart, and into my life – through the medicine of compassion and the magic of pleasure.
That’s when I found my way back into my heart – through connecting with my body.
Ready to get started?
Let’s set up a time to chat and see how I can support your journey!