My work with Rainey has been incredibly life-affirming. Rainey has a keen ability to hold space for deep processing and healing in a way that leaves me feeling empowered, respected, and safe. She has a gentle, powerful, and steady presence. Our work together has helped me to relate more deeply and authentically with my loved-ones, to gain confidence speaking boundaries and requests, and to re-engage with the language and wisdom of my body. Through our work I feel more equipped to flow with the cycles of my life, I feel more empowered to keep listening deeply to my truths, and I feel more attuned to my own sense of aliveness.

By the grace of serendipity, I stumbled upon Rainey in 2019 after doing a Google search for somatic experiencing therapists as a friend in Japan said it may help me when I was struggling immensely. When I read more about her, I felt like she could help me navigate one of the darkest times in my life even though she was thousands of miles away from where I live and we had to resort to Zoom sessions.  Rainey has been such an integral force in my life’s mission to heal up a broken head and a hurting heart, and as God as my witness, she has helped me more than I ever imagined. Her smarts, guidance, intuition, compassion, and kindness—especially the kindness—has made for one of the best healing balms I have ever known.  I am to this day still humbled at how much I have healed and “feel” like myself in my mind, body, and spirit

I began SE with Rainey last fall and have had life changing results. Our sessions in person were deeply impactful and I was surprised and delighted to discover our virtual sessions continued to deepen our work. I was dubious at first how the somatic piece would translate through Zoom, but Rainey’s ability to witness and offer cues, guides me into my body and now I’m even more aware of the boundary of my own energy.

With Rainey’s grounded presence and skills, I have built more capacity to respond to life without my nervous system being hijacked all the time. Rainey creates a clear and safe container that is both personal and professional, and I feel the integrity in how Rainey practices.

I can’t express how much our time together has meant to me – to my healing, to my body, to my perspective on just even being a body in space. Thank you so, so much for your work. I’ve been so grateful to be a recipient of your services and yourself. 

Rainey is a talented, trusted guide in the journey to coming home to ourselves, to our bodies. As a trauma survivor I have found that Somatic Experiencing has been the perfect complement to talk therapy. The seamless shift to online sessions via Zoom has allowed the healing to continue beautifully.

Rainey has an incomparable ability to sooth. She gives me these blissful 10-minute power naps. I walk into the session exhausted or irritated, and an hour later I walk out rested and refreshed. I don’t know how she does it. So it’s magical. Her voice, her skills, and most of all, I think, her love, are so healing. They bring me into a space of relaxation where I can let my nervous system truly rest. Life has made her suffer. It has sanded down all her rough edges so that she is now smooth as an ebony river rock. She takes the love that came out of the crucible of life’s suffering, and she gives it to others to heal them. In that act she is so generous, and I’m grateful for this gift that she gives to me and to the world.

Online sessions with Rainey are profound, as my body enjoys the ease of being at home while following her grounded, compassionate guidance. With complete presence, she leads me into nurturing, body-based explorations of my innermost self, touching into my own depths and heights while expanding into the fullest life possible. Working with Rainey online has meant faster, easier access to the joy that is my birthright.

Rainey is an excellent teacher. She is grounded and genuine. She is both beginner’s-mind curious and deep river-wise. Her skills come from years of study and, equally, from trusting her intuition and immersing herself in the natural world. It is difficult to explain just how someone moves, or how they help other people move. It’s a fluid art. And ephemeral. Rainey delights in this fleeting fluidity and her movement sequences are so very artful: they are smart, instinctual, and joyful. Rainey goes to the heart of things, searches for the grace in life’s many lessons. She steers clear of tidy platitudes and stays on the lookout for spiritual escapism of any kind. She is keenly sensitive, exacting in her use of language and tone. She creates space that feels safe, welcoming, and expansive. I can feel connected to a community of movers, but at the same time free to find my own unique expression. It is healing to be in her classes. I open to more possibilities within myself and thus find a greater capacity to show up for others.

I have had the utmost joy and privilege of pursuing Rainey’s teachings for the past ten years. I have been called and inspired to learn from her because she is not only a deeply skilled, knowledgeable, and accessible yoga teacher, but also a humble student of life and compassionate community leader. Rainey is very humble and generous with her wisdom. I have learned as much from the process of participating in countless of her classes as I have from witnessing her steadfast commitment to practicing her own yogic teachings, courageously sitting in the fires of transformation, over the years. It is rare to have a teacher who centers their students so completely and is honest about their own journey. It is hard to express in words the depth to which Rainey has helped me cultivate inner healing, resilience, openness and love. I am grateful everyday for her integral guidance on my spiritual journey, especially during the intense and beautiful time of becoming a mother.

I remember leaving my first Rainey class (yes, I call them Rainey classes) delighted by her clear instructions, sense of humor, and the welcoming vibe she spread around the whole practice space. Since then, Rainey classes have been a constant. A Rainey class is somewhere I can be vulnerable, a place where I can overflow with energy on the good days and rest on the bad days when chronic illness takes over. No matter where I am on that spectrum, Rainey’s softly firm, calming presence is there. When I doubt that my struggling body-mind belongs in the yoga studio, Rainey reminds me that it’s about being present, showing up, not about what I do or don’t do. Through it all, Rainey shows me boundless care and respect–on and off the yoga mat–care and respect that helps buoy my courage and self-trust.

It’s that boost in courage, and watching Rainey in action as she teaches a class or leads a practice circle, that inspired me to train as a yoga teacher.

I can only hope to be half as compassionate and skilled in my own teaching as Rainey is in hers.

I’ve had the privilege of studying yoga with Rainey for 15+ years and have experienced first-hand her superb teaching skills. She is a gifted teacher offering kind and clear guidance with ever-evolving approaches.

I met Rainey through classes at SYA in 2011. At that time I had turned to yoga due to injuries, particularly in my shoulders. I needed the physical aspect of a yoga practice. Of the many excellent instructors at SYA, i found a particular connection in Rainey’s classes. Her kinesthetic instructions re: alignment helped me to heal my shoulders. I love her phrase about a “democratic use” of muscles, humorous yet so true. I also loved the quotes she opened classes with and the themed focus of a particular set of classes lasting 4-6 weeks. All this demonstrated her preparation and commitment to teaching.

In 2013-2014, I had the privilege of being in a yearlong yoga intensive program that Rainey taught. This opened my eyes to the depth of yoga. I realized that asanas were only the tip of the iceberg. Yoga is a way of life. We delved into ancient texts like Patanjali’s Sutras, learned various ways to meditate and incorporate chants, were introduced to the basic tenets of Ayurveda, and learned about Bhavana and ahimsa. The small group setting allowed for more open discussions and several long-lasting friendships to form. This was a spiritual awakening and smorgasbord…a fantastic year!

On a more personal level, I had several private sessions with Rainey at different times in my life, times when I was content and wanted to dive deeper into my spiritual journey. Other times, I was in a challenging situation and needed to ground myself. In each situation, Rainey taught me practices to connect to my surroundings and be more present.

Throughout the various aspects of this journey, Rainey has been a supportive, giving, creative and present teacher. She has been instrumental in my personal and spiritual growth. I am grateful and happy to have her in my life.

In these playshops I let my intuitive, moving self come forward. It’s a rare opportunity to let go, move, feel, and express myself in a safe and nurturing environment. After Rainey’s workshops, I feel quieter and clearer. I miss them when I can’t attend.

Rainey teaches with a combination of bright spirit, warmth, and clarity. I’m learning how to move without striving and straining. She invites exploration of what our bodies want, within the postures. I never knew yoga classes could include this freedom—and such a sense of connection with myself.

In the playshops, her guidance, which is full of imagery, makes it easy to play and explore in a safe space. The improvisation—with music, in the near-dark, in the presence of others doing the same—is so powerful and releasing. Afterwards, I feel cleared out and settled, well into the next day. It’s transformative.