My somatic lense comes from extensive reading, learning and education in somatic experiencing, somatic sex education and cultural somatics. In 2017 I accidentally found myself in somatic therapy. I was living on Tio’tiake territory at the time, and immersed once again in a rougher sex work economy due to isolation, structural barriers and location. I was given a referral to a local therapist who offered $40 sessions to sex workers in need. Only when I arrived did I learn she was a somatic experiencing practitioner, rather than a traditional therapist. Within the first 10 minutes my body had a massive release. We hadn’t even started but my nervous system just knew that this was it. I have stayed in somatic therapy with this practitioner for 8 years now. After the first year I discovered somatic sex education, and applied to train in that program. I worked hard to save money for that opportunity, which took me about 3-5 times longet than what is typical, even with funding assistance. I thought it would be work that I would want to do, instead of sex work, but in the end it was an experience that opened me up to my desires to write and educate, and leave erotic labor and hands on work entirely. During this time I was also able to access bursaries and funding to train in somatic experiencing. I took a strong interest in cultural somatics, which was elective learning within the SSE program, that truly changed my entire nervous system.