Rachel Nagelberg

Rachel specializes in relational & attachment trauma, CPTSD, inner child work, sexual trauma, emotional dysregulation, substance abuse, Self realization/embodiment & psychedelic integration.

Rachel is a Somatic Trauma Practitioner, PNE Educator and writer. She holds integrative certifications in Somatic Release Technique (SRT), The Points Holding Process & PsychoNeuroEnergetic (PNE) therapeutic modalities from the Somatic Institute in Los Angeles, and an MFA in Creative writing from the University of San Francisco. Her debut novel, The Fifth Wall, was published by Black Sparrow Books in 2017 and was deemed by Chris Kraus in i-D Magazine as “falling within a new and exciting tradition of female philosophical fiction.”
Rachel’s transition to the world of healing evolved from her lifelong investigation of the gut-heart-brain (dis)connection that can occur from trauma. Growing up with severe autoimmune responses (from chronic gut inflammation to full-body paralysis to depression, anxiety and dissociation), Rachel’s explorations in numerous alt-therapies (from Alexander Technique to Traditional Chinese Medicine to working closely with fifth lineage Shipibo shamans in Pucallpa, Peru in 2016) lead her to find PNE as a method that works safely on the deepest levels to produce real and lasting nervous system shifts.
Rachel incorporates her continued practices of Vedic meditation, studies in non-dualism, and plant medicine explorations of consciousness and healing into her facilitation approach, alongside polyvagal regulation techniques taught by Dr. Stanley Rosenberg and his protege, Thor Philipsen, DO & the somatic-based practices of Dr. Peter A. Levine, offering a deeper dual spiritual + scientific component.
In addition to her private practice, Rachel runs somatic and creative writing focused recovery groups in Los Angeles, and is also developing a Jungian-influenced Somatic Dreamwork practice, currently offered as 1-hour sessions over Zoom. She most recently deepened her training in Transactional Analysis at the Southeast Institute for Group and Family Therapy, and is currently undergoing apprentice training at the Psychedelic Somatic Institute where she is learning deeper methods to work with and help clients with complex developmental PTSD access their primary consciousness' homeostatic psychobiological resolution.
It is my honor and great responsibility to hold space for you on your journey to realignment and reconnection with your being.
I believe in your innate capacity to heal, and the power of a highly attuned, subtle space to be with yourself, your body, your limbic system and the subtle sensations to allow the natural unwinding process.
It takes courage and trust and a knowing that exists somewhere we can’t find in our heads to do this work.
What presents itself over and over is that, largely, we are our own barriers to health and vitality. To truly live freely and openly can be the most frightening thought.
Every time we attune to ourselves is an opportunity to root into the synergy of the world.
Please don't hesitate to reach out to discuss more about the nature of this work and my practice to see if it feels right for the next chapter of your unfolding process.
- Rachel

Education, Certifications & Trainings
Current
PSI Apprentice Training | Psychedelic Somatic Institute, LA/Colorado | Present
Completed
Cranial Anatomy & Listening Skills | Life Energy Institute, Topanga, CA | 2023
Transactional Analysis Practitioner Training | Southeast Institute, Chapel Hill, NC | 2023
PsychoNeuroEnergetics Teacher Training | Somatic Institute, Los Angeles, CA | 2022
Somatic Release Technique, Points Holding Process & PsychoNeuroEnergetics Certifications | Somatic Institute, Los Angeles, CA | 2021
100-Hour Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training Certification | Dharma Moon & Tibet House | 2022
Polyvagal Theory: Neural Exercises for Safety & Connection w/ Stephen Porges | 2021
This Jungian Life Dream School | 2022
Mindfulness & Stress Reduction Course & Mindfulness & Trauma Course | Mindfulness Care Center, San Francisco, CA | 2013
Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing | University of San Francisco | 2012
Bachelor of Arts in English Writing | University of Pittsburgh | 2009