07 May Worthy Women, 7th Edition: Dr. Somer Nicole

Who: Dr. Somer Nicole (IG: @yogadoctors.tv)

Occupation: Founder of YogaDoctors.TV, Doctor of Physical Therapy, Kundalini and Hatha Yoga               Teacher (yogadoctors.tv)

Location: shares time between Kauai and Encinitas

This entry really excites me to share with you all because a) she’s one of my very best friends and b) this girl seriously has the best advice and is one of the most clear-headed and unaffected people I have ever met.  Somer is highly intelligent and naturally left-brained, yet innocent and pure like almost only a child can be. That might only make sense if you know her. But add in the wisdom of someone who has worked out a lot of trauma and hardship and the peace of someone who has put in the time and energy to get there, and you have a small idea of what this embodied woman is all about.

The first time I met her, about 5 years ago she was walking out of yoga and I was walking in. I thought, “Wow that looks so much like my mom when she was young.” And although she is nothing like my mother, we have gotten so close she might as well be a member of my family.

I do not like talking on the phone, yet Somer and I talk every week, sometimes more than that and sometimes for hours. She has this uncanny ability to cut directly through any fluff or distortion or distraction and get right to the truth of the matter.

She is my teacher in self-care, and has absolutely mastered nurturing herself as first priority, no matter what. We often take classes, workshops and travel together and she is a consistent role model for me to take it easy and not do too much. Even when I’m purposely trying to slow down and cut back, she is my mirror…showing me that I still have work in that area.

We have been asked if we are sisters more times than I can add up, mistaken for each other many times, and she actually got called up on stage on my birthday (instead of me!) in India for Kundalini teacher training.   I’m not sure what that’s all about but I know we met to become Soul Sisters and I thank the Universe for her every single day.

Sat nam,

Elise

1)  Who are you?

It’s an interesting time in my life to be asked this question, as I have distanced myself internally from my old identities more and more over the last year or two. Somer as the Physical Therapist. Somer as the Yoga Teacher, the CranialSacral Therapist, the SomatoEmotional Release practitioner, the Reiki Teacher, the meditator, etc…. Those are all things that I do.

Who am I? I am the pure consciousness that observes it all. I am a Spirit having a human experience. I am someone who stands in my Light, so others can find their way out of the Dark. I strive to be a blessing to those I meet.

And in this life, I am someone who dives deeply into my body to experience the full spectrum of my emotions. I seek to bring the unconscious into my conscious awareness. I explore belief systems instilled in me by family and society, so that I can unravel what is not True for me. I am a Truth seeker. I am a director of my own energy. I am an explorer of my inner landscape.

And in my experience, the only True constants are Love and change. I am Love. And I embrace change to the best of my ability.

2)  What is the greatest challenge you have overcome/are overcoming?

I am currently recovering from a lower back injury, where my L1 and L5 nerves are involved. It’s been a total change in perspective for me, especially a Physical Therapist because I was treating it wrong for many years. It never felt “nervy” to me, so I was treating it like a muscle strain and didn’t realize the repetitive hip flexor and hamstrings strains I’d had (A LOT of them!) were related to my spine. It wasn’t until I had someone objectively look at me and I got my own biases out of the way that I could see the bigger picture.

It’s been challenging on many levels, one being it’s the most physical pain I’ve ever experienced. I was asked to avoid forward bending of any kind and do only passive extension (backbending) exercises, until I could experience 7-10 days without referred pain into my sacro-iliac (SI) joint. After which, I could them begin forward bending again. This has been more challenging than it sounds.

I am inherently a mover, I get up and practice 1-2 hours of Yoga every morning, I hike, I swim and I am used to feeling strong and flexible in my body. And as my body has been asked to be more still, the louder my mind has gotten. I see now that it has been the perfect storm to allow many unconscious patterns to come to the surface.

And as when I’ve experienced any injury in the past, I go into exploring what energetic imbalance and suppressed emotions may have manifested this physical pain into my reality. I know at the highest level, I’ve created it for a reason. So many emotions have come up with not being able to move my body the way I am used to. Wanting to get pregnant this year, I freaked out thinking I was heading into pregnancy and a natural labor with this injury. To me, that’d be a worst case scenario. I had so much fear come up that I wouldn’t be able to handle both of those things together. In addition, many emotions that are related to the root chakra, which also governs the spine. I’ve felt it all deeply.

Fear that I’m not safe in my body.

Fear that I’m not safe in the world.

Fear of being hurt more.

Fear of not being supported.

Fear of not being nourished the way that I need.

3)  What have you learned?

I’ve learned if I don’t stand in my own power and speak my own Truth, it physically makes me sick. I’ve learned that my body will feel safe when I always choose to do what is in my Highest and stop responding to what other people want first or what they think is best for me.

I’m learning to listen to the intuitive intelligence of my body 100% of the time. Not just 99% of the time. Even when I get an initial gut instinct, my mind has the tendency to give me all the reasons why it would make sense to do something different. I have learned to stop reacting to the mental pressure. I realized the mental pressure is not ever going to stop, so the only thing to change is my reaction to it.

I have learned I am a highly emotional being. I’ve learned I have emotional intelligence and when I listen deeply and navigate it fully, I make better decisions. I’m learning to be more patient and to WAIT TO RESPOND until I am emotionally clear about any personal or business decision. I’m learning to remain still and practice a calm state of BEing, instead of doing more in reaction to the mental pressure. I’ve learned the feeling of needing to DO more, create more, strive more, contribute more and be useful more comes from a societal conditioning. I’ve learned everyone’s path isn’t to reach millions of people and put themselves out there publicly. For some, it’s simply to be a mother or just being absolutely present and kind with every person who crosses their path.

I’ve learned it’s less about what I DO and more about my state of BEing. I’ve learned that being in a feminine, receptive state attracts my desires to me like a magnet. I used to think I could do it all on my own, I’ve learned to reach out more. And I’ve learned that BEing my own medicine sometimes means listening deeply to my own intuition and other times it means asking for support.