About Us

At the Sanctuary, we trust in every body’s innate ability to heal — and that healing happens in community.

We believe that, when given the support, space, faith in oneself, and the tools to creatively connect to body, earth, community and well-enough ancestry, the human mind and body is naturally resilient.

We also believe that healing at the personal level is intimately linked with healing at the interpersonal, systemic, and planetary level, and envision and long for a thriving world in which to raise our children that is just, diverse, harmonious, and free of individual and systemic violence.

Where are you located?

Most of our work happens on the ancestral lands of the Coast Salish—the Puyallup, Dkhw’Duw'Absh, Duwamish, and Suquamish tribes, aka, the South Puget Sound region. We bow to and acknowledge the stewardship of these tribes past, present, and future.

We recognize our presence here is inextricably linked to oppression and erasure of native peoples, and we labor to be responsible co-stewards of this land, honor indigenous sovereignty and build authentic relationships of solidarity and allied struggle towards liberation for all.

Our dream is to steward a small area of land somewhere in this area for which to have a physical center, providing short- and mid-term housing, healing practices, purposeful activity, and community for trauma survivors; as well as public retreats and workshops for our community.

Do you own or have access to land that could make this dream of ours come true? Please let us know!

In the meanwhile, we provide group offerings remotely via Zoom, and in-person in/near Tacoma, WA. Consulting and workshops can be brought to you wherever you are in the Puget Sound region, or remotely.

Who and what has shaped your work?

We offer a deep bow of gratitude and recognition to the various teachers, healers, and lineages of practice that inform our work.

We recognize that we are a white-run organization, and consequently are a part of the legacy of imperial colonialism that has violently ravaged and stolen cultural and material wealth—including most of the healing modalities available to us, even ‘Western’ ones,—from black, brown and indigenous peoples.

We practice living in the tension and responsibility of this painful reality. We bow to these many lineages and peoples, those we can name and those left unknown to history, and do our best to be honest and responsible about the violent heritage we and our ancestors participate/have participated in.

We recognize the continued harm being done to communities of color and the disparities in access to sources of well-being and healing practice, and are committed to the labor of mitigating harm and resource redistribution. We hope to integrate what we have learned from our teachers with care, honor, and in pursuit of justice and mutual liberation. This is an area of perpetual growth, dialogue, and spiritual discipline for us.

More explicitly, our offerings draw on the intellectual, spiritual, and embodiment work and personal mentorship of:

• Tada Hozumi, Asian somatic practices and the emerging field of Cultural Somatics

• Larissa Kaul & Dare Carrasquillo of Animist Arts

• Inter-religious/intercultural Spiritual Care

• ‘Western’ Trauma-Informed therapeutic and healing modalities

• Liberatory (anti-racist, anti-oppressive, feminist, queer) political/philosophical framework

• European pagan ancestral work of Starhawk, Sharon Blackie, Deep Ecology and Eco-Feminist Theology

• New Monasticism and Interspiritual contemplative practices

• Progressive Catholic social teaching and liturgical practice

• Denise Benitez, Gyandev McCord, Susanna Barkataki; Ananda, Raja and Kashmir Shaivist Yoga and Trauma-Informed Yoga

• Sacred Activism, modeled in local black and indigenous leadership of The People’s Assembly and Protectors of the Salish Sea.