TRAININGS & RETREATS

Tending the Field: Somatic Practices in Group Facilitation

May 2nd-3rd 2026

Applications due Friday, April 26th

We are excited to announce a special training, Tending the Field: Somatic Practices in Group Facilitation. This is a two-day immersive and experiential workshop, focusing on how to foster and amplify the wisdom that emerges spontaneously from every unique group - from that field. This training will be held in person only, in Tucson, Arizona.

In this two day immersive, we will explore liberatory practices for group facilitation, so that working with groups feels fun, connective, and purposeful. Through the lenses of complex systems, emancipatory pedagogy, and human physiology, we will explore states of connection and learning within each of us, and as a collective field.

Skillful group facilitation is an in-the-moment dance with many kinds of diversity, such as culture & class background, the learner’s agendas, individual’s learning styles, states of presence (both for facilitators and group members), and, of particular emphasis in this workshop, the characteristics of the group itself. The characteristics of the group are what we’re calling “the field.” In this workshop, we’ll practice ways to co-create and participate in an ever emergent field. 

This will be a highly experiential and engaged training. We will flow between experiencing group activities, integrating and grounding the learnings, teaching moments, discussions, and practicing. We’ll share skills and tools for group facilitation, co-regulation, nervous system and somatic tracking, and centering lived experience, and you’ll have opportunities to practice these skills with each other in smaller breakout groups.

You will leave with:

  • Practices for preparing your own body to do group facilitation 

  • Ways to foster and maintain safety, connection, and agency in a group container 

  • Experience tracking and working with the collective nervous system of the field, both explicitly and implicitly

  • Group activities and exercises for attunement, grounding, and drawing out the wisdom of a group 

  • Concrete movement toward the design of a workshop or meeting you can bring to your community 

Kevin Lanoue, Jiva Manske, & Johnny Gutierrez will be co-facilitating this immersive. All have extensive backgrounds as facilitators, teachers, group tenders, and somatic coaches. They come to this work through a politicized lens, working to grow their belief that collective trauma requires collective healing and that skillful group facilitation is a powerful tool towards that collective healing.

This will be a cohort of around 18 students.

Training will run from approximately 9am-6pm each day.

The training will be held at a private residence in central Tucson with access to a pool :). 

Meals & housing are not provided.

Sliding scale $350-$950


We prioritize accessibility to all trainings within the collective, we offer this sliding scale following the belief that what is best for you is what is best for community. The sliding scale represents the idea that financial resources, including income, are not and should not be the only determining factor in whether or not someone can access services/care/etc. For a sliding scale to work it relies on the principles of truthfulness, respect for complexity, and accountability. If you are able to pay on the higher end of the sliding scale, you will be directly supporting someone to come on a scholarship. 


Partial & Full scholarships available for those who find even the low end of the sliding scale a hardship. Indigenous & Black folks and then QT/BIPOC folks will have priority.

Apply Now



Cranio, Somatics

& The Wild Body

TRAINING POSTPONED!

The Wellness Center
Tucson, Arizona


Eligible for 15 LMT CE Credit Hours

We are excited to announce a second offering of Cranio, Somatics & The Wild Body; a three day, fifteen hour immersive held in person in Tucson, Arizona.

Have you ever felt curious about our bodies as fractals of the magic of the natural world?
Have you ever wondered about the magic of touch, the transformation of co-regulation and the miracle of living cells, living tissue, and a body made of this multiplicity?
Perhaps you feel stuck in the medicalization of the human body, the pathology of what’s not working, and the absence of safe connective touch in the dominant culture.
Perhaps you have a felt sense that more is possible living within these potent forces of consciousness—more connection, more play, more presence.

This three day immersive will be an exploration of these ponderings. We will offer introductory physiology into the nervous system of the human body, an exploration of these states within the body and how to feel them within ourselves, clients on the table and the collective field.


Bodies in attunement naturally heal themselves and each other. As we live under the modern form of captivity within empire, we feel the impact of being fragmented not only from one another but also from our own bodies. Our wild bodies know how to be, know how to heal & know how to protect themselves.

This training will be an exploration in returning to our wild, resilient states. Learning to trust what we feel both within ourselves and within others experience. These are skills to take with you into whatever work you already do, with clients or patients, with your family or community.

We will oscillate between group co-regulation, physiology and somatic skill sharing, and practicing these skills with one another both on and off the massage table.

Kevin Lanoue & Lee Datura will be leading this immersive. Both have extensive backgrounds as nervous system coaches and as craniosacral therapists. They come to this work through a politicized lens, working to grow their belief that collective trauma requires collective healing and that tapping into attuned safe touch is a powerful tool towards that collective healing.

Craniosacral therapy is modality originating from the Cherokee & Shawnee peoples, it was appropriated into Osteopathic medicine in the 1800s and in the 1970’s Craniosacral Therapy emerged as an offshoot of Osteopathic Medicine. To learn more about Craniosacral therapy & its history and origins check out this essay https://www.susanraffo.com/

This course requires prerequisite of any of the following: a bodywork background (craniosacral, massage, acupuncture, etc), actively working in the care field (healthcare, therapy, somatic coaching), completion of a somatics course (OI, SE, Hakomi, etc) or you attended our collective’s Intro to Politicized Somatics training.

Craniosacral is a hands-on touch approach to whole system integration and healing. You do not have to have a license to touch to practice craniosacral techniques in certain states as clients remain clothed throughout the duration of the session and no pressure is applied nor tissue directly influenced with techniques. This is not a Craniosacral Certification course, that is often a two year intensive, this is an intro to somatic/cranio touch technique that can be utilized within practitioners studied modalities. This course will provide a certificate of Somatic Touch Level 1.

We prioritize accessibility to all trainings within the collective, we offer this sliding scale following the belief that what is best for you is what is best for community.
The sliding scale represents the idea that financial resources, including income, are not  and should not be the only determining factor in whether or not someone can access  services/care/etc.For a sliding scale to work it relies on the principles of truthfulness, respect for complexity, and accountability.   

Partial & Full scholarships available for those who find even the low end of the sliding scale . Indigenous & Black folks and then QT/BIPOC folks will have priority with scholarship.

We are excited to offer our 2026 Intro to Politicized Somatics Training: Resourcing in Community - an immersive five day training to support community builders in gaining nervous system regulation and skills.

We will host an info call for interested participants before our upcoming training on June 27th, 1pm-230pm PT. Please sign up for the info call by following link above. Link can be shared with anyone interested in attending. During the info call, facilitators will be sharing about overall themes and format of this training and available to answer any questions you may have.

This training is designed to support individuals engaged community work with various backgrounds/identities who want to take the resourcing practices back to their own communities to support collective nervous system healing.

This is a beginner's course to somatic nervous system regulation practices.  No previous somatic or therapeutic training required to attend. This can be a first step into the world of Politicized Somatics, a place to to support and grow your somatic practice built in other modalities and a place to grow your community of others engaged in radical and politicized healing work.

This is the intro that will be a prerequisite to a practitioner training series our collective is growing. Details about next level trainings will be made available in the coming months.

This five day training will provide a safe container for experiential somatic practice, to support expanding your capacity towards regulation and embodiment with the intention that these skills carry with you into your life, your families and your communities. We will be offering practices to teach you one-to-one somatically informed therapeutic techniques, how to hold space for trauma and an intro in working with the collective nervous system of groups.

This teaching will be centering Resource within the framework of our four cornerstones: Resource, Resiliency, Capacity, and Sustainability. Eight Sonoran Desert Somatic Collective members all with various backgrounds and with established somatic practices will be co-teaching, facilitating and mentoring. We will explore somatic practices that center questions like:

  • What might it look like to expand your thresholds for conflict, discomfort, and struggle?

  • What might it look like to learn how to lean into pleasure and rest in a way that is radical in this era of dysregulation and institutionalized harm?

  • What might it feel like to do the work you do in a way that is resourced, resilient, and sustainable, and offer that to others around you?

We are excited to bring this immersive five day training to support you in all of the work you do in the world.

We intend to hold a space where individuals regardless of identity and background feel safe, seen and heard. This of course, is nuanced and doesn't mean we will all agree on various things. We do acknowledge that the majority of this facilitation team is white-bodied. Part of the intention of this training is to shift that balance and make these skills more accessible to non-white folks so that others can become teachers, facilitators, and healers within this lineage and/or take these skills to their own communities.

We expect all participants to be committed to non-violent engagement, direct communication & care regarding disagreement. Homophobia, racism, transphobia, and discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated. Our community agreements within the retreat will center open dialogue.

This will be a space for our mind and bodies to not only learn and grow but to decompress and feel in broader community.

Cost for this four day training is sliding scale $750-$2000. We prioritize accessibility to all trainings within the collective, we offer this sliding scale following the belief that what is best for you is what is best for community.
The sliding scale represents the idea that financial resources, including income, are not and should not be the only determining factor in whether or not someone can access  services/care/etc. For a sliding scale to work it relies on the principles of truthfulness, respect for complexity, and accountability.   

Limited full and partial scholarships available for those that find the low end of the sliding scale inaccessible financially.  In an attempt towards transparency and equity in a time and culture that has gate kept and appropriated healing practices, qt/BIPOC folks will be first considered for scholarship.

Any funds made from this retreat after costs are covered will be dispersed equitably to our facilitation team, as well as grow our scholarship fund for future offerings. We prioritize full transparency within our collective. Let us know if you have questions about how this money is being spent!

Applications are due August 15th
Application Decisions will be made by September 1st

Intro to Politicized Somatics : Resourcing in Community

Next Training October 14th-18th, 2026
Tucson AZ


“At its best, activism is a form of healing. It is about what we do and how we show up in the world. It is about learning and expressing regard, compassion and love.”

— Resmaa Menakem

Questions? Get in touch.