Embodied Compassionate Healing
Meet Ana Carolina Loia, SEP
Hi, I’m Ana Carolina, and I am so glad you’re here. I’m a trained somatic practitioner with a deep passion for supporting others in reconnecting with themselves, healing from trauma, and cultivating greater resilience and self-trust.
In my relational and integrative approach, I bring together trainings in multiple body-centered therapeutic modalities to support the integration of body and mind in the healing of trauma and other life challenges. I am specialized in trauma healing, with a focus on attachment repair and nervous system regulation.
My work is deeply shaped by the understanding that healing happens in connection — and that our bodies hold the stories that words alone cannot fully reach. I’m committed to holding a space that feels safe, caring, and grounded in curiosity — a space where you can be yourself, speak your truth, and know that your pace will be honored and your experience respected.
But what has shaped me the most has been my own healing journey. For years, I searched for healing in other approaches but they did not address the root causes of what I was experiencing and did not offer the deeper healing I was seeking. It wasn’t until I found the body-centered, attachment-based, and trauma-specialized therapies that I experienced the profound shift I was longing for.
It’s by having walked this path myself that I am able to meet my clients just where they are — with a deep understanding of what it means to feel stuck and the hope that healing is possible. It’s my personal journey that has shaped my ability to hold space for others with compassion, presence, and an open heart.
I see you, I hear you, and I believe you. I honor your courage in taking this step.
At the heart of my practice
Compassion
I believe that compassion is the essence of healing. Compassion for the parts of us that are hurt, and for the ways we managed to adapt, to cope and to protect in order to survive. When we’re able to meet ourselves with kindness, acceptance, non-judgement and openness, we create the conditions for healing and transformation.
Presence
My goal is to offer a safe space where you can be met with presence and empathy, where you can feel seen and heard, where you can be witnessed - in your pain and in your power. I will guide you into being more present and open to your own internal experiences, and consequently, to life.
Curiosity
It is with curiosity - when we’re open to explore and receive experiences without judgement and with an open heart - that we create space for growth and healing. It’s from a place of curiosity that we allow our experiences to come to the surface so that we may process and integrate them.
Courage
Healing takes courage. Courage to be with our truth, to be with uncomfortable experiences, to do things differently and to keep showing up to ourselves. I am here to offer support and hope in your journey.
My training and background is in
Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner (SEP)
Somatic Experiencing® (SE) is a body-based approach to healing trauma and chronic stress that works directly with the autonomic nervous system. Rather than focusing primarily on recounting past experiences, SE gently supports the body in completing survival responses and restoring regulation, resilience, and a sense of safety from the inside out.
Learn more about Somatic Experiencing® here.
Psychotraumatology
Psychotraumatology is an approach that integrates research from contemporary neuroscience with interventions from various schools of Somatic Psychology. It offers tools, resources and interventions to address the complexities of trauma and it’s manifestations in our physical and emotional beings.
IFS (Internal Family Systems) - IFS Circle
IFS is a non-pathologizing therapeutic approach that helps supports healing by accessing and healing our protective and wounded inner parts. At the core of IFS is the belief that every individual has a core Self, which is inherently calm, compassionate, and wise. The Self is the true essence of who we are, and it is from this place that healing and transformation can occur.
Transforming Touch® Practitioner
Transforming Touch® is a trauma-informed, body-centered approach that works directly with the autonomic nervous system through safe, attuned touch and relational presence. Rooted in attachment theory, Polyvagal Theory, somatic and sensorimotor therapies, and neurophysiology, it supports the healing of early developmental and attachment-based patterns that often formed before language or conscious memory. By offering the nervous system new signals of safety and support, this work helps restore regulation, repair relational wounds, and cultivate a deeper sense of internal safety, connection, and embodied trust.
Learn more about Transforming Touch® here.
DARe1 – Dynamic Attachment Repatterning Experience
DARe is a dynamic and compassionate framework that supports our ability to resolve relational trauma, strengthen secure attachment, break unhealthy patterns, repair and restore our innate capacity to heal, reconnect and thrive in relationships (to ourselves and others).
Other courses and trainings
Trauma Coupling Dynamics - Kathy Kain, PhD
Integral Somatic Psychology: Trauma, Development, and Attachment - Raja Selvam, PhD
Working with Complex Trauma: Untangling Somatic Wounds - Peter A. Levine, Ph.D and Dr. Diane Poole Heller
Witnessing the Body’s Wisdom: A Somatic Journey Through Shame and Grief, Returning to Authentic Joy - Peter A. Levine, Ph.D, and Dr. Diane Poole Heller
Professional Association
I am a registered member of the A.N.Q. (Association of Naturopaths of Quebec) and adhere to a Code of Ethics in my practice.