My first Beginning I/II as SE™ Faculty—after nine years of assisting and building the Mexican SE™ community from scratch, side by side with two of my dearest friends: the Mexican organizer Paulina García Hubard, and Alejandra Martí, the most Brazilian Argentinian I know, who’s been helping build and grow SE™ communities all over Latin America. A dream come true.
It’s almost 10 a.m. I walk into this gorgeous, familiar room with sixty students and a team of twenty-four assistants, at a retreat center outside Mexico City. Eighty-five people spending a whole week together, from dawn to dusk. All of us here for the same reason: to learn and spread SE™.
I can’t believe my eyes. It all feels so familiar, and yet so fresh and new.
Paulina starts with a warm welcome, as usual. We’re beginning the 5th generation of SE™ in Mexico. As an ancient native tradition says, the 5th generation completes the five fingers of one hand. A hand, now whole, that can both receive and give. The perfect balance.
—
16 years since I started my own SE™ training.
14 years since I began organizing SE™ trainings in my hometown, Porto Alegre—the southern capital of Brazil.
14 years since I started assisting and traveling to do this work.
12 years since I gave birth to my daughter, who traveled with me—in and out of my womb—as I assisted and helped start the 1st generation in Mexico.
9 years since Mexico became my home away from home, where my sister and nephew now live—the place that allows me to witness the gorgeous jacaranda trees bloom twice a year.
3 years since I began my SE™ Faculty mentorship, with the same generous and beautiful teachers who once trained me.
—
A pandemic and a major flood in my hometown happened in between.
Starting the SE™ training was one of those decisions you make without having a clue what’s coming next. It was like deciding to live in Spain for a year in my early twenties to learn Spanish—for no apparent reason. I stumbled into SE™ pretty early in my career, just as I was beginning my practice as a relational psychotherapist, hungry to learn everything I could about the body and its mysterious ways.
As a student, I remembered I had a body—and that it had a language of its own. Most of all, I learned that listening to it is a matter of practice: of opening time and space to sit with it.
As a practitioner, I witnessed (and still do) the greatness of the simple—yet not easy—act of being present with what is. Not arguing, not judging, not wanting anything. Just watching the grass grow and honoring the power of life as it unfolds.
As an organizer, I had the opportunity to meet all kinds of people, each one interested in learning how to come back home to their own bodies. It taught me the true power of community.
As an assistant traveling across countries, I grew more and more confident that nothing is impossible if we’re able to align our intention and attention. Our differences fade when we meet in our shared human nature.
As a teacher—I’m still figuring it out. New adventures are on the horizon: Brazil, Mexico, China, Spain, Chile… and who knows where else. I feel ready. And willing.
It’s been a long journey.
One I’m really proud of.
I can’t wait to live the chapters yet to unfold
Mariana is a Brazilian Psychologist and Somatic Experiencing® Faculty for SEI, living in the south of Brazil with her daughter. For over 20 years, she´s been helping people heal by combining somatic awareness with relational therapy. She had the privilege of teaching and assisting Somatic Experiencing® trainings worldwide, and is passionate about creating inclusive, supportive spaces for learning. Her work focuses on the deep connection between the body, emotions, and relationships.