Meet Peter Boyd

Somatic Integrative Specialist and Trauma Recovery Therapist

 I want to serve others with my attention and compassion so they can find their own inner peace and experience the world and relationships with unbridled joy. Seeing the correlation between my early years and the negative cycles of thought and behavior that manifested in my adult life has me highly motivated to help others navigate their way to a healing and fulfilling life. I was born in Taiwan into a large international cult called the Children of God, later known as The Family. I grew up in this organization in Taiwan, Japan, and Russia, until the death of my grandmother brought our family home to the Seattle area where I started high school. Needless to say there was a drastic cultural, morality, and identity shock that took place. In a family of eight siblings, with busy parents looking to make their way in a society that they had left 25 years ago, and a sister battling schizophrenia, I was left to my own devices. To cope with my transition, I threw myself into rigorous athletic sports and used addictions to control emotion. I have spent numerous years in talk therapy, cultivated a Tai Chi practice, traveled the USA, worked in rural locations with farm animals – all in an attempt to calm the inner child whom I protected so vigorously that I denied his very existence. And yet, I still felt isolated and numb to the world. How could this be when I took all the right (and wrong) actions to not feel this way? Something was clearly missing although I could find no clarity as to what. Returning to Seattle, I began working with continuous mindfulness and mediation training, as well as somatic therapy and trainings. The new space inside allowed me to unpack the religious trauma and neglect I was denying existed. I understand how it feels to face yourself in the mirror of silence. The benefits, as my own life proves, are undeniable. I have now worked for over ten years in meditation, mindfulness and somatic therapy trainings, as well as attending long Monastic meditation retreats annually. I am happy to say that now my life feels fulfilled. Not only do I have less background anxiety, I have emotionally rich relationships with people I genuinely love, an enthusiasm with which I take on projects, and a steady and balanced meditation practice. I feel called to help those who struggle with religious trauma, emotional neglect, panic attacks, anxiety, depression, and substance abuse. Coming through the “dark ages” myself, I know the kind of determination needed to make positive change and have compassion for the slip ups that are inevitable as we pave a new way of being. Releasing old patterns and embracing new ones. Choosing a therapist is a very personal decision and I am honored to bear witness to your healing journey.

Peter Boyd is an avid naturalist and passionate about preserving natural landscapes and resources.  He can often be found walking nature with his dogs and foraging the different wild plants. He has a true love of forests, treehouses, and outdoor activities. The serenity found in the woods, lakes and mountains provide a comfort and can be a muse to take into meditation. 

As a meditation practitioner and instructor, he discovered a growing need among his community towards those dealing with religious trauma and other traumatic childhood events.  He witnessed the effects of these traumatic childhood events be debilitating and destroy the lives of those he encountered while on his path. 

His own personal journey to healing revealed that the act of calming down through meditation could create emotional, mental, and physical collapses among those suffering from unaddressed early childhood traumas. This newfound discovery actually had a lot of scientific backing proving that when the mind gets calm and quiet, in other words, starts to feel safe, you begin to become aware of everything in the background that is holding anxiety, anger, pain, depression, resentment, rage, etc. This discovery ultimately led to career change focusing on helping others deal with the background "noise" to live a life full of love, fulfillment, and joy.  

With the help of a group of experienced therapists, meditation teachers, and counselors, he began exploring a new way to help people rewire their early childhood neurological programing so that they could experience, peace, connectivity and live an anxiety free life.  This process relies on both new innovations in science and brain development as well as older modalities of mindfulness and breath work. The results have been astounding.  

Clients who practice these trauma based therapies have experienced a significant decrease in anxiety, significant increase in positive relationships, and productive comforting methods that reduce fear and panic as it arises in real time. In contrast, these same clients had reported an increase in symptoms and anxiety regarding their early childhood traumas when using traditional cognitive based therapies which they had been working with for decades.  

The practice of these revolutionary trauma methods center around reconditioning the nervous system so that a person relates positively to their internal and external environment, as opposed to the preconditioned system - relating to oneself and society with shame, fear, anxiety and mistrust. It's not about thinking oneself better, or willing oneself better; it's about rewiring a nervous system and it's doable. Absolutely doable. 

 Art Integrative Therapies Specialist and Life and Trauma Recovery Coach

My name is Hannah Boyd, and I'm a certified art integrative therapies and trauma recovery coach who specializes in emotional development and regulation. I have a passion for supporting the feminine energies and helping them unfold in a way that nourishes themselves and their surroundings. I have specialized in early development for young children most of my career and love supporting mothers and families through transitions of home life. A strong background in integrated leadership and early childcare, I understand the complex demands of dependency, co-dependency, interdependence, self-reliance and all the shame, guilt and loneliness associated with those modules. 

The key to healing is - it cannot actually be done alone. We were hurt in group settings and we heal in group setting, whether that is a group of 2 or 20. The pain and the love must be witnessed and accepted in order for the body to incorporate them into a healthy nervous system. Receiving the kind of love and attention that allowed me to heal has me motivated to share my own love and attention to create a world where healing generational trauma becomes normal. 

As you begin your journey to peace, be patient with the healing process. Be gentle and compassionate with yourself as it takes time to heal. I’m here to testify that healing is 100% possible. We need guides to learn how to do anything in life, how to learn a new skill. Emotional healing is a new skill, and it takes time and practice. It takes someone who has actually done it and understands the nuances involved, helping you move through the scars of the past and to learn a new way of being. I’m honored to be a witness of your journey. 

The interesting thing about religious trauma, in regards to other traumas, is that in religious trauma one is taught, especially at a young age, to look outside of themselves for truth and guidance. Often the elders or religious authorities translate God or Divinity to you according to the system. This external checking in with others for our own state of being and guidance harms the growing individual. The dichotomy of right and wrong can paralyze the child from freedom of growth and creativity. Robbing them of internal safety as parts of them and their feelings become sorted, dissected into right and wrong. There is nothing wrong with God or loving God/Divinity, nor is there anything wrong with teaching morality, the error comes with expecting to find God/Divinity and The Wisdom outside of ourselves. It comes in denying the truth of intuition inside our bodies. This outsourcing of personal knowledge leaves us susceptible to many other kinds of hurt and trauma and a numbing of how we individually feel about things, including our own internal wisdom and truth. 

Hannah Boyd grew up in a rural setting in central Illinois where life was simple, but not without struggle. She learned to love the land, preserve food, and many survivalist skills in a family that was quite a bit larger than conventional family size. What she considered thriving in a community where everyone knew everyone’s business, was actually a glorified system of suppression and internal controls where perfect ease and peace was the external display, and a numbed out despair regulated the nervous system. 

Most people acknowledge the common Fight or Flight, but next up is Freeze, and that particular trait was held as a value in her family culture as it represented immense calm in the middle of a storm. Unwinding years of unintentional pain and neglect, has allowed her to step into an emotional freedom that has led to a fulfilling life. 

Married young, moved far from home, lived in big cities, traveled the world, took cute instagram photos, etc. and suicide was still a behind-the-scenes battle. Ebb and flow it seemed as natural as breathing, the illusory dream of not-breathing. Seven years into a close to perfect seeming life, she made an appointment with a trauma therapist and nothing has been the same since. Being able to identify what trauma actually was and acknowledge how it was wrecking the nervous system and robbing the body of hope despite the intellectual center declaring everything was “fine” was a catalyst for change. Radical internal change. Change of feeling.

Moving through a divorce, discovering a new and rich love life, adopting a dog, and returning back to the love of the land. Hannah is motivated to help others leave the chains of the past and step into emotional fulfillment and freedom. The heart and nervous system need to heal if the body wants to move beyond the traumas of the past. It is not just a “head learning,” it is a new neurological pathway that needs to be developed so the body can receive and withstand the new vibratory element of “love.” The key to healing is - it cannot actually be done alone. We were hurt in group settings and we heal in group setting, whether that is a group of 2 or 20. The pain and the love must be witnessed and accepted in order for the body to incorporate them into a healthy nervous system.