Creative Somatic EcoTherapist
For women and youth reclaiming their wild sense of self.
You’re not broken. You’re just tired of squeezing into systems that never fit. I help you calm your nervous system, work with your body—not against it—and remember who you were before the world told you otherwise.
I work with women who are tired of carrying so much alone.
I hold space for:
Women navigating body shame or challenges with self-compassion.
-
- You may feel like a floating head with a fraught relationship with your body. You want to be happy in your own skin, but don't know how to get there.
Women who have bumped up against invisible blocks to deep happiness.
-
- You may not be sure how to navigate around them and need a guide to help when it feels too much.
Women carrying invisible weight.
-
- Maybe you’re the one everyone turns to, but you’re exhausted from holding it all together. You long for a place where you get to let go.
Women who have lost themselves.
-
- You may have been so busy raising kids or with a career that didn't quite fit your soulself that you have lost track of who you are underneath all that responsibility.
Women healing from trauma.
-
- Your body remembers things your mind would rather forget. I help you listen to those signals gently, at your own pace, so you can release without retraumatising.
Mothers and carers.
-
- You give and give, but who fills your cup? These sessions are a way back to yourself.
Women in transition.
-
-
- Whether it’s the shifting tides of motherhood, menopause, grief, or starting over, I’ll help you steady your nervous system and find your footing.
-
Burnt-out professionals.
-
-
-
- If you’re running on fumes, I’ll guide you into rest, reset, and nervous system repair.
-
-
Seekers of embodiment.
-
-
-
-
- If talk therapy kept you in your head, somatic work can help you drop into your body and discover a new way forward.
-
-
-
How I Work
The Ways We Can Work Together
1. Phototherapy: Standing in Your Full Power
This is more than just a photo session.
It’s a journey.
We start with somatic therapy and Hakomi practices — gentle, body-led work that helps you peel back layers of shame, fear, or self-doubt. Together, we build safety and confidence in your body until you’re ready to step in front of the camera.
When that moment comes, you won’t just pose for a photo. You’ll embody it.
You’ll stand in your full power — grounded, radiant, unapologetically you.
The images become living proof of your wholeness, a mirror you can return to whenever you forget.
This path is for women who want to see themselves differently — and finally believe what others have always seen in them.
2. Somatic Breakthrough Sessions: Clearing Invisible Barriers
Sometimes it’s not about the camera. Sometimes it’s about the thing that keeps tripping you up — the fear before you speak, the tightness when you set boundaries, the invisible weight that makes every step harder than it needs to be.
In these sessions, we focus on a specific challenge you’re facing. Together, we track how it lives in your body, and gently unravel the old patterns, stories, or protective responses that are standing in your way.
This isn’t about pushing harder. It’s about clearing the debris so your natural strength, creativity, and flow can move again.
These sessions are for women who feel:
-
Stuck on repeat with the same issue.
-
Burnt out from trying to “think” their way through.
-
Ready for a deep shift that lasts.
Both paths lead back to the same place: you, fully embodied and free. The only question is — do you want to witness yourself in images, or focus on clearing what’s holding you back right now?
My Core Tools:
Somatic Therapy
We tune into your body’s intelligence—often the part that’s been ignored the longest—and follow its cues toward healing.
Hakomi-Informed Parts Work
Together, we meet the inner protectors who formed during trauma or stress. They’re not your enemies—they’re your earliest survival strategies. We help them update and relax.
EcoTherapy
I don’t usually work in traditional therapy rooms. Nature is my co-therapist. Trees, wind, birdsong—these elements hold space and help your nervous system return to a natural rhythm.
Creative Expression
Sometimes what words can’t say, art can. Movement, photography, storytelling, even play—these are powerful portals for integration and insight.
Body Compassion Work
Especially for those navigating body shame, chronic stress, or weight stigma. We soften the inner critic, explore stuck patterns, and gently return you to yourself—without trying to “fix” what was never broken.
Compassionate Release of Non-Self Energies
When your system is carrying something foreign—ancestral burdens, energetic attachments, or lingering impressions—it can drain your vitality. This work supports you in restoring energetic integrity and reclaiming your inner clarity. I have done advanced training with Robert Falconer and use his methods. This process helps identify and release non-self energies that may be affecting your sense of safety, clarity, or vitality - without force, drama, or fear.
About Me
I’m Mandi—neurodiverse, playful, fiercely compassionate, and a mum to three grown humans and one ridiculously floofy Irish Doodle named Gritty.
My journey into healing work has been anything but linear. I trained as a holistic nurse in my 20s while serving in the US Navy—learning how to tend both body and spirit under pressure.
In my 30s, I raised a family, worked as a women’s health nurse consultant, and ran an organic blueberry farm in the lush Akatarawa Valley of Aotearoa.
(It was as wholesome and chaotic as it sounds.)
My 40s brought a creative pivot. I began using photography as a tool for healing body shame, eventually founding the Every Body is a Treasure Trust—a charitable organisation with a big mission:
To stop trauma from spreading to the next generation.
That led me deeper into the body—through somatic therapy, ecotherapy, parts work, and an ever-growing toolkit of gentle, trauma-informed approaches. I now work with both adults and youth to untangle what’s holding them back and reconnect with their soulful sense of self.
In my 50s, I directed my first film, Finding Venus—a documentary exploring the intersection of creativity, body shame, and healing. It won a bunch of international awards (which is cool and all)… but my proudest moments come from the transformations I witness every week in our Natural Leaders youth programme.
I’m still learning. Still growing. Still wildly devoted to the idea that we heal in connection—with nature, with creativity, with each other, and with the wise whispers of our own bodies.
Press Coverage of my work:
Youth work:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/565076/how-a-bushcraft-programme-helped-turn-a-13-year-old-life-around
Body Compassion work / Film Maker
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/culture-101/audio/2018943746/to-deal-with-body-shame-mandi-lynn-turned-300-women-gold-and-photographed-them-nude
https://www.thepost.co.nz/culture/350309689/mandi-lynn-wants-help-women-find-body-gratitude