Rachel Pfau
Registered Massage Therapist, Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, and NARM® Informed Professional supporting women in trauma healing, nervous system regulation, resilience, and embodied reconnection.
I believe healing happens through relationship, through being met with presence, compassion, and respect for the wisdom of the body.
My Story & Approach
At the heart of my work is a deep belief that we are each here at this time for a reason. That beauty, grief, soul, and community are not luxuries, but necessities. And that healing is not something we do alone, it unfolds through relationship, through being witnessed, and through the quiet spaces where something new can begin to emerge.
I am a Somatic Therapist, Registered Massage Therapist, grief tender, and soul guide. My work is rooted in the intelligence of the body, the nervous system, relationship, and the deeper landscapes of human experience.
I come from German and Scottish ancestral lineages shaped by war, migration, poverty and survival, carrying a deep apprenticeship to sorrow, resilience, and the ways grief can shape our capacity for compassion, connection, and belonging.
My work is an offering, a quiet invitation into what is often avoided: the places of grief, uncertainty, vulnerability, and transformation. The places where we meet what has been carried, honour what has been lost, and create space for something more whole to emerge.
Through years of trauma-informed practice, somatic training, and spiritual study, I have cultivated an approach that is both deeply embodied and profoundly human. Whether in therapy, ritual, shared reflection, or moments of silence, my intention is to create spaces where women can reconnect with themselves, be witnessed in their truth, and listen more deeply for what their lives are asking of them.
The Path That Led Me Here
My journey into this work began through bodywork. As a Registered Massage Therapist, I spent many years supporting people through physical pain, injury, and disconnection from their bodies. Over time, I began to notice that many experiences held within the body could not be understood through physical symptoms alone.
This curiosity led me into deeper study of the nervous system, trauma healing, and embodied approaches to transformation. While my clinical work continued to deepen through Somatic Experiencing®, trauma-informed training, and Gestalt psychotherapy, I was equally shaped by years of mindfulness meditation, spiritual inquiry, grief work, and immersion in wisdom traditions rooted in mysticism, ritual, ancestry, and a living relationship with the natural world. Together, these paths expanded my work beyond supporting the body's symptoms toward accompanying the whole person, their nervous system, relationships, emotions, history, and capacity for connection, meaning, and purpose.
At the heart of my practice is the understanding that healing is not about fixing what is broken. It is about creating the conditions where the body, heart, and spirit can begin to reconnect with safety, choice, and aliveness. From this foundation, something else becomes possible: a deepening trust in our own unfolding. Healing is not the destination, but the ground from which we begin to embody our lives more fully, listening for what is asking to emerge and allowing ourselves to be, belong and become.
Training & Professional Background
My work is informed by more than two decades of exploration, clinical practice, and ongoing study in the fields of bodywork, trauma healing, psychotherapy, mindfulness, and relational practice.
I am a Registered Massage Therapist (RMT) with over 16 years of experience supporting people through pain, injury, and embodied healing. My continued learning has led me into deeper study of trauma, the nervous system, attachment, and the relational dimensions of healing.
My professional training includes:
Registered Massage Therapist
Sutherland-Chan School of Massage TherapySomatic Experiencing Practitioner® (SEP) training
Gestalt Psychotherapy training (in progress)
NARM® (NeuroAffective Relational Model) Informed Professional Training
Embody Lab Somatic Internal Family Systems (IFS) Training
Advanced Strategies for Working with Sexual Trauma with Ariel Giarretto
Mindfulness Mentor Training with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield
Thomas Hübl’s Timeless Wisdom Training
Practice Group Leader Training in Transparent Communication, The Pocket Project
Global Social Witnessing Facilitator Training, The Pocket Project
Resilience Facilitation, The Pocket Project
My approach continues to evolve through ongoing education, personal practice, supervision, community, and a deep commitment to remaining a lifelong student of this work.
Who I Work With
I work primarily with women who are seeking deeper healing, women who may feel disconnected from themselves, overwhelmed by their nervous system responses, or ready to understand the patterns that have shaped their lives.
Honouring & Acknowledging
My relationship with ancestry, land, and spirituality has been shaped through years of study with teachers and elders from diverse traditions, including shamanic study with medicine women from Turtle Island. These teachings deepened my understanding of myth, story, animism, and the sacred relationship between human beings and the living world.
My own ancestral exploration has brought me into deeper relationship with Celtic and Germanic traditions, where stories of transformation, cycles of life and death, and connection with the natural world offer meaningful reflections on grief and renewal.
I approach this work with humility and ongoing awareness of the complexity of ancestry, privilege, and cultural responsibility. As a white settler woman of European ancestry practicing in Tkaronto*, I recognize the importance of continuing to learn, listen, and engage with respect, particularly when working alongside individuals from historically marginalized communities.
As a neurodivergent and highly sensitive person, I bring a deep sensitivity to the nuances of human experience. My practice is grounded in trauma-informed, culturally responsive care that honours the uniqueness of each person’s story, identity, and healing journey.
I remain committed to ongoing learning, humility, and integrity, tending to this work as both a practitioner and a lifelong student of healing, relationship, and what it means to be human.