© Alisha Musicant 2023
Alisha adopts a client-centered approach focused on fostering a genuine sense of safety. She works with adult clients from diverse backgrounds, and strives to provide an inclusive and welcoming therapeutic space for all. She is especially passionate about guiding individuals on their personal growth journeys. ​​​
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​Alisha has been in practice as a holistic healer since 2009. She became a certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP) in 2017 through Somatic Experiencing International and has learned from renowned teachers including Steve Hoskinson, Ariel Giarretto, Kathy Kain, Joshua Sylvae, Abi Blakeslee, and Raja Selvam. In addition to providing SE sessions to the public, Alisha serves as a professional assistant for Somatic Experiencing trainings and is certified to offer sessions to students at both beginner and intermediate levels
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A significant aspect of Alisha's training involves studying with Ray Castellino, founder of the Womb Surround work and the Ojai-based BEBA (Building and Enhancing Bonding & Attachment) clinic, along with Mary Jackson and Tara Blasco. Alisha completed both the Castellino Pre & Perinatal Foundations and Family Practice trainings, and she supports families with young children at the BEBA clinic.
Influential teachers in craniosacral therapy include Hugh Milne, Anna Chitty, and Robyn Michelle Jones. Alisha's training background also includes lactation counseling, doula work, massage therapy, Hatha Yoga, and mindfulness meditation. Besides a background in these holistic modalities, she is a registered nurse with a masters in nursing, and has worked primarily in the areas of perinatal nursing, psychiatric nursing, community health, and clinical nursing education.
Background​
Early Influences
​In 2001, a college student at the time, Alisha was led to a path of healing after leaving an abusive relationship and experiencing a bicycling accident that left her with a badly shaken nervous system. She discovered the power of hands-on healing in the study of Reiki, and found her way to the Yellow Springs Dharma Center where she began practicing meditation. After graduating from Antioch College with a degree in Cultural Interdisciplinary Studies, she began to deepen in her meditation practice. She travelled to Burma and practiced with Sayadaw U Tejaniya, known for making the practice of insight meditation accessible to daily life, not just on the meditation cushion.
Alisha has been a student of the Diamond Approach since 2012, an approach that has supported her to bring a grounded spirit of inquiry and compassion to session work. She has also been influenced by several yoga traditions, Non-Violent Communication (NVC), Tibetan Buddhism, pilgrimage, contact improvisation dance, indigenous traditions, Judaism, permaculture, and many wonderful wisdom holders in these lineages to whom she owes a debt of gratitude.
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Client Testimonials
"Working with Alisha has been nothing short of transformative for me. I leave every session feeling deeply heard, seen, supported and with more access to resources in my daily life. I am so grateful for her gentle and attentive abilities to help my nervous system process stress and recover from the impacts of surgical and birth traumas. Thank you so much for doing what you do Alisha!"
~ C.M.
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"I have worked with Alisha for several years and she is truly a remarkable therapist.... She is intuitive, patient, nurturing, courageous, and sensitive. This work has supported me through stress, difficulty, and injury; and it has given me back clarity and perspective when they were lost. Alisha works with your whole person in a way that is graceful, curious, and respectful - arising instinctively from a place of deep listening."
~J.M.
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I cannot adequately express my gratitude for Alisha and her practice. After my first meeting with her, I left feeling so much more grounded in myself. It was the first time I left any kind of therapy session feeling more regulated, and not simply emotionally undone and exhausted.
~N.H.
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Alisha is an extraordinary somatic experiencing practitioner. This work has helped me go much deeper than traditional talk therapy. Alisha holds a space that makes me feel safe to go deep into my process. She has helped me to understand and communicate my boundaries. And she has given me tools to understand my nervous system and how to regulate it, which for me has been life-changing.
~R.N.