CENTER FOR SOMATIC GRIEVING

Certified Mindful Grieving Facilitators

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  • Shandra Bauer (She/her) is a curious seeker of what it means to be human and how we find meaning, connection, and joy in our lives. She is a registered yoga teacher who invites others to connect to their inner wisdom, wholeness, and purpose through yoga, meditation, breathwork, and embodiment practices. Shandra teaches through a trauma-informed lens to create a space that feels accessible, safe, and anchored in self-compassion. Shandra’s experience of the sudden loss of her sister in 2017 and her father in 2020 and the ongoing healing journey have led her to inform her teaching. She uses her life experience and Mindful Grieving Yoga Therapy training to accompany others in their grief journey using meditation, yoga, and connection through community.

    She completed her 200-hour YTT with Jessica and Al Noche of Kramas Yoga in 2019. She is a Certified Mindful Grieving Facilitator through the Center for Somatic Grieving and offers Mindful Grieving Yoga Therapy groups online and in person. She is a board-certified Physician Assistant and has worked as a PA at UW Health in Internal Medicine. She is the mother to three children and a wife to Adam. If she isn’t chasing her crazy kids around you can find her working in her garden, reading a book, or trail running.

    Shandra is located in Madison, WI.

    For further information, please visit Shandra’s website: www.shandrabauer.com

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  • Through her life experiences and many professional training, Laura has developed an integrative approach to health and healing that encompasses the whole person – body, mind and spirit. Her background and experiences over many years encompass Physical Therapy Assistant, Ecopsychology, Wholistic Health and Wellness, Rites of Passage and Wilderness Excursions, Priestess of the Divine Sophia Lineage through The Pathway of Ceremonial Arts, Certified Advanced Fletcher© Pilates Instructor, 200 HR Core Power©, 200 HR SHAKTI Rise Anusura© Yoga Teacher, 200 HR Center for Somatic Grief © Mindfulness Grieving Yoga Therapy Facilitator, and energy work in Reiki Level 3 and Core Synchronism Level 3, Body Talk Level 1 &2 , Somatic Stress Release 1 & 2 and other forms of alternative health and healing arts at Voyager School of Alternative Healing.

    After the death of one of her twin daughters in 2013 from a fatal car accident, Laura dove deeper into exploring the connections of body, mind and spirit in relation to her own grief and healing journey. Through this traumatic event she became more interested in how trauma affects the whole person and is passionate about helping others heal and clear their own traumatic experiences at all aspects of their being.

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  • Claudia Gukeisen M.A. is a Clinical Ayurvedic Practitioner, a 500hr Kripalu Ayurvedic Yoga Specialist, and Yoga Nidra Teacher with extensive training and certifications in Ayurveda, restorative and Ayurvedic yoga therapeutics, somatic trauma-informed practices, energy work, grief yoga therapy, grief coaching, breath work, mindfulness, and yoga nidra for stress release, illness, grief, and end of life.

    She is also a Certified Grief to Gratitude Coach and a Certified Mindful Grieving Facilitator who uses a trauma-informed, mind-body-spirit approach to supporting individuals and groups who are grieving as well as caregivers supporting others through loss.

    Claudia has led the 9-month Mindful Grieving Program for The Center for Somatic Grieving and facilitated several 6-week programs and virtual circles for The Grief Support Network. She has also been a presenter for The Grief Support Network Online Summit and Jillian Pransky’s Online Membership Studio as well as a speaker and program moderator at The Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY.

    For further information, please visit Claudia’s website: www.selfcareforgrief.com

    Instagram: @claudiagukeisen

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  • Martha Rouleau was a committed public-school educator for over 31 years in the role as a science and math teacher, department chair, and as a middle school Assistant Principal and Dean of Students. Trained initially as a marine biologist, Martha’s love of science and neuroscience drew her to explore the field of mindfulness in 2007.

    Martha’s on-going keen interest and steady mindfulness practice led her to complete multiple mindfulness trainings for children, teens, adults, and leaders. She earned the credential as a Qualified Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction in 2017. Martha also has completed a Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness program with David Treleaven, Mindful Communication with Oren Jay Sofer, and the 200-hour Mindful Grieving Yoga Therapy certification training through the Center for Somatic Grieving. She holds a 200-hour yoga teacher certification with additional training in chair yoga. Martha brings her yoga experience to a local yoga studio and at the College of William & Mary.

    Martha has presented at the State of Connecticut’s Annual Mindfulness Conference on two occasions and for the Veterans to Executives transition program at the College of William & Mary. She has offered professional development training for multiple school districts, Athena Healthcare, State of Virginia employees, staff, students, and faculty for the College of Education at W&M and for leadership and organizational staff at different organizations.

    Currently, Martha serves as an Adjunct Lecturer for Mindfulness Meditation at the College of William & Mary and serves in the capacity of Mindfulness Wellness Professional, offering collegewide programming and training for faculty, students and staff. Similarly, she works through the Contemplative Sciences Center at the University of Virginia offering mindfulness skill development along with teaching Well-Being through Mindfulness through the Curry School of Education and Human Development. Additionally, Martha currently works as an independent contractor for Third Horizon Strategies as a corporate Well-Being Trainer.

    As Martha’s mindfulness training continued to evolve over the past 20 years, she has been drawn to support and facilitate others as they walk their unfolding personal journey of loss and grief. She has experienced on a deeply personal level, the gifts that can be received from dipping in lightly as she turned towards grief with a supportive and loving community that allowed herself to be just as she was without expectations.

    Martha’s on-going passion is to support others, through mind/body awareness, as they cultivate skills and tools to live enhanced wellbeing, compassion and connection to self, others, and life.


    For further information, please visit Martha’s website: www.mindfulnavigation.com


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  • Arielle holds a 60-hour certification in Yin yoga from the YogaPod in Boulder, CO, and her 200

    hour certification in mindful grieving yoga therapy from the Center for Somatic Grieving. She is currently a graduate student at Lesley University studying clinical mental health counseling with a major in expressive arts therapy and holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado Boulder in integrative physiology with minors in art and art history.

    As a longtime yoga student, Arielle knows personally the support that having a strong yoga community provides and weaves together an environment of compassion and presence in all her classes and groups. Her approach to teaching emphasizes empowerment for the student to re-claim autonomy in body, mind, and spirit; offering thoughtful sequences constructed through a trauma-informed and culturally humble lens—aimed to encourage introspection, nervous system regulation, and opening of mind as mirrored by the physical body.

    Arielle believes that when we practice for ourselves, we likewise are practicing in service of our human family and the Earth which holds us; In this way, our practice becomes a spark for social and environmental justice where we aspire to cultivate peace within so that we may ultimately offer peace without. In addition to wearing the hats of yoga instructor and therapist-in-training, Arielle is a writer, animal lover, wife, daughter, feminist, and friend. You can find her at the library, in the art studio, on the trail, or under a weighted blanket when she is not on her mat.