About Cathy Pascal

I have been exploring and integrating essential processes of self awareness, healing and embodied awakening for many years — and I have a passion for sharing it.

Throughout my adult life, I have continued to explore wisdom traditions, maps of human experience (i.e., Integral Theory), systems of understanding patterns (i.e., the Enneagram, Human Design), and other practices of awareness, embodiment and awakening. I have followed curiosity and intuition as well as my own impulse to grow, heal and transform. I then have the opportunity to integrate what feels alive and helpful into what I offer to others and put out there in the world.

My background includes traditional training as a psychotherapist (MEd, MSW) and work in the field of counseling and clinical social work. In 1994, I was exposed to the mind/body self awareness method of Focusing which provided me with an essential ingredient in my own evolution and a guiding philosophy of holding healing space for another. I went on to become an Inner Relationship Focusing teacher, mentoring with Ann Weiser Cornell, and a certified Focusing Trainer and Coordinator with The International Focusing Institute. Focusing also turned out to be a gateway to a path of embodied awakening that has included meaningful connections to a handful of integral spiritual teachers and teachings.

In my current practice, I offer counseling sessions and guided Focusing sessions in person, on the phone or via Zoom.

My guiding principle in this work is that I am not “doing something to” the individual. Rather, I am making a connection and inviting the inherent wisdom of that person’s being to come forward — holding space for what wants to happen next to move into more integration and wholeness.

Group offerings include Focusing classes, as well as workshops that integrate Focusing with other modalities. Occasionally, I have the opportunity to host other gatherings that support personal and spiritual growth, community and creative expression.

Beginning in 2008, I have been a part of Trillium Awakening (formerly known as Waking Down in Mutuality), a lineage founded by Saniel Bonder, devoted to embodied spiritual awakening and healing the spirit/matter split. Trillium Awakening supports a threefold path of Consciousness, Embodiment and Mutuality. In December 2012, I became a mentor in the work. Although I am not currently active as such, I remain connected to the community and grateful for its wisdom teaching and transmission of whole body awakening.

In 2014, I completed a year of professional training in Somatic Experiencing, a powerful method of working with body processes to release trauma, founded by Peter Levine. This work shares a foundation with Focusing, the attention to the “felt sense,” which was first identified by Eugene Gendlin, the founder of Focusing. I feel enriched and empowered by my experience with these complementary modalities that share an emphasis on presence, compassion, awareness, embodiment and respect for each human being’s inherent ability to heal and evolve.

In March of 2020, I began exploring a new modality for nondual embodied awakenIng called The Realization Process. It has been one of my big “pandemic projects”. In May of 2021, I went through the Embodiment Teacher Training with the The Realization Process, the work of Judith Blackstone. I will begin Healing Ground (Spiritual Psychotherapy) Teacher Training in September of 2022. From Judith Blackstone’s web site: “The Realization Process is a direct path to embodied nondual awakening. It is a series of powerful but gentle, precise attunement practices for realizing your own nature as fundamental consciousness — an undivided expanse of luminous transparency, pervading your body and environment as a unity.” I look forward to integrating these teachings and practices into my offerings.

It is a privilege to help you discover your capacity for both groundedness and spaciousness and to access your essence and inner wisdom. Together, we align with your Life Forward Movement and lean into your next steps toward healing, growth and transformation.

My husband and I live in Chapel Hill, NC, where we have raised three children. I work out of my home. In 2012, I created a beautiful movement and workshop studio where I host group offerings. Individual appointments take place in the peaceful and lovely session room. Both spaces overlook the woods and have a retreat-like feel to them.

Education and Certification:

MSW, School of Social Work, UNC-Chapel Hill, 1987
M.Ed, Guidance and Counseling, School of Education, UNC-Chapel Hill, 1980
B.A, Psychology and Religion, Duke University, 1979
Licensed Clinical Social Worker, 2000-Present
Certified Focusing Trainer, International Focusing Institute, 1997
Certifying Coordinator, International Focusing Institute, 2002
Certified Realization Process Embodiment Teacher, Spring 2021