Lori Volpe
Mission: To empower people to access to their inner core of strength, resilience, awareness, and compassion through Mind-Body Therapy, Somatic Experiencing®, HeartMath®, and meditation.
If you feel that your quality of life isn’t what it could be, I get it!
Years ago, my search for a meaningful life with less anxiety and fear led me to meditation, yoga, and Somatic Experiencing®.
The dramatic emotional and physical relief and change in perspective I’ve gained inspire me to share what I’ve discovered.
From Mindfulness to Somatic Practice
In 2005, I transitioned from being a student to teaching Mindfulness Based Stress Management courses in Philadelphia and Southern NJ.
During six years of facilitating courses for the Penn Program for Mindfulness (UPenn Health System), I found that students were suffering from post-traumatic stress, depression, and anxiety. This awareness prompted my interest in nervous system regulation and led me to become:
- a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner (3-year training based on the groundbreaking work of Dr. Peter Levine)
- a certified Trauma Professional,
- a certified Mind Body Practitioner,
- a certified Trauma Sensitive HearthMath® facilitator,
- certified to teach trauma-sensitive meditation and yoga.
Through personal practice and continuing coursework with leaders in the field, I’ve learned to help those seeking to live with greater peace and a better quality of life.
Developing curriculum and teaching with Dr. Dan Gottlieb has been inspirational and another opportunity for growth and learning.
Through Somatic Experiencing®, Internal Family Systems, Inner Relationship Focusing, Attachment and Polyvagal Theories, and Mindfulness and HeartMath® techniques, I collaborate with clients to address individual needs and the root cause of distress.
The approach to nervous system regulation has changed radically in recent years, with an increasing recognition of the importance of including the body in the healing process.
If you’ve been struggling, perhaps it’s time to try something new.
Remembering well my own experience with anxiety and panic, I bring compassion and understanding to every individual and group session.
It would be a privilege to help you uncover the calm, clarity, and resilience that are part of your true nature, beneath the layers of distress.
After many years as a social activist, I’m now focused on facilitating inner change. Self-compassion leads to a greater sense of well-being and promotes compassion for others – a powerful way to change the world.
Professional Credentials
- B.A., Hamilton (formerly Kirkland) College – Sociology concentration
- Mindfulness Based Stress Management Facilitator, Penn Program for Mindfulness
- Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction in Mind-Body Medicine 7-day residential professional training with Jon Kabat-Zinn & Saki Santorelli
- Teaching Trauma-Sensitive Meditation Certification – Warriors at Ease
- Teaching Yoga and Meditation to Survivors of Military Sexual Trauma – Warriors at Ease
- Foundations of Teaching Trauma Sensitive Yoga Certification – Transformation Yoga Project
- Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner
- Certified Trauma Professional – International Association of Trauma Professionals
- Syndromes – The Somatic Side of Trauma Master Class (Peter Levine, PhD) 4-day training
- Frontiers of Trauma Treatment weekend workshop with Bessel van der Kolk
- Traumatic Stress: Resiliency and Healing with Yoga Yoga International (13 hours)
- First Do No Harm: Foundational Competencies for Working Skillfully with Meditation-Related Challenge — Two day training with Britton, Lindahl & Treleaven, Center for Mindfulness, Worchester, MA.
- Experienced Yoga Teacher
- Circle of Security-P Registered Facilitator
- Case Western Reserve University: Conversations That Inspire: Coaching Learning, Leadership and Change certificate
- Brain Story Certification – Alberta Family Wellness Initiative
- MindBody Therapy Certified Practitioner
- Integrative Medicine & Nutrition for Mood & Cognitive Enhancement – Certification
- Trauma Sensitive HeartMath® Certified Practitioner
For work experience, please visit LinkedIn
Member – United States Association of Body Psychotherapists
I’ve provided workshops, continuing education or presentations to the following Southern New Jersey or Philadelphia organizations: Penn School of Engineering and Applied Science, Rutgers University School of Business, Princeton House, NJ Association of Marital and Family Therapists (Southern Chapter), Girard Medical Center, (Creative Art Therapists, Dance Movement Therapists), Inglis House, Black Horse Pike Regional School District, Bancroft Neurorehab, Woodford Cedar Run, Animal Welfare Association, Katz JCC, The Boys and Girls Club of Camden, Penn Program for Mindfulness, Legacy Healing Center, and Medford Leas.
Dr. Dan Gottlieb
Beginning his career as an addiction specialist, Dr, Dan soon became a well regarded clinician, teacher, and supervisor of psychiatrists, psychologists and clinical social workers, teaching at Hahnemann University and consulting with many other faculty members throughout the region.
Personally, he was happily married and loved being a father to his young daughters. However, in 1979, his early successes were tragically interrupted when a near fatal automobile accident left him paralyzed from the chest down.
As expected, there were years of despair and depression and even more loss after his wife left the marriage and passed away several years later. And, in the ensuing year, Dan also mourned the loss of his sister and his parents.
Despite all the adversity, for the last three decades Dan has been observing life with passion and learning valuable lessons about what it means to be human and how adversity can teach us how to live and love better.
For more than thirty years, Dan hosted “Voices in the Family,” an award-winning mental health call-in radio show aired on WHYY 90.9 FM, Philadelphia’s local public radio station. For 15 years, he wrote a highly regarded column for the Philadelphia Inquirer, reflecting his perspective on the intersection of events in our world and events in our minds and hearts.
He has also published four books, including the international bestseller: Letters to Sam: A Grandfather’s Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life. His newest book, The Wisdom We’re Born With: restoring faith in ourselves, was released to rave reviews from mental health professionals around the country. All royalties are being donated to the Khulani school for disabled children in South Africa.
Dan’s writing, radio presence and the more than 1,000 lectures he has delivered all over the world have been an inspiration to many. He is beloved to those have been touched by his compassion, understanding, wisdom and personal resilience.
The essence of his philosophy can be found on his business card. After his name there are no degrees and no fancy titles. His card simply says “Gottlieb. Human.”
Through personal and professional experience, Dan has learned that our greatest suffering is alienation and loneliness. That is these powerful emotions can produce prejudice, hatred, violence, withdrawal and depression. He has learned that all humans long for human contact, compassion and understanding. And without compassion, our spirits wither.
When asked to summarize his life’s work, he says simply: “I teach kindness.”