About Shaina Levee, M.A.
A practitioner bridging mind, body, and spirit for over two decades.
I’m Shaina, and my work has always begun with listening—listening to the body, to the stories beneath symptoms, and to the places that feel out of rhythm. Ayurveda and somatic practices give shape to this listening, offering simple ways to tend to digestion, the nervous system, and the patterns formed early in life. Many people find me during a transition or a time when something no longer fits, and together we explore what the body is trying to communicate. In this work, my attention is steady and practical, helping clients return to themselves with more clarity, presence, and ease.
I’ve always been drawn to the inner world — the places where emotion, sensation, and meaning meet. In my early twenties, this pull naturally led me into meditation and contemplative practice, which has remained a steady thread in my life for more than twenty-five years. These practices shaped my capacity to listen deeply and pay attention to the quieter layers of a person’s experience.
Alongside this inner path, my professional training took shape through psychology and my graduate work in a Buddhist university, where I began to understand the nervous system, human development, and relational patterns in a more clinical way. My years in private practice deepened this understanding as I supported individuals and families through trauma, transitions, perinatal periods, and the long-held patterns that live in the body.
Over time, I realized the work asked for more than a clinical frame. I became increasingly interested in how digestion, stress, and early imprinting weave together, and how the body expresses what has not yet been resolved. This led me into somatic and trauma-informed approaches, and eventually to classical Ayurveda — a system that gave structure and lineage to the interconnectedness I was already seeing in my clients.
My work now is an integration of these paths: psychology, somatic practice, Ayurveda, and my contemplative foundations, informed quietly by my ancestry and the teachers and communities who shaped my understanding of relationship and responsibility. I support adults, families, and young people through the patterns and transitions that define their lives, always with respect for timing, capacity, and the body’s intelligence. What guides me is simple: healing unfolds through relationship, rhythm, and honest attention — and my role is to accompany people as they return to themselves.
I received my M.A. in Transpersonal Psychology from Naropa University, a program that blended clinical understanding with contemplative practice.
Before that, I completed a B.A. in Sociology, where I first began studying the ways people, systems, and relationships shape our inner lives.
My training in classical Ayurveda has unfolded over several years through study in India and the U.S., including time at Vaidyagrama, Amritapuri, and The Ayurvedic Institute.
I also draw from apprenticeship in indigenous wisdom traditions and studies in folk herbal traditions, which deepen my understanding of the body as an interconnected ecosystem.
My somatic training includes body-based approaches to stress, trauma, and early imprinting, with additional instruction in craniosacral therapy and Hatha Yoga.
I trained in Buddhist psychotherapy methods, which continue to influence the way I listen, track sensation, and support nervous-system health.
I’ve completed extensive training in pre- and perinatal psychology, and I’ve supported families as a doula, childbirth educator, and midwifery apprentice.
These experiences continue to inform my work with adults, children, and family systems.
I’ve been rooted in meditation and contemplative practice for more than twenty-five years, guided through traditions that emphasize presence, service, and self-inquiry.
I hold training as a Recovery Coach, work that deepened my understanding of community-based healing and the resilience of the human nervous system.
Earlier in my career, I studied Holotropic Breathwork, plant medicine ceremony and Reiki, which strengthened my appreciation for expansive states of consciousness, integration, and subtle energy work.
I’ve spent more than a decade in private psychotherapy practice, supporting individuals, couples, and families through life transitions, trauma recovery, healing from attachment and early imprints, digestive and nervous-system challenges, and long-held patterns in the body. (State of Vermont Office of Progressional Regulation: non-licensed, non-certified).
My work with somatic practices began even earlier and remains a central part of how I help people reconnect with themselves.
I’ve supported pregnant and postpartum women, parents, children, teens, and clients navigating fertility or loss, along with those seeking guidance in gentle parenting, across many years of perinatal and family-centered practice.
My time as a doula, midwifery apprentice, and parenting educator continues to shape my understanding of development, bonding, and the nervous system.
I’ve held leadership roles within the perinatal community, where I helped foster education and meaningful dialogue around birth, early development, and family wellness.
I created a community festival dedicated to gentle birthing and parenting, bringing together families and practitioners in a shared space of learning and support.
Teaching has long been part of my path; I’ve offered classes in Tai Chi Chuan, guided somatic workshops, and more recently taught seasonal and Ayurvedic cooking as a way of supporting nourishment and everyday wellbeing.
Earlier in my career, I taught psychology at the college level, an experience that shaped my commitment to clear, approachable, and grounded teaching.
I’ve worked as a recovery coach supporting individuals rebuilding their lives, and as a peer mentor in community-based programs.
These roles taught me the value of everyday relational support, dignity, and the slow pace at which real change takes root.
Before opening a psychotherapy practice, I supported clients through somatic and energetic practices, reiki, craniosacral therapy, energy healing, meditation instruction, and breathwork — experiences that laid the foundation for the integrative approaches I use today.
Lets Work together