Bio

Teja Forest Campbell, SEP, RCST, BCST

Shorter version:

Here is the last line from the longer version… “I love working with people struggling with their own sensitivity and providing an attuned space in which the sensitivity may arise as a gift.”

Longer version:

In my early 20s, I dove into a life of contemplation/meditation with long periods living in wild places off the grid. Then after disrobing from a period as a Buddhist monk, I went back to a cabin I had built in a forested canyon unsure what to do next. I waited 8 months down there, and built friendships with some neighbors (wild animals)… so was essentially living as a male snow white. Quite a special experience, and yet, I know I would have to find a way to confront and be of service to the world of humanity. So I pursued training in Somatic Experiencing and Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (three year trainings), because I thought they would give me time to bridge my gift of sensitivity into a service that would offer me livelihood. These courses offered me thorough ways of understanding and working with trauma, the nervous system and the deeper layers of human beings (though that last one I already had some grounding in). However, what they didn’t offer me was an opportunity to understand my unique way of working. During these trainings, I ironically, found myself getting a bit more frozen and distant from others. It seemed like my skill and gifts were diminishing, which caused me great concern, but I went along with it because they were considered such quality trainings. After I graduated both programs, I needed a break, so I went back into what I knew best, solitary meditation/prayer practice. So I spent a few months in silent retreat. This was great, but I knew that I would have to offer somatic work in some way, I just didn’t know what that would look like. My unique set of life experiences and perception didn’t seem to fit into any of the boxes, it seemed like something was being left out. So gradually I stumbled into two year long practitioner trainings of a more gentle, relational nature (by the way, both my three year trainings were gentle in theory, but I just didn’t feel settled in either of the groups). I began to feel a welcoming of myself again, and a lot of missing pieces were coming together. It felt consistent with my experience of earning the trust of wild animals, and I began to feel young parts of myself start to feel safe enough to unfreeze… feeling my body start to show up again without so much focused awareness to sustain it… It was great, and yet I took it for granted. I began to notice that my overall health was weaker than other stages of life. I was getting sick more often, being fed food I am allergic to, and simply getting tired of feeling everything. It was a confrontation with the seemingly impossible challenge of how can I live in this crazy world when I am so damn sensitive? For months (I could even say years and years, because it was already a question), I didn’t have any sufficient answers. Eventually I got intensely sick again, with so much pain and vulnerability. Laying there in bed, I wondered “what really matters here?” Getting intensely sick a few times that year, somehow I felt death’s whisper, and remembered that life is vulnerable enough where it can be taken in a moment. From that moment, I began to more seriously take my sensitivity as a teacher, and follow a rich path that has provided simple answers to life long questions that I didn’t know I had. It has provided me with a pathway to be of service to others in a way I truly enjoy. Not surprisingly, I love working with people struggling with their own sensitivity and providing an attuned space in which the sensitivity may arise as a gift.

Training

-Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy Practitioner Training (CTET, London)

-Somatic Experiencing Practitioner Training (Israel, England)

-Alchemical Alignment Practitioner Training

-Organic Intelligence Coaching Certification

-SE Trauma Institute Member and BCTA/NA member

-Buddhist Monastic Training

-Intensive Meditation Retreat in monasteries, wilderness solitude, and retreat centers. (Well over 3 years of accumulated intensive practice)

-Approximately 3 years of living off the grid/close to the land (Nepal, California forested canyon, Sri Lanka)

-Year long course in anatomy/physiology for bodyworkers

References

” My session with Teja was a wonderful experience. Throughout the session I felt safe and at ease and very guided. I was able to tune in to my body, and the experiences and emotions living within parts of my physical being, that were previously hidden. I left the session feeling awake, aware and connected to my physical presence. As the weeks went on these sensations simply increased and became a part of my day to day acknowledgement of self. Teja supported the touching of something held within my body’s physical memory that needed healing and since that day forward I feel as though the traumas we explored have slowly been softened, healed and released a little each day. For this I am very grateful. The atmosphere and energy Teja generates in his sessions are truly beautiful and the session was driven at a pace that was comfortable for me.  I would definitely have more sessions with him. ” Monica, London

” I found the session with you hugely beneficial. As I said, in decades of treatments by great practitioners I have never felt the relief I felt in my head during and following the treatment. You were respectful, super tuned in and the treatment was gorgeous and effective. It went to the root of the issue and there is more there to explore. I have felt relief for longer than usual following the treatment. It initiated a healing response with strong dreams afterwards too.” Sara, Devon