Somatic Therapy | Yoga and Sound Baths in Old Fourth Ward | GA
History does not stay in the past. It lives in the body, in the way the nervous system was shaped by what came before, in the patterns of strength and survival that were handed down through generations before anyone had language for what was being transmitted. Power Through Process is a somatic therapy and sound healing practice that works with that dimension of experience directly. I hold space for women of color to attend to what their bodies carry, both personally and ancestrally, and to create the conditions for what no longer needs to be carried to begin to release.
Old Fourth Ward takes its name from Atlanta's old ward system, but its significance in Black American history exceeds that administrative origin. Auburn Ave runs through the neighborhood's center, its storefronts and churches holding the memory of Sweet Auburn's era as the wealthiest Black street in America. The MLK Jr. National Historical Park preserves the blocks where Dr. King was born and where he is buried, making this a neighborhood where the weight of history is not abstract. The BeltLine's Eastside Trail enters the neighborhood from the south, passing the old Ponce City Market building on Ponce de Leon Ave and threading through a community that has been changing rapidly while carrying its own identity with particular fierceness.
Edgewood Ave extends east toward Little Five Points, and the intersection at Randolph St and Irwin St marks the heart of a neighborhood in active negotiation between its past and its present. Women who seek somatic therapy in Old Fourth Ward are often carrying history in a very literal sense. They know what this neighborhood means. They know what their families built and what was taken. They carry that knowledge in their bodies alongside their personal stories, and the two are not always easy to separate. My practice does not ask that they be separated. It holds all of it, with the attention the full weight of it deserves.
How it works
01
Start where you are—not where you think you “should” be
Somatic therapy starts from the understanding that the body is not incidental to the healing process. It is the healing process. Whatever has been held, whether for years or for generations, is held in tissue and nervous system and breath. Sessions create the conditions for that held material to become accessible, not through force but through the careful building of safety, enough safety that the body can finally begin to move what it has been protecting.
02
No scripts. Just what your body needs
The entry point into this practice is wherever a person actually is. Not where she thinks she should be, not at a particular level of readiness or clarity, but genuinely where she is right now. The first conversation follows that honesty, finding the shape of the experience and exploring whether this work and this relationship feel like the right container for it.
03
Where science meets soul
Progress in somatic therapy does not look like a checklist being completed. It looks like a person becoming more genuinely herself. More present in her own skin. More able to receive what is good. More able to set down what has been weighing her down. These changes are real and they accumulate, and they tend to surprise clients with how fundamental they turn out to be.
Explore my therapy services and specializations
In a neighborhood where history is this alive and this present, the body often registers what the mind is still trying to categorize. Somatic therapy works with that registered experience directly, creating space for what the body knows to become conscious and for what is conscious to find its way into the body's actual resolution. Sessions attend to sensation with the same careful attentiveness that good historical work gives to primary sources. What is the body's direct account? What does it say about what has happened and what it needs? Over time, clients develop a capacity to hear those accounts clearly and to respond to them with care. Sessions are held virtually and accessible from any private space in Old Fourth Ward or beyond.
Sound has always been central to Black healing traditions. The church. The music that turned grief into something survivable. The voices that held communities together when everything else was trying to tear them apart. Sound baths draw on that lineage, using vibration as a vehicle for the kind of release that words and cognition cannot always reach. Yoga sessions in this practice are slow and inward-focused, oriented toward the body's own knowledge rather than any external standard. Together, sound and movement create a practice that honors the healing traditions that have always existed within Black communities while offering them in a contemporary, accessible form. These offerings are available virtually and are designed for women who may be encountering them for the first time.
Communities built around survival develop particular relational patterns: the fierce loyalty, the communal protection, the expectation that strength will be demonstrated through what one does not ask for. Relational Gestalt therapy examines those patterns with deep respect for their origins and genuine curiosity about what might be possible beyond them. Sessions use the immediate experience of the therapeutic relationship as the field of exploration. What happens in the body when trust is offered? What arises when a need is expressed without apology? These are not rhetorical questions. They are explored through actual experience in the room, and what is learned there tends to migrate into the world. This work honors the relational intelligence that survival cultivates while creating space for something more nourishing to emerge alongside it.
A nervous system shaped by historical trauma, whether carried personally or ancestrally, has learned to treat a wide range of situations as potentially threatening. This is not dysfunction. It is wisdom that was adaptive in a particular context and that now runs more broadly than the context requires. Nervous system regulation work expands the range of situations the body can experience as safe. Sessions build new experiences of safety that the body can reference and return to. Over time, the nervous system's threat assessment begins to calibrate more specifically to actual current conditions rather than to the full weight of what has historically been true. The range of states the body can inhabit expands. For women in Old Fourth Ward carrying the specific historical weight of this neighborhood and this community, this work is among the most meaningful things I offer.
Intergenerational trauma is one of the most significant and most underacknowledged dimensions of Black women's health. The nervous system learns from what it witnesses as well as from what it directly experiences, and what Black families have witnessed across generations has left marks that show up in the body before they are ever named as trauma. Somatic trauma therapy holds space for the full scope of what has been held, without requiring it to be organized into a coherent narrative before it can be addressed. Sessions attend to what the body is communicating, at whatever level it chooses to communicate, and respond with care to what arises. This work is done slowly, with reverence for what the body has survived and with patience for the pace of its healing.
Anxiety that is rooted in historical and cultural experience has a depth that conventional anxiety interventions were not designed to reach. It is not just about the present moment or the current threat assessment. It carries the weight of what has been true for a very long time. Sound meditation reaches that depth through vibration rather than cognition. The frequencies used in sound meditation sessions interact with the nervous system at a level that is older than language and older than thought. Something in the body recognizes and responds to what is offered before the analytical mind can organize a response. This ancient quality of the medium is part of what makes it meaningful for work that involves ancestral dimensions of experience. Sessions are available virtually and welcome women at any stage of their healing.
Therapy for Black women in the shadow of Auburn Ave and the history it holds carries a particular significance. This is a community that has always had to build its own sources of support, its own institutions of care, because the dominant culture's institutions were not built to hold it. My practice stands in that tradition. My anti-oppressive, decolonizing framework is not an add-on to the therapeutic work. It is the foundation of it. Every aspect of the practice, from the way sessions are structured to the way historical and cultural context is held, reflects an understanding that Black women's healing cannot be separated from Black women's liberation. Women who come to this practice find a space where the fullness of who they are and what they carry is not just acknowledged but actively honored.
Movement as healing has deep roots in the African diaspora. Dance, ritual, communal physical practice. Somatic yoga connects to that tradition while offering it in a form that is intimate and interior, designed for the individual body's specific experience rather than the collective performance of it. Sessions move slowly through sensations and breath, guided by what the body communicates rather than by any external sequence or standard. What is tight, what is open, what has been waiting for permission to move. The practice meets all of it with curiosity and without judgment. Somatic yoga is offered virtually and is designed to be accessible for women at any level of relationship with their bodies.
For Black couples in Old Fourth Ward, the history of Sweet Auburn and the broader Sweet Auburn community is part of the relational inheritance both partners carry. This therapy holds that inheritance with respect and creates space for the relationship to be both historically grounded and genuinely alive in the present. Sessions are offered virtually.
Organizations in Old Fourth Ward and the broader Sweet Auburn area operate in the context of a community with a rich history of collective wellbeing. My corporate wellness offerings honor that context, bringing trauma-informed somatic practices and nervous system tools to teams that are ready to invest in genuine organizational health. Available virtually.
Serving clients in Old Fourth Ward and nearby areas
My practice serves women throughout Old Fourth Ward and the surrounding Atlanta communities, including Sweet Auburn, Inman Park, Ponce City Market corridor, Edgewood, Bedford Pine, and neighboring parts of the eastside and downtown. All sessions are offered virtually. An embedded map of the Old Fourth Ward service area appears below.
Chelsey has been a mentor to me in many ways. She has a warm, patient, thoughtful presence that is consistent and unmoving, and the ability to closely contact whatever arises in a calm and non judgemental way that allows for connection. Highly recommend!
Haley Winer
Chelsey and I recently led a group and I was in awe of her ability to hold space, give others feedback, and stay regulated throughout the course. Chelsey was a supportive, caring, and wonderful co-facilitator. I learned so much from her!
Julia Willinger
She's phenomenal. I've had a few different therapists during my mental health journey, but Chelsea is the first one to actually make me feel comfortable enough to be vulnerable. She reminds me that it's okay to acknowledge my feelings, instead of bottling them up in order to process the situation that brought that particular feeling up. I spent a long time feeling invisible; my sessions with Chelsea remind me that I'm here, and I matter. It feels good to feel seen and understood.
Anonymous
What inspires me about Chelsey's clinical skills is that she has a talent and passion for integrating her work with holistic health and wellness. She offers healing on a deep level and her very presence has a calming effect. I highly recommend Chelsey.
Fox Eros Life Stress Intimacy Polyamory
Chelsey's approach to therapy is rich, fulfilling, and empowering. Her groundedness propels her in the ability to be attuned to her clients' needs which is valuable to community healing.
Keri Anderson
I have had the privilege of being Chelsey's supervisor for the past 18 months. She is a caring and compassionate clinician who brings thoughtfulness, warmth and curiosity to her work with clients. I highly recommend Chelsey.
Penny H.
Chelsey has been a mentor to me in many ways. She has a warm, patient, thoughtful presence that is consistent and unmoving, and the ability to closely contact whatever arises in a calm and non judgemental way that allows for connection. Highly recommend!
Haley Winer
Chelsey and I recently led a group and I was in awe of her ability to hold space, give others feedback, and stay regulated throughout the course. Chelsey was a supportive, caring, and wonderful co-facilitator. I learned so much from her!
Julia Willinger
Testimonials
Hello, I'm Chelsey Reese, somatic therapist and sound healer serving Old Fourth Ward
I'm a somatic therapist, yoga practitioner, and sound healing facilitator, and the founder of Power Through Process Wellness Co., serving women of color in Old Fourth Ward, Atlanta, and throughout the metro and beyond. My practice is grounded in an anti-oppressive, decolonizing framework and draws from somatic experiencing, polyvagal theory, relational Gestalt, and trauma-informed mindfulness. I work with the understanding that healing for Black women is inseparable from the historical and cultural context in which their lives are lived. This practice is rooted in one belief: empowering women of color to listen to the wisdom inside their bodies, release stored trauma, and step into an abundant life of peace and connection.
Frequently asked questions
How does virtual therapy work?
Virtual therapy sessions are held over a secure, HIPAA-compliant video platform. All you need is a private space, a stable internet connection, and a device with a camera and microphone.
Can I use my insurance for virtual therapy?
I currently do not accept insurance. I can provide a superbill for reimbursement and I do accept Loveland Vouchers.
What if I need to cancel or reschedule a session?
I ask for at least 24 hours notice to reschedule or cancel your session. Cancellations made less than 24 hours notice may incur a fee.
