Kali Connection Therapy
Trauma is stored in the body, shaping how we perceive and respond to the world around us. The trauma is not the story of what happened to us—it’s how our body gets trapped in that response, cycling through patterns of hypervigilance, where we’re constantly on alert, or shutdown, where we feel disconnected and powerless. These dysregulated nervous system states influence how we experience safety, connection, and engagement with the world. The stories we tell about ourselves and our lives don’t begin with thoughts but with the sensations and feelings rooted in these nervous system responses. By transforming these foundational sensations, we can rewrite our life’s narrative. KCT revolutionizes this process by addressing the nervous system directly, empowering therapists and clients with a neuroscience-backed approach that integrates somatic exercises into traditional psychotherapy, fostering deeper, more integrated healing and lasting nervous system regulation.
Rewrite Your Body's Story
Kali Connection Therapy (KCT) isn’t typical therapy—it’s a bold, neuroscience-backed, paradigm-shifting approach to healing and empowerment. Grounded in cutting-edge research, KCT integrates proven methods such as bilateral stimulation, attachment repair, co-regulation, and attunement to not only identify specific trauma responses but also rewire them through targeted exercises. What truly sets KCT apart, however, are the often-overlooked elements: the transformative power of the play state and the empowerment gained through real-life self-defense practices. These components work together to build safety from the inside out.
Trauma and anxiety thrive when the nervous system is stuck in a state of powerlessness. KCT interrupts this cycle with practical somatic exercises that create safety at a foundational level. By addressing the body’s warning signals—such as startle reflexes, impact sensitivity, eye contact reactivity and peripheral vision overstimulation—KCT prioritizes state over story, allowing the mind to follow the body’s lead. Through the integration of the play state and self-defense practices rooted in Filipino martial arts, KCT fosters profound empowerment, safety, and connection for both clients and practitioners.
3 F's of KCT
(​Not Fight, Flight, or Freeze!)
Focus, Flash, Flow
The KCT Rewiring Sequence transforms the fight, flight, or freeze response into an opportunity for healing and growth. Instead of being trapped in a reactive cycle, this approach changes our relationship with "triggers", reframing them as opportunities for rewiring the nervous system.
FOCUS
FOCUS engages the prefrontal cortex, releasing acetylcholine—a neuromodulator essential for sharpening attention and facilitating neuroplasticity. This heightened state of awareness primes the nervous system for learning and adaptability, laying the groundwork for rewiring patterns of rigidity. Through this process, clients not only become aware of the sympathetic flash but also gain a sense of being in charge of it. By intentionally directing and managing this burst of activation, clients address the feelings of powerlessness that trauma and anxiety create in the body, transforming those responses into empowerment and self-regulation.
FLASH
FLASH activates the sympathetic nervous system, releasing adrenaline to generate a burst of energy, urgency, and focus. This is followed by a release of dopamine, which enhances motivation, engagement, and a sense of reward. These two events—sympathetic activation through Flash and dopamine release—prime the nervous system for change, making it more likely to rewire and adapt. In trauma healing, Flash transforms stress responses into opportunities for growth, fostering resilience and improving tolerance for real-world challenges.
FLOW/FUSE
FLOW, or the relaxation phase following a sympathetic "flash" with awareness, engages the parasympathetic nervous system, marking a pendulation between activation and relaxation. This process teaches the body to move fluidly between states, creating new nervous system responses. Research in neuroscience shows that focus and intensity during activation are critical for initiating change, while the nervous system rewires and integrates these changes during periods of deep rest or sleep. This cycle is foundational in KCT for transforming trauma responses into patterns of safety and empowerment.
What Inspired KCT
​Kali Connection Therapy (KCT) was born from two pivotal moments that shaped its unique philosophy and approach.
The first moment came from watching Billy Jack—a film where martial arts were used not for aggression, but to protect the vulnerable. It was the first time I saw how strength and regulation under pressure could coexist. Through calm, controlled movements, safety was created—not just physically, but emotionally. This was more than self-defense; it was empowerment rooted in discipline and care. After seeing that film, I decided to get involved in martial arts over 40 years ago as a response to my own childhood trauma and feelings of powerlessness.
The second moment came when I heard Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, a leading voice in trauma research, state that martial arts is one of the most effective treatments for traumatic stress. His insight validated what I had long felt: healing isn’t just a mental process. True healing happens in the body—through movement, connection, and empowerment.
Driven by the wish to revolutionize healing, I combined the best of both worlds—the therapeutic wisdom I gained at Columbia University and the somatic wisdom cultivated through decades of studying and teaching martial arts. Over four painstaking years, I meticulously developed Kali Connection Therapy (KCT), crafting a groundbreaking, integrative approach that brings together neuroscience, embodied practices, and real-world empowerment to transform lives.
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Clients love it. We often joke that people break out in smiles during sessions. KCT helps them experience what a ventral vagal, regulated nervous system feels like—energized yet relaxed, capable yet calm. It’s a transformative and empowering process that changes lives.
Our Clients
