The practitioner
Mary Underwood, PhD
Somatic Brain Integration
Mary Underwood, PhD
Living in daylight is a quiet luxury.
This work honors the part of you that does not get named on a résumé — your inner life. Living in daylight is how I describe life after somatic brain integration: having more agency, more capacity to think and relate to yourself and others, and feeling more joy and gratitude as you move through the world.
Training
I am a certified Crossinology Brain Integration Technique practitioner. I have completed Advanced Brain Integration and additional Crossinology training in Brain Anatomy and Physiology, the Physiology of the Brain, and Muscle Reactivation. I also have training in the Krebs’ brain integration lineage. I hold a PhD in Depth Psychology with a Somatic Studies specialization, where somatic brain integration took shape. I have completed Somatic Experiencing training through Intermediate 2 and training in interpersonal neurobiology with Dan Siegel.
I draw on that education and training — including somatic psychology, interpersonal neurobiology, depth psychology, and principles of traditional Chinese medicine — to understand human behavior and how the brain organizes experience. That lens shapes how I listen and how I work to support balance across mind and body.
What I offer
Somatic brain integration advances traditional brain integration by including a somatic approach: attention to what is present in the body and in the moment, including patterns that only take over in certain situations. It supports specific areas of the brain in becoming more differentiated and better linked so the mind and body can work more optimally. The work can also support reduced muscle tension and greater physical ease, including through muscle reactivation.
When we work live and it is a fit, I also offer the full brain integration protocol. Some people start there. Some only need somatic brain integration. Some use both.
Live sessions
In a live session we work together. You can share what you notice; I work with that. There may be light contact, including acupressure. You can also rest while I work.
Recorded sessions
The recorded sessions are somatic brain integration. They are not the full brain integration protocol. I do the work with my own nervous system as a live example. You listen and stay with what you notice in your mind and body. There is no method to learn.
I work with people around improving sleep, releasing physical tension, physical pain, emotional intensity, relational strain, foggy thinking, coordination, learning difficulties, creative blocks, and fear. This is not psychotherapy, and not a promise of a specific result.
Beginning
Mary has been studying brain integration and the mind-body connection professionally and educationally for over a decade. Her interest in this path began earlier, as a wife and mother wanting to offer her family a healthy, holistic, and loving way to live — and she continues that work today. She now extends what she has learned to others and hopes her studies, innovation, and kind presence can support anyone seeking more vibrancy, connection, meaning, love, and happiness in their lives.
Mary lives and works in Southern California and is available for private individualized somatic brain integration sessions in the United States and abroad.
“Healing is the embodiment of love, acceptance, and forgiveness for ourselves and others, and the hard-learned wisdom of being grateful.”