About Emily
RiverStar
My work didn’t begin as a profession.
It began as sensitivity to energy, to emotion, to what was happening beneath what could be seen.
As a child, I felt most at home in relationship with animals and the natural world—drawn to horses, water, trees, and the quiet intelligence of life outside of language. That orientation has remained at the center of everything I do.
Over time, that sensitivity was recognized and guided through shamanic training, opening a path of learning to listen more deeply—to the body, to the unseen, and to the relational field that connects all life.
The name RiverStar was given during this training as a reflection of how I work: moving between worlds while remaining grounded in the body and in service.
My work is rooted in shamanic practice and shaped by a deep respect for the intelligence of the body, the nervous system, and the living field.
I understand healing not as something we do to ourselves, but as something that emerges when the conditions for coherence are restored.
This work unfolds through:
shamanic healing and ceremony
breathwork and somatic awareness
relational work with horses and land
quiet listening to what is present and ready
My personal path has included experiences of trauma, eating disorder, addiction, depression, and a near-death suicide attempt.
These are not things I work around.
They are part of what allows me to meet others with honesty, humility, and respect for the adaptive intelligence of the nervous system.
Nothing in this work is about forcing change.
It is about creating the conditions where something more natural can emerge.
Horses have become an important part of this work.
They do not respond to intention or performance, but to presence and coherence. In their company, we are invited into a different way of being—one that is grounded, relational, and honest.
The land offers the same.
My role is not to fix or guide from above.
It is to listen, to track, and to hold a space where:
the body can settle
patterns can shift
and something more coherent can come forward
Training & Background
I have led trauma-informed and somatic-based trainings in the U.S., Haiti, Kenya, and Rwanda, and served as Program Director and creator of the seed public health intervention for Mandela Yoga Project. And, I created the Way of the Waters Yin Yoga Training.
My work is informed by years of study, practice, and facilitation across both traditional and contemporary modalities, including:
The Way of the Heart Shamanism (Sarita Sol)
Shamanic Reiki Master Teacher (Holy Fire® III Karuna®)
500-hour Registered Yoga Teacher
Yin Yoga training with Sarah Powers and others
Trauma-Responsive Innovations (TIMBo) – Lead Trainer
Access Consciousness® Bars Practitioner
Education & Background
B.A. in Applied Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago
Graduate study in Government at Harvard University
Study with Lama Migmar Tseten, Buddhist Chaplain of Harvard University
Closing
I don’t believe healing comes from outside of you.
I believe it comes from remembering and recognizing who we are and restoring the conditions where our systems can return to coherence—
and from there, something essential comes forward again.