About Cathy Pascal

My background includes traditional training as a psychotherapist and work in the field of counseling and clinical social work. I hold a Master’s in Social Work and spent over 25 years as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. I have since retired my license as I transition away from direct counseling and therapy practice.

Welcome to the studio.

In 1994, I was introduced to Focusing, a mind-body approach to self-awareness developed by philosopher and psychologist Eugene Gendlin. Focusing provided an essential ingredient in my own evolution and a guiding philosophy for holding healing space for another. I went on to become an Inner Relationship Focusing Teacher, mentoring with Ann Weiser Cornell, and a certified Focusing Trainer and Coordinator with The International Focusing Institute.

Training in Somatic Experiencing deepened my understanding of how the body holds trauma and stress — and its remarkable capacity to release and heal when met with the right conditions.

My path has also been shaped by deep engagement with two related lineages devoted to embodied spiritual awakening: Waking Down in Mutuality, founded by Saniel Bonder, and Trillium Awakening.

I am fully certified as a Realization Process Teacher, with training in the three core branches of the work: Meditation, Embodiment, and Healing Ground. Over the past six years I have also participated in additional trainings, mentoring programs, and meditation retreats with Judith Blackstone and other senior RP teachers. I occasionally offer small groups focused on learning and practicing the fundamentals of the Realization Process, sometimes drawing on Focusing and other approaches to embodied self-awareness as complementary practices.

I co-coordinate the local offerings of Russell Delman and his Embodied Life School, whose work integrates Meditation, Focusing and Feldenkrais in service of embodied awakening. I am also a participant in a sangha led by mentor John Records. John has written a slim and wise book titled Love in Action, which I highly recommend.

My guiding principle in this work has been that I am not “doing something to” the individual. Rather, I have sought to make a connection and invite the inherent wisdom of that person’s being to come forward — holding space for what wants to happen next to move into more integration and wholeness.

This work has been a profound personal journey as much as a professional one — and it continues to deepen.

I continue to live in Chapel Hill with my husband of over 40 years, with our children and grandchildren nearby.

Education and Certification:

  • MSW, School of Social Work, UNC-Chapel Hill, 1987
  • M.Ed, Guidance and Counseling, School of Education, UNC-Chapel Hill, 1980
  • B.A, Psychology and Religion, Duke University, 1979
  • Certified Focusing Trainer, International Focusing Institute, 1997
  • Certifying Coordinator, International Focusing Institute, 2002
  • Certified Realization Process Teacher (Embodiment, Meditation, and Healing Ground)
  • Certified Focusing Facilitator