About Ceremony with Staci

“Staci’s guidance and 7Directions Dance have helped me navigate through almost every life challenge in the past few years with grace, thoughtfulness, confidence and growth.”

— Ellen R.

A person wearing a pink shirt smells one of three bright orange flowers she is holding in her hands.

How ceremony chose me

An image of Staci wearing a shirt which reads Earth, Air, Fire Water. Her hair is brown and curly and she wears a red sweater.

I never expected to become such a ceremony woman. Back in 1994, just after I left law school and moved to Half Moon Bay, I wandered into Oneisha Healing Tools and met my first spiritual teachers, Maggi Quinlan and Meenakshi Kramvik.

Because of trust, I began opening to the mystery in a new way. I started seeing and hearing spirit guides. My body became a tuning fork for shifting energy. Wild coincidences emerged as daily messages from the unknown, often as assignments.

It scared the shit out of me.

I was a type A personality and a practical woman. How the hell could I answer the call of my tingling hands in a safe way?

Fortunately, my teachers were container women. That meant before opening to the mystery, we grounded. We called in protection by growing a relationship with the directions and elements. We made agreements with each other about what safety meant.

These responses made sense to me. Growing up in San Francisco, we locked our doors. People had to identify themselves before we let them in. Why would I be any less cautious in connecting with the wild unknown?

As I moved deeper into non-ordinary states experiences through breathwork, guided imagery and birthing my children, invoking sacred containers became natural, like coming home. In 1999, I began studying ceremony in-depth with the Center for Sacred Studies.

It’s not that I wanted to lead ceremonies. I entered the ceremonial world to answer the call of my tingling healing hands. My love for these ways propelled me to hold a point so they could happen. Over time, my role evolved into assisting and facilitating across the SF Bay Area and beyond.

Ceremony I hold

I deeply respect Indigenous ways and my ceremonial teachers at the Center for Sacred Studies who have spent decades in direct relationship with Original peoples.

As a white culturally Jewish woman who hasn’t studied directly with Original peoples, I’m not a shaman. I’m a somatic energy trans-medium.

Rather than carry Indigenous lines out into the world, my call has been to be a bridge for ceremony grounded in somatic practices like dance and breathwork.

Since we are all of this planet, I invoke elemental directions and forces as an Earth-based ceremonialist which my teachers shared with me through their teacher, Angeles Arrien.

Spirit helpers from different traditions have claimed me in relationship. I build altars for them in gratitude for their continued support.

Ceremony Facilitator and Teacher

In 2002, I caught a vision of a dance ceremony and never looked back. Today, 7Directions continues to be my primary spiritual practice and greatest teacher.

I’ve also maintained a 20 year relationship with Maitri Breathwork, a breathwork process developed by Jyoti and Russell Park of Center for Sacred Studies that’s held in a ceremonial way.

In 2005, I slowly began teaching and mentoring future facilitators individually which led to certification training programs. In 2012, I co-facilitated the Maitri Breathwork Facilitator Training with lead teacher Jennifer Sugarwoman.

Since 2016, I’ve been blessed to design, produce and lead two 7Directions Facilitator Programs. Our recent facilitator training began in 2021 online and completed in-person in 2022.

After 25 years, I’m still amazed at the beauty, power and potential healing that one ceremony can offer.

Ceremony can come alive as a sacred guide with a specific form like 7Directions. It’s also possible to design a ceremony to attune to a particular intention, person, couple or group has become a joyful creative practice.

When I have down time, you’ll find me practicing self-care ceremony with friends.

For all the ways I’ve shown up to hold and carry ceremony with love, I continue to be in awe at how it holds me and propels me forward in life.

You’re welcome to schedule a 20 minute free call to learn more about how ceremony can change your life.

  • "Staci Boden has been a steadfast guide for me over the past decade. Her skillful and compassionate insights have influenced my path greatly. She is fierce when it is called for, and a deep listener who nurtures as she teaches. I would not be the woman I am today wthout her support and love."

    Tasha A.

  • "My husband and I found ourselves stuck in some patterns we were having trouble escaping. Working with Staci helped us identify the different ways in which we were effectively communicating and relating, and how we were not. She helped us gain greater understanding of our own energies and how we could create a both-and world."

    Tina S.

  • "Staci's presence in my life has been unyielding and profound. With her support, I have been able to navigate living with depression and anxiety, going through major life/work/relationship transitions, and learning to work with the unknown and the unknowable. Staci never ceases to be a source of nurturance, guidance, and deep, deep care."

    Lisa L.

  • "My beloved and I were fortunate to work with Staci over the course of 2+ years. Her skillful listening and pointed observations helped us to open to changes our relationship needed. The tools and practices along with having a place to talk it out together created a relationship container than holds us today. We would not have made it without her. Thank you, Staci for guiding and loving us."

    Teresa C.

  • "Staci does not lead you into deep places unattended."

    Catherine A.

  • "I started seeing Staci because I felt boxed in and trapped - literally. Staci helped me transform the box and get in touch with aspects of my life that had been long buried. She's provided the space and support to allow those aspects to thrive and flourish, which has helped me grow as a person. I no longer feel trapped and boxed in, my anxiety has diminished, and I've started writing again."

    Carey H.

  • "Staci holds a sacred space better than anyone I have ever experienced."

    Greta V.

  • "With Staci I've begun a journey into my own truth - one I've been afraid to take for this entire lifetime. But it feels as though she holds my hand and grants me space where I can come to trust my own instincts, intuition, and wisdom. When I'm overwhelmed I can rely on the tools I've found instead of various addictions. Sessions with Staci are the most worthwhile work I've ever done."

    Diana C.

  • "Staci Boden is a spiritual midwife, holding you in her arms as you deliver yourself from the pain of the past. I will give you this warning: Do not step into this process with Staci unless you are truly prepared to awaken that which has been sleeping, deep inside of you, for far too long."

    Gwen B.

  • "Staci was a clear, gentle and yet, ever present grounding force that helped me harness my own inner strength to leave an abusive relationship. From there, she's been a touchstone and guide for expanding into my own self-love and self-supportive capacity in its many permutations. I'm so grateful for the depths of Staci's innate wisdom and practical knowledge."

    Jadyn D.

  • "Staci's methods helped me see that healing power is not only real, it is within all of us. Sometimes what it takes is learning a few tools and a lot of support."

    Jay J.

  • "The unique earth-based wise-woman energy healing that Staci offers has allowed me to sit with and move through some of the most difficult transitions in my life with awareness and grace. Her sessions are just the right combination of talk (checking-in), energy work and assessment. I always feel seen, held, and lighter afterwards."

    Hannah E.

  • "Recently I was struck by the (rather frightening) realization that, without Staci, I may have lived the rest of my life having never experienced the profound insight, awareness and healing this deep sacred work offers. Staci is the real deal. Where other practices I've tried have been more saccharine, her teaching is sweet honey, straight from the bee."

    Jenny B.

  • "I trust Staci completely."

    Mel F.

  • "Staci's loving support and wise guidance helped me through a very challenging phase of my life. She not only helped me to make sense of a painful ending with a friend, she also helped me to 'make medicine' out of it. I feel deeply grateful for Staci's integrative approach, wisdom and loving care."

    Lindsay J.

  • "I am forever grateful to Staci and her beautiful book, which came into my life at a time when I was spinning in circles. Nothing compares to the loving container she upholds, the deep energy work and her mama bear presence. Thank you Staci for the ongoing space holding and guidance as I step into my heart work. Much love!"

    Sam L.

  • "I'm in Michigan, so Staci and I work via Skype but she may as well be sitting right next to me. If I'm visualizing sitting by the sea, she will, in that exact moment, mention the sea. If an animal friend or spirit guide shows up for me, Staci knows it immediately. She can detect the precise sensations in my body and intuit how to work that energy. It's uncanny. I may never understand how she does this, but I'm just so grateful for her deep, powerful work."

    Liz J.