S E N A
Sentir ● Escuchar ● Nutrir ● Amar
What becomes of a body that is rarely, or never physically supported by another?
Welcome, I don't know what brought you here but I’m so glad you are.SENA is a practice of somatic regulation. Through, attuned, relational touch, I collaborate with the body to support it in returning to a felt sense of safety, vitality and clarity.It is an invitation to ease the dominance of cognitive control on the body and re-engage its regulatory intelligence.Nurturing, deeply caring, attentive touch is not a luxury, it is a biological input the body is designed to receive.This practice is not about assuming what the body requires, but about entering into dialogue with it, held within a relational space of safety and attunement, offering contact that engages the sensory pathways linked to calming and regulation.
About Me
There has always been an ease in communicating through touch.The desire to work through touch comes from personal experience, from recognising how differently the body can respond when it is treated with patience and sincere care, when it is acknowledged and accepted exactly as it is in that moment.My journey began when I realised that years of traditional talking therapies, along with my personal attempts to understand certain challenges I was facing in life, had failed to bring me the healing and freedom I was seeking. Freedom from anxiety, pressure, brain fog, nervousness, insecurity, overthinking, extreme hypervigilance, and many other things that kept me unknowingly in a constant state of tension. For years, I tried to fit into the world according to my mind’s perception, believing that if I could just understand or explain my experiences and conditioned ways of thinking and behaving, I would finally find peace. It wasn’t until some years ago that I realised there was a difference between knowing I was safe and feeling safe. My mind could justify, analyse, and reassure, but my body continued to respond in uncomfortable ways, and ways I could not understand.The shift began during one of my training courses several years ago, when I connected with complete strangers in a way I hadn’t before, in silence, through the giving and receiving of bodywork, touch, through playful interaction, relational space.For the first time, I experienced moving from the constant inner monologue to the stillness of my body and heart. I felt peace, a softness in my limbs, quiet in my mind, calmer speech, and a playful curiosity that emerged naturally. It was a joy that felt childlike, pure, and completely untethered from the need to “fit in” or seek “acceptance”. This shift brought a profound sense of relief, especially from the emotional and social struggles that had weighed on me for years. Felt safety.Since that transformative experience, I now serve with a completely different understanding of the impact of human, relational touch.I have a deep respect for what the body holds, the effort it makes to carry us, protect us, endure, and keep going, and my work is about offering care to the body first. While preferences are always respected, the deeper focus is letting the pressure of outcome fall away so that the body can respond freely and be received as it is.Each session is an opportunity to offer relational care that is loving, patient, intentional, and deeply attentive. In sincere connection, the true power of touch begins to emerge.
The Essence of S E N A
Sentir
(To Feel)
By eliminating sight and focusing on sensory play through senses such as Touch, smell, hearing, proprioception, balance, and thermoception, we allow the body to engage more deeply with its innate intelligence. This shift reduces cognitive overload and enhances awareness of what is present, what is needed, and where tension or discomfort is stored. Working with these senses invites a more embodied, non-verbal experience, helping bodies process emotions, memories, and physical sensations in real-time, leading to greater clarity, relaxation, and healing.
Escuchar
(To Listen)
Listen to the body and to the relational field between two bodies. Slow movement, pausing, guided breath, moment to moment consent cues. Encouraging communication that differentiates preference vs. need and fostering collaborative choice which is crucial in creating an environment where a person feels safe, heard, and empowered.
Nutrir
(To Nurture)
Deep nurture for the heart, mind, and spirit.
A return to simple holding. To warmth without condition. To care offered freely. Through presence and touch, the body remembers safety, balance, and its own quiet vitality.
Amar
(To Love)
Love is the ground from which all healing rises. Not a love that fixes or directs, but one expressed through attentive touch and steady presence. Within this space, there is room for the body to settle, to soften, and to respond in its own time and way. Nothing is imposed and nothing is promised. The intention is simply to offer a respectful, compassionate environment where your body’s innate wisdom can be felt, explored, and perhaps gently remembered.
Who This Work Serves
This work serves those who are open to exploring their own healing and regulation through the body. You do not need to have a clear problem or a defined goal. Sometimes the draw toward this work is subtle, a sense of curiosity, readiness, or wanting something to feel different without fully knowing why. This is a collaborative process shaped by your openness, consent and engagement.The experiences below are some of the reasons you might feel drawn to this work.
Touch Starvation
In a culture where touch is often rushed, sexualised, or absent altogether, many of us live in quiet deprivation. The absence of touch is rarely obvious. It can sit quietly beneath daily life, unnoticed, until the body begins to ache for something it cannot quite name, or until it has forgotten what nurturing human touch feels like altogether.
Stress & Nervous System Overload
If you feel constantly "on", wired but exhausted, hyper-independent or unable to fully rest, your system may be prioritising alertness over ease. This can look like always anticipating, always managing, always holding yourself together. Even in moments that are meant to be relaxing the body may struggle to soften. Over time this pattern can become so familiar that it feels normal, even though it is tiring.
Grief & Challenging Life Transitions
Breakups, relocation, burnout, identity shifts, adoption wounds, trauma of all kinds and intencities, endings and beginnings, the body absorbs it all. Even when the mind understands what is happening, transitions can disrupt sleep, appetite, and a sense of orientation, belonging, purpose perhaps. You may feel untethered, or unusually sensitive. Transition often asks more of us than we realise.
Caregivers & Space-Holders
Many of us know how to give but struggle to receive. If you are the strong one, the capable one, the one others lean on, you may rarely experience being supported without expectation.
Seeking Embodiment
If you feel disconnected from sensation, from your body’s signals, or from a clear sense of what feels comfortable or too much. You may notice numbness; feeling flat, distant, or less responsive than you once were, as though parts of you have gone quiet. You may experience difficulty identifying your needs, or uncertainty about what feels right for you.
Simply an Unspoken Need for Contact
No reason. No story. Just a sense that this might be supportive.
Working Together
I travel primarily within Portugal and Spain, offering private one-to-one sessions, short-term on-site initiatives for businesses, guest facilitations at retreats, and collaborative offerings.
One-to-One Sessions
Private sessions range from 3+ day immersions, where we work together over 3+ consecutive days. These extended formats, allow for a depth and continuity that cannot be accessed in a single session.Working in this way creates a contained and steady space in which the body has time to truly settle. Without rush or fragmentation, regulation can build gradually through presence, repetition, rhythm, and familiarity.How each session unfolds is shaped in response to what is present that day. The work may include therapeutic massage, attuned touch, guided movement, elements of contact improvisation, or gentle sensory exploration. The process is collaborative, with careful attention to pacing and capacity.
On-Site Initiatives
On-site initiatives are short-term residencies designed to support staff or teams working in high-pressure environments, whether the strain is primarily physical, mental, or both.Many workplaces, particularly those based in remote or rural locations, have limited access to body-based therapeutic support. Bringing the work directly on-site removes that barrier, offering restorative care within the rhythm of the working day.Whether offered as a gesture of appreciation to employees or as part of a pilot programme addressing stress, burnout, mental health, or perhaps exhaustion, these initiatives provide practical, embodied support within the workplace, and could include individual sessions, structured recovery time, or embodied regulation spaces tailored to the specific needs of the team and environment.
Collaborative Work
In collaborative settings, my role is to contribute a body-centred dimension to a wider vision. Whether working alongside therapists, facilitators, hospitality teams, or retreat leaders, I bring attuned therapeutic touch as a complementary practice, supporting nervous system regulation, integration, and embodied presence within the broader experience.
Voluntary Practice
In addition to my private and collaborative work, I also value offering my time in places where this kind of support may be needed but not easily accessed. If you are an individual with a story, or you know someone who could genuinely benefit from embodied, therapeutic care, I would love to hear from you. Whether in care homes, hospitals, transitional settings, or within psychological and social care environments, I am always open to conversations about where this work may offer comfort, and meaningful care.
Contact
If something you've read here resonates, I would love to hear from you. Whether you are enquiring about private sessions, collaborations, or community work, you’re warmly invited to reach out.As the work is bespoke and shaped around the needs of each individual or group, session details, including format, timing and pricing, are best explored when we connect.All messages are treated with care and confidentiality.With Love
Monica
SENA | A space for Somatic & Relational Care and Connection, with Monica de Ronde
