Somatic practitioner and co-founder of Somatic Recoding
René Refi
Story
René has spent most of her adult life with one question: what does it truly take for a person to change? Her answer lives in the body. In the nervous system's need for safety. In the patterns we learned so early that they began to feel like who we are.
As a little girl, she was always making small rituals, collecting feathers and stones, fascinated by nature, symbols and the unseen. Years later, studying the nervous system, she found that science had not taken the magic away. It had given her another language for it.
That curiosity carried her around the world, and into the work she now shares. She co-founded Somatic Recoding with Atabey, and together they lead its practitioner training on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca. René is devoted to helping individuals and couples release what no longer serves them and return to a more honest, connected way of being. Students describe her as present, attuned and deeply caring.
René is a mother first, and for many years she was a single mother, a chapter that taught her more about courage, resilience and reclaiming her own power than any certification. As a South African Palestinian woman from humble beginnings, she knows the weight of inherited stories and transgenerational trauma, and it shapes the way she holds space for others.
“Everything I teach is something I have first lived.”
Training and lineages
René's hands and teaching draw on these lineages.
- Ayurvedic massage: rhythm, oil and constitution, touch that nourishes as much as it releases, rooted in her study of Ayurveda in India
- Craniosacral therapy: listening to the slow rhythms of the skull, spine and sacrum with the lightest contact
- Polyvagal Theory: the map of safety and threat she uses to read a nervous system before her hands ever land
- Somatic therapy and somatic trauma therapy: meeting the body's patterns as protective strategies rather than problems
- Trauma-informed yoga and yoga therapy
- Parts work, subconscious recoding and psychomagic: symbol and ritual that help a change land below the thinking mind
- Ancestral traditions: time with the Matsés people of the Peruvian Amazon and pilgrimage to the Wirikuta desert in Mexico, studying their ways of working with touch, breath and clearing
Teaching history
- Co-founder and co-lead teacher of Somatic Recoding. With Atabey she leads the 7-day practitioner training in Mazunte, Oaxaca. The next cohort runs 18 to 25 February 2027.
- Has led practitioner trainings in polyvagal-informed nervous system work in Mazunte.
- Leads the free Somatic Recoding Practitioner Labs, including Holding Space, her live hour on carrying someone through the whole wave of an emotional process.
- Founder of Her Magnetic Magic, a modern mystery school for women.
- Offers private somatic sessions on the Oaxacan coast and online.
What students say
“Thank you for this training; it has brought me so much hope and made me feel empowered and confident in my ability to empower others. The training has helped me create space in my body to fully step into my true embodiment and be part of something that is creating a massive ripple.”
“René is an exceptional teacher, healer, and space holder. As a yoga teacher and bodyworker with over a decade of experience, I've participated in many trainings, including recent courses in somatic coaching, but nothing compares to the depth and embodied wisdom I gained through the Polyvagal Theory training with René. Her ability to translate complex concepts into clear, digestible teachings makes learning feel both accessible and profound. I wholeheartedly recommend training and learning from René.”
“René is truly an amazing teacher, incredibly embodied and authentic. It has been invaluable to learn from her and be in her presence. The capability she has to create a container for everyone to feel safe, supported, and seen is incredible. I've learned how to trust my intuition and surrender to the needs of my body and to support others to do the same. There is a lot of love and gratitude for this amazing experience.”
“René has a deep connection to health and well-being within herself and she shares her wisdom and knowledge so fluidly with the class. Her talent and skill with the human body/mind is extremely potent. I am forever grateful for attending this class. It was more than I could have imagined.”
“I felt incredibly safe, maybe the safest I've ever felt with a therapist. Through her intuition, I feel that she always knows what is the right thing to do, and that made me feel deeply understood.”
“What's really important about working with René, especially when you're working with trauma, is the true care and love that she has for her clients and the people she works with.”