Mother Teresa.  Nelson Mandela.  Pope Francis.  His Holiness the Dalai Lama.  Unencumbered by artificial distinctions of gender, race, and creed, bodhisattvas are beings motivated by great compassion who work to liberate all from suffering.

One needn't be an acknowledged bodhisattva to recognize suffering.  As an Alaska State Trooper Investigator, my clients were the victims of horrific crimes.  Child sexual abuse.  Serious physical abuse.  Sexual assault.  My law enforcement, legal, and therapist colleagues and I did what we could, but the criminal justice system exists primarily to punish the offender.  Although we founded and implemented the first Alaskan survivor-supportive Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), many of our clients still felt unsafe, insecure, shattered, and the limited amount of talk therapy some were fortunate enough to receive often wasn't enough. It was frustrating, often disheartening, work.

I left the Troopers in 1997 and went traveling, processing my own traumas.  Some of the tools I learned and still use today are reiki, cranio-sacral therapy (CST), and Physio-Spiritual Etheric Bodywork (PSEB).  I settled in Key West in 2000, and became a full-time bodywork therapist.  It was there in 2006 that I met my Buddhist teacher Lama Tsultrim Allione and began a regular meditation practice.

After moving to the Triangle area of North Carolina in 2013, I realized that I still had this vision:  to offer additional and/or alternative methods of clearing trauma to persons motivated to change.  With that in mind, I opened Bodhisattva Bodywork in Chapel Hill, and began my Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP™) studies in the US and Japan. I have continued to learn via numerous post-advanced somatic trainings (Deb Dana’s Rhythm of Regulation, Steve Terrell's TEB, Raja Selvam's ISP, Dave Berger’s BASE, etc.). I became a certified Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) Provider in 2019, and a certified Feeding Your Demons® (FYD) Facilitator in 2023.

I moved to Tokyo, Japan, in early 2020, and studied and certified at the N2 and J2 (business) levels in Japanese language. In the summer of 2022, I relocated to Funchal, Madeira, in Portugal. My office is in the Lido area of Funchal, and I offer secure online SSP, reiki, FYD, Somatic Experiencing®, and Somatic Touch sessions (yes, online touch sessions!). I am also developing a series of online courses called Bodhicitta Somatics, which will provide a self-study pathway to overcoming trauma and achieving balanced health.

I am a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner® (SEP™), a Feeding Your Demons® (FYD) Certified Facilitator, a Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) Certified Provider, a Transforming Touch® TEB Therapist, a Florida (US) and North Carolina (US) licensed bodywork and massage therapist, and hold a Master's Level (Teaching) Reiki certification. I have a Bachelor of Arts degree, and worked for seven years as an Alaska State Trooper, attaining the Advanced Peace Officer Certification. I have over 1700 hours of bodywork and trauma treatment classroom and online training, 10,000+ hours of related treatment experience, over seventeen years of meditation study and practice, and over nine years of specialized law enforcement training and experience in aiding child and adult survivors of violent crime.

Anna K. Sanders

NC LMBT #13019, FL #MA93255, SEP™, Feeding Your Demons® (FYD) Certified Facilitator, SSP Certified Provider, Transforming Touch® Therapist

SSP Post Certification Training in Group Facilitation, 2023

Feeding Your Demons® Certified Facilitator, 2022-2023

Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) N2 and Business Japanese Test (BJT) J2 proficiency, 2021

Transforming Touch TEB® Therapist, 2019 and 2020

Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) Certified Provider, 2019

Somatic Experiencing Practitioner® (SEP™), 2018

Southeastern School of Neuromuscular and Massage Therapy (500 hours, 1999-2000)

• NC Licensed Massage and Bodywork Therapist, #13019, 2013-present

• FL Licensed Massage Therapist, #31808, 2000-2015; #93255, 2019-present

• On-going accredited training, to include The Rhythm of Regulation: A Polyvagal Theory Guided Approach to Therapy (27.5 hours, 2019); Integral Somatic Psychology™ (36 hours, 2019); Transforming the Experience-Based Brain, A Somatic Model of Developmental Trauma (192 hours,2018-2019); Relational Development, Rupture and Repair, a specialty BASE™ workshop (24 hours,2018); Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) (246 hours,2015-2018).

Practitioner of various energetic modalities

• Reiki Master Level (Teaching) Certification, 2004; Reiki II Certification, 1999; Reiki I Certification, 1998

• Cranio-Sacral Therapy (CST) I, 2000

• Physio-Spiritual Etheric Bodywork (PSEB) I, 2000

Practicing Tibetan Buddhist with Tara Mandala, 2006-present

• Feeding Your Demons (FYD) Practitioner training, 2022-2023

• Student in the Ösel Nyingtig Program at Tara Mandala, 2020-2022

• Student in the Gateway Program at Tara Mandala, 2013-2018

• Founding and participating Board Member of Key West Tara Mandala, 2010-2013

Alaska State Trooper, 1990-1997

• First Annual Fairbanks Counseling and Adoption "Unsung Hero" Award Recipient for Outstanding Service to Children and Families, 1997

• Peace Officer Advanced Certification, Alaska Police Standards Council, 1997

• Appointment to Governor’s Statewide Council on Youth and Justice, Prevention Committee, 1995

• Founding and participating member in the first Alaska Sexual Assault Response Team/Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SART/SANE) Program, 1995-1997

• AST assignments to Patrol, Narcotics, Major Crime Investigations, and as a Field Training Officer

• AST Field Training (480 hours, 1990)

• Recruit Class #43 Salutatorian (520 hour Training Academy, 1990)

BA in Political Science, cum laude, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, 1985

• Marion Frances Boswell Award for Most Outstanding Female Graduate, 1985

• Outstanding Graduate in Political Science, 1985

Rotary Club Exchange Student to Japan, 1980-1981