Jacqueline Westhead is a facilitator, dancer, musician, and author with over 25 years of experience offering her unique blend of tools internationally through her workshops, retreats, and private sessions. She is a certified somatic educator, massage therapist, and sound healing practitioner with trainings in meditation, counseling, and yoga. She has studied chant, healing modalities, and world music with visionary teachers around the globe as well as touring with acclaimed Kirtan musicians. In her career as a performer, she has had the privilege of sharing the stage with a wide array of visionary artists and her choreography with a diverse range of audiences.
Jacqueline is an ever-enthusiastic student of awareness, kindness, curiosity, joy, mind body science, and humanity. She continues to travel and study to expand her understanding of her work and the role it plays in our evolving world.
Jacqueline began teaching and developing her practice in 1991. Sound Body Wisdom coalesced in 1995 and continues to evolve. She has refined and developed her work to meet each individual wherever they may be and help develop tools specifically for their needs. Her passion lies in making the potential of our mind body accessible and the rewiring, shifting, or unwinding of patterns that don’t support connectivity in our lives. Her effectiveness is born from her own journey with trauma and her “sink or swim” experience towards changing her life. Through her research and experience she has developed Sound Body Wisdom techniques and seen them empower and change peoples lives.
Jacqueline believes it is the role of the teacher to support the individual in developing their personal expression, inner resource and discovering for themselves what gets in their way of loving themselves without limitation. She realizes each person is unique and offers practical guidance and intuitive wisdom rooted in the effective applications of experiential learning. Jacqueline is a student of meditation and spiritual traditions who continues to travel and study to expand her understanding of her work and the role it plays in our evolving world. She published Touching the Invisible: A Field Guide for Living in the Fall of 2017 and is committed to serving the journey of all individuals.
Check out the Testimonials page to read what other people have said about Jacqueline and her work.
My Story
My journey has been deep with riding the waves of life. My work, intention and vision stems from the core of who I am in this world but is profoundly affected by the experiences I have been blessed and challenged with during my life.
I have been teaching since the early 1990’s and have watched my style and direction evolve. In the mid 90s Sound Body Wisdom was born and a commitment to exploration on all levels of being human and with so many tools. As a musician I was aware of the powerful affects of sound, rhythm and music. As a curious one I studied and was certified in ‘Sound Healing’ because I felt there was something else below the surface. As a ‘seeker’ I explored and immersed myself in so many spiritual, religious, mystical and meditative traditions, practices and communities. As a dancer I knew the wisdom and connections of the physical body. As a performer I believed in the transformative nature of imagination, magic and power of the mind. As a teacher I heard the call in me to be an ally to others and saw the beauty in the space we create together, either one on one or in a group workshop. As a traveler I experienced the beauty of our diversity as humans and yet our common threads. As a student of life I learned and continued to learn about sound healing, chant, wisdom traditions, mind/body practices, Somatics, therapeutic touch, breath and more. All of these fueled my curiosity and exploration. They allowed me to evolve and my teachings along with me.
In 2000 I had one of those “game changing” moments, some people call it the “dark night of the soul” or hitting rock bottom. I can now simply recognize it as a crossroads and life changer. A choice to sink or swim. And even though I couldn’t imagine how I was supposed to swim I did what felt impossible. I heard my wise voice within me speak as I was on the shore of Lake Michigan with a symphony of other voices at a deafening pitch. I was feeling overwhelmed by all the inner noise that I stopped and suddenly spoke out loud. I asked them to all be quiet for a moment. It was the first time I had ever addressed them directly. I don’t know how or why but it suddenly occurred to me that radical self love was the only choice I could make. There was no other direction and to be honest I was so far down I didn’t have anything to lose.
The words and clarity that emerged from me I am still in awe of considering how dark those times felt. My wise woman (clear and unconditioned me) spoke and declared to this ‘tribe’ of parts and voices inside me that I would be their mother, friend, lover and ally. That I would, from that moment forward, love them (myself) unconditionally. I made the commitment to do this for the rest of my (our) life. I couldn’t believe what I was saying but most importantly I felt within me the necessity and potency of it. I wasn’t sure how I was going to learn to keep this promise but I gave all my focus and curiosity to learning how to love myself without conditions. Every single one those voices and parts of me was included in this love. No exceptions.
I learned to breathe again. To be in this skin again. And I noticed my skin had ‘changed’ because I had to recreate myself from ‘nothing’ and intentionally choose how I wanted to re-grow myself and be in the world. I developed tools and skills. I learned by trial, error, patience and persistence. The practice, reinvention and love that this took was deeply intentional and highly focused for many years. Every skill I had ever learned in my life I now would “MacGyver” and reengineer to learn my unique needs and unfolding. It was amazing to realize that I discovered how to fall in love with myself based on survival. In that moment so many years ago I had to choose between drowning or something radical and inconceivable. I took the leap towards love, and towards my self and the ultimate mystery. I had to let go of control because these were new waters I was swimming in.
Then, over time, I had the realization that I hadn’t had a self-deprecating thought in many years. That any habit or need to beat myself up had been shifted or replaced with care and kindness. I can see and acknowledge where I fall short but ultimately meet life and my inner mechanisms with more compassion and curiosity (see my writing about my ‘Inner Love Posse”). This blew my mind and I wondered how long it would last. Here it is so many decades later and this is still my truth. Believe me, life has thrown some curve balls along the way, but this core evolution hasn’t wavered. It is my constant compass.
It is astonishing to remember and feel all of this as I reflect on the courage it took for me to leap. To feel this wise voice emerge from within me and stand up for this potential renaissance. The voices and energy I felt and heard in those early days guided me on this path. They in effect ‘saved’ my life and certainly forever changed it. I am grateful that I could hear this guidance, whether it was my own wisdom, a survival mechanism or energies from beyond doesn’t matter. All that matters is I truly love and appreciate the person I am constantly growing into and the tools, skills and life I continue to cultivate with humility.