Steph Alston

Raised in Awareness

Raised in a household marked by trauma, silence, and emotional survival, I learned to read the room before I ever learned to listen to myself. That journey – from fragmentation back into wholeness – taught me what most books can’t.

Forged Through Experience

Much of what I bring into this work was forged through lived experience. Survival required my nervous system to become highly attuned to sense safety and threat, to read what wasn’t being said, and to stay present through intensity.

Refined Through Practice

Over time, and through trauma-informed training and integration, what once kept me safe has been refined into somatic discernment. Today, I can sense emotional and nervous system cues without absorbing them, allowing me to remain grounded, present, and clear – even when working with depth and complexity.

Shaped by Transformation

My life has been shaped by complexity and prolonged instability – but it has also been shaped by love, courage, radical self-inquiry, and transformation. My work emerges from the meeting point of my awakening and the truths I have fought to uncover to since childhood. It is my rebellion against silence, and my devotion to wholeness. I don’t lead from a pedestal. I lead from lived experience.

The Mission to Navigate

Navigate exists to honour the truth that healing isn't about fixing what's broken – it's about listening to what's been buried. My mission is to create space where truth is named, nervous systems are nurtured, and power is reclaimed. I don’t bypass pain. I sit with it. I walk with people through the mess and the mystery, so they can live, speak, and lead from their inner compass.

Proof In Presence

My story is proof that truth can rise when we start to listen.

What sets me apart:

• A unique set of core somatic and neurobiological skills formed through lived experience

• Professional trauma-informed accredited learning (CMA, IBF, CPD), inc. rigorous written and experiential assignments, assessed by a clinical counsellor

• 3+ years of embodied trauma release, including 6-months of intensive, integrative application across modalities such as Inner Child Integration, Jungian Dreamwork, Somatic Unwinding, Embodied movement, De-armouring, Breathwork, Plant Therapy, Vipassana, and Kundalini practices.

• Experienced in facilitation, space-holding and safe somatic touch at events with c.200 participants

• Client-led and safe: your pace and boundaries always guide the work

• Science-backed and experiential: breath, movement, and somatic touch integrate mind, body, and energy

• Focused on deep nervous system regulation, embodied vitality, and lasting integration, rather than peak experiences or bypassing.

• 15+ years’ coaching experience supporting people through complexity, transition, and high-pressure environments, bringing grounded leadership, clarity, and emotional steadiness into the therapeutic space.

Who I am is my power, my presence is a gift.

There is an inner knowing that my pain has a purpose. I feel profoundly grateful for the unique ways life has taught me - not through ease, but through experience, integration, and repair.

Lived experience is not something that can be taught or replicated. It is embodied, earned, and carried in presence. It shows up in my work through the following capacities:

• Limbic resonance & attunement
  An intuitive capacity to sense, mirror, and regulate emotional states through nervous system-to-nervous system communication.

• Advanced interoception
  Heightened awareness of internal bodily signals (breath, tension, impulse, emotional shifts), supporting early detection of stress and dysregulation.

• Polyvagal sensitivity
  A refined ability to recognise shifts between sympathetic activation, dorsal collapse, and ventral safety - in myself and others.

• Threat pattern recognition
  Rapid identification of micro-changes in tone, posture, breath, and behaviour shaped by lived experience of survival states.

• Nervous system co-regulation
  The capacity to stabilise and support regulation in others through presence, pacing, breath, and embodied calm.

• Somatic boundary intelligence
  An embodied understanding of limits, consent, and safety cues - informed by lived experience of boundary rupture and repair.

• Trauma-adapted patterning awareness
  Insight into how early experiences shape somatic armour, relational strategies, and stress responses held in the body.

• Embodied emotional processing
  Ability to stay present with intensity, discharge activation safely, and support completion of interrupted stress cycles.

• Bottom-up regulation capacity
  Skill in working with the body and nervous system directly, rather than relying solely on cognitive strategies.

• Facilitator approach fully accredited by the Complementary Medical Association (CMA)
  Recognised for excellence in complementary medicine and holistic therapeutic modalities. Accreditation ensures practices are trauma informed and ethical.

• Training Provider Member of the International Breathwork Foundation (IBF)
  Demonstrates commitment to global breathwork standards, community responsibility, and safe facilitation that protects clients.

• Facilitator Training Course accredited by the CPD Accreditation Institute
  Ensures rigorous practitioner standards, ethical practice, and high-quality continuing professional development, that ensures professional standards and client safety.

I believe that holding space for others - especially in the realm of trauma - requires both depth of experience and depth of responsibility.

That’s why I undertake regular CPD to deepen my ability to hold trauma safely and ethically, complementing the lived and professional experience I bring to this work.

Alongside this, I engage in regular reflective practice- to ensure my work remains accountable, psychologically safe, and ethically grounded.

This is not just a calling. It’s a practice - rooted in deep listening, lifelong learning, and a fierce respect for the human experience.

My role isn’t to rescue.
It’s to walk beside you in safety and presence while your body remembers its’ own intelligence.

You already know if you’re being called to reach out. Listen to the whispers. Because with every whisper I followed, a new version of me began to emerge. Maybe that will be you too.

I will meet you where you are at, with devotion to helping you find ways to guide yourself back to your own truth and presence.