Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandi Lozano.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was born and raised in California. My father was a biker/surfer from Huntington Beach and my mother was a beautiful lady, but also liked to have a good time. I was two years old when they divorced, and the next 16 of my developmental years were the kind of crazy you see on a show like COPS or the 5 o’clock local news.
My journey to mental wellness began when I was 12. Something inside me knew 1) my parents seemed off and 2) I seemed off. How was I going to fix this? I started to see my school counselor in 7th grade at Yorba Middle School in Orange, CA. My parents had no idea. As you’ll see, this proved to be only the beginning of my therapeutic work.
A year later, I was living with my Pop in Hesperia, California in 1991. He was a patch-holding member of a notorious motorcycle “club” at the time. In the early 90’s, these clubs were in a “war” of sorts all over southern California. One weekend my father’s high school sweetheart came through to visit. She noticed the extra-challenging environment my sister and I were living in. Before she left that weekend, she invited my sister and I to move in with her in a town I considered to be a magical place, Davis, CA.
This incredibly special woman, Cindy, changed the trajectory of my life. She had me work with a peer counselor, the school counselor, a psychotherapist, and a girls’ process group in Sacramento. This felt like enough therapy to help me move forward in adulting independently.
Like many people my age, I craved Independence. I returned to southern California and two weeks after my nineteenth birthday, I scored a job in Costa Mesa, CA working for a skateboard shoe company.
My 12 years at this company served as a second chance at adolescence. I thrived in the skateboard industry. I was wild and my risky lifestyle was rewarded. My last four years at the company, I covered a 40-state territory, which kept me on the road for nine months out of the year.
When I took the position, I understood partying with skateboarders across the country wasn’t conducive to any kind of healthy relationship. That said, I was road worn and weary by the time I met my husband. On my 30th birthday, I came to realize skateboarding keeps getting younger, and I was getting visibly older. My brothers always teased me, “Don’t be the lady that doesn’t know the party’s over”. They were right and I had just met a person who could throw me off and make me laugh so hard I’d cry. I chose connection over partying for the first time in my adult life and it paid off.
During that time, I also played roller derby on a banked track as one of the original LA Derby Dolls from 2004 to 2008. Roller derby opened the door for me to rage and skate with strong derby women all over the country. And believe me, it’s physically tough, it hurt. It wasn’t until my 30’s when the physical damage from my 20’s began to set in and my body started making noise and I retired.
After roller derby, my husband Corbett and I were living in downtown LA. We opened an organic market-deli on 5th and Spring, eventually opening a 2nd market in Skid Row. Over the five years of operation, we enjoyed successes and endured the losses. The irony here is I believed running these markets would be a calmer and healthier career than my previous work. The joke was on me.
If you can imagine, I am 5’1” and refused to keep weapons or pepper spray in the store. There were days I would have to puff up and get as BIG and LOUD as I possibly could when confronting a pimp or dealer making transactions in my store. It took 8 to 12 hours to come down from this level of adrenaline. To cope with this, I started going to one of our neighboring bars for wine to calm my nerves. This behavior wreaked serious havoc on my health and marriage. I needed a better way to manage my stress. It was during this time that I found Somatic Experiencing (SE). SE is a body-oriented approach to the healing of trauma and other stress disorders.
After closing the markets downtown, I felt lost and completely terrified of what was next. I was spending too much time dwelling on lessons learned when my therapist asked the question, “What brought you joy owning the markets?” My answer was being of service to people. We had run a food bank for our neighbors and our second market in Skid Row was exclusively staffed through the VA with transitional homeless veterans. In answering the question with my therapist, I was clear, I wanted to work with people, but in an easier softer way.
In the eight years, I’ve been seeing a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP), the modality has given me the life I didn’t believe I deserved—a gentle one filled with loving, caring and meaningful connections with people; and lasting relief from physical pain. I have also come to a place of acceptance that my parents did the best they could while dealing with their own challenges in life.
As I continued on my healing journey; I realized years of psychotherapy had given me the MIND balance, while SE was giving me the BODY balance. What was missing was the spiritual component. I enrolled in a Transpersonal Energy Healing course to start opening up to my own spiritual work.
Three years of study for my certification as an Energy Healing Counselor was followed by applying and being accepted into the Somatic Experiencing training. I am currently an advanced level student in my 3rd and final year. My private practice as an Integrative Healing Professional is located in Santa Monica, CA and online via Zoom. I am limiting my practice to online sessions and I am taking on new clients during this COVID19 shutdown.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I was my own biggest obstacle getting started. I always felt rough around the edges studying with the soft-spoken people that dominate the healer/helper archetype. I now recognize myself as the grounded person who has walked through and processed a significant amount of my own complex trauma and I have the capacity help others with theirs.
Mind to Marrow Healing – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I’m an Integrative Healing Professional helping people take control of how they experience stress and anxiety so they can live a more pleasurable and fulfilling life. Helping people shift out of their defenses while modeling new patterns of behavior leading them to healthier relationships and better self-care.
Sessions are 1hr 15mins long. I track my clients’ nervous systems and energy flow during an explorative dialogue. The observations are access points to defense patterns, limiting core-beliefs, or unprocessed trauma which are the underlying cause to the presenting complaint. When applicable, the Mind-Body work achieved during the session is integrated with clothed, gentle, hands-on touch. Additional practices may include aromatherapy, breathwork, body manipulation, or bioenergetics.
Currently, due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, I have integrated long-distance healing and teaching clients self-touch with grounding techniques to help their nervous systems feel safe.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I have a handful of proud moments throughout my different careers, but the proudest to date is the day I let go of my limiting core-beliefs and admitted to myself that working with people in supporting their well-being is what I want to do with my life as I spend the rest of it learning, sharing and showing up.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2444 Wilshire Blvd Ste 511
Santa Monica, CA 90403 - Website: www.brandilozano.com
- Phone: (323) 327-1672
- Email: [email protected]
Image Credit:
Jehmal Roy and Heather Lee Dixon
Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
