leif ariel:

I'm Leif. After leaving the California suburbs of my youth, I worked for 8 years as a wilderness therapy field-guide, sitting in circles, sitting in deserts, sitting with humans in the depths and heights of life. Learning slowly, slowly how to sit in the center of my own being through it all. I guide and move from this place as often as I can get there.

I’m a hands-on energy healer, trained in the rigorous 4-yr certification program at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing, a program that asked me to hold every hidden corner of myself until I was no longer afraid of my gifts, of my becoming. There I was evoked into my deepest longing: to be immersed in the unfurling/unfolding/undulating poiesis of life that can only be felt, only be experienced. The combination of emotion, thought, sensation, and mystery into which we are moved.

I sit as a guide in Rites of Passage ceremonies whose form originated (in the West) at the School of Lost Borders. This work moves in the same circles as the desert, slowly blowing sand from the high cliffs until the freedom of each grain reaches our own bodies.

I see clients in Salt Lake City one week per month. The rest of the month I work with clients in Torrey, UT and remotely on Zoom.

  • “Leif is a tremendously insightful human and gifted guide. They have a gift for seeing the beauty and value of others and convincing you of your beauty and value. In working with Leif, they challenged me to reflect on how I walk through life, to hold those patterns up like a mirror and see how they may or may not be true to my “self.” Leif looks you in the eye with a passion, conviction, and energy that pulls you, like a magnetic force, toward your true self. Over a month after being on a “rites of passage” trip with Leif, I still feel this pull: a pull towards myself, a pull towards relationships with others, and a pull towards the things I want. I am forever grateful for the time and energy that Leif poured into me and hope that our paths cross again.”
    -maura

  • “Leif is a gifted healer who uses her core balanced and intuitive self to help so many other people. In my life, she has done amazing energy work that projected me into a deeper healing from childhood trauma, she has guided me on a rite of passage quest that both challenged and supported me on my personal intentional journey, and she has been a central outdoor guide for many young-adult clients that I have worked with as a therapist. I am eternally grateful for the time I have been able to spend with her and learn from her.”
    -madolyn

  • “Leif creates a safe and compassionate environment in which to confront hard truths and push deeper into healing, her guidance and wise counsel are invaluable.”
    -laurel

co-guides:

  • grae gerlach

    rites of passage guide
    somatic experiencing
    naetura cara & somatic rites
    Missoula, MT

  • geralyn folz

    rites of passage guide
    photographer
    geralynfolz@gmail.com
    Torrey, UT

  • megan newton

    rites of passage guide
    trauma therapist
    evolve in nature
    Boulder, CO

  • sam balka

    rites of passage guide
    somatic experiencing
    rooted rites
    Bellingham, WA