the g.r.a.c.e. sequence
Registration Now Open for the g.r.a.c.e. fundamentals Introductory Course
What if the deepest healing and change weren’t just something to receive from others but something we can learn to provide ourselves? Wilder still, what if it weren’t even difficult?
In this intimate, two-part online workshop, Clinical Psychologist Dr. Dodge Rea introduces the g.r.a.c.e. sequence: a simple, powerful practice blending ancient wisdom with today’s science to help you transform what hurts into what heals.
Space is limited — reserve your place now.
The g.r.a.c.e sequence is an elegantly simple process that combines the knowing of several spiritual traditions with the advancements of modern psychotherapy and trauma intervention. Using this powerful practice, I teach laypeople to work with their own material and professionals to help others.
The g.r.a.c.e. sequence is best learned through direct coaching or workshops. Interested in upcoming g.r.a.c.e. sequence tools and events?
upcoming courses
The Fundamentals introductory course July 17th & 18th, 2025
The Deep Dive — a five-month, five-module course to work in depth on your own material (prerequisite: Fundamentals class & working knowledge) begins in August, 2025.
not all problems can be solved…
Whether brutally or quietly, acutely or chronically, life inevitably brings us some experiences that aren’t solvable problems, much as we all love to imagine otherwise. Especially internally, they just can’t be extinguished, defeated, fixed, or avoided for long.
We might think of these as problems not to be solved but ones that, paradoxically, must be dissolved. Where we cannot assert dominance, we must find healthy surrender; where we cannot escape ourselves inside, we must shift the relationship itself; what cannot be changed must be transformed.
It’s a life skill that’s seldom even identified, let alone taught. But it’s what makes the fundamental difference in the earlier-referenced adage We either have our feelings or they have us. That is, what we can’t sit with skillfully, we run from — but we tend to take that pain with us. Sooner or later, the apparent solution only becomes painful, too.
In my experience, few practices help us work with dissolution so directly or powerfully as the g.r.a.c.e. sequence.
what is the g.r.a.c.e. sequence?
The word “grace” is an acronym that spells out the components of Gather, Reach, Amplify, Connect, and Elevate, the basic steps of the sequence. Taken together to work on one’s own material, the process is at once a breathing meditation, a method for neurological grounding and self-regulation, and a profound practice for self-healing. Many would describe it this as a way to extend psychotherapy and trauma treatment. Many more see it as a way to deepen their meditation, mindfulness, or self-compassion. And many others, simply an especially powerful way to pray when you’re hurting. It is all of those things at once, curiously, and I have found it to be wonderfully versatile regardless of need, background, beliefs, or non-beliefs.
With proper training, the g.r.a.c.e. sequence also becomes a powerful therapeutic or coaching modality for use in many settings to help others on many levels. I have been deeply surprised by how much can shift in very little time through this approach, and colleagues who have trained with me have said the same.
Whether we are addressing the pain we hold or the patterns that hold us, the process of integrating rather than alienating our most wounded parts changes everything.
where did this come from?
The g.r.a.c.e. sequence arose out of a remarkable request more than 15 years ago: A client who needed to move away asked me to put together the unique blend of Eastern and Western approaches we had used successfully together into something he could use on his own. The notion bordered on the absurd to me at first (I literally thought he was kidding) but he was so earnest and so convinced it could be done that I promised to try.
It’s a bit of a story, but the upshot is, far more to my surprise than his, it worked. And worked beautifully. When I caught up with him in 2024, 16 years after he’d first learned, he was still using it regularly. In fact, he was quite clear it had changed the course of his life.
when is this helpful?
This practice can be used to help us with our current experience (e.g., overwhelm or sadness or anxiety), with elements of one’s past, and most certainly with how we imagine the future. It’s helpful in quick applications, as a regular meditation practice, and has a powerful change element for even the most entrenched assumptions about ourselves and our lives.
But the g.r.a.c.e. sequence is wonderfully efficient for building our reserves of wellbeing (through building what’s known as “vagal tone” and more), so it’s great to use even when there’s no sense of crisis. There are many advanced uses for g.r.a.c.e.work as well. Stay tuned for more information about those after you have learned the foundation.
how can I learn?
The g.r.a.c.e. sequence is best learned through direct coaching or a group learning experience. Please reach out to me if you’d like to explore either, including individual, private group training for communities or treatment teams, and courses offered throughout the year.
for everyone:
🪷 Learning typically begins with the Fundamentals course where the Sequence is learned first as a practice for self-care; this is the prerequisite for all other courses.
🌸 From there, the Deep Dive is a five-month, five-module course that establishes this skillset as one you can instinctively use as a daily practice, in addressing distress, in working with the past, in reconstructing core wounds, and in creating the life you want from a place of self-love, not unacknowledged self-rejection.
for professionals:
For those who want to learn to use this process in their work with others, the Deep Dive described above is the ideal beginning. Level One and Level Two deepen that learning by adding theory, practice, and helpful demonstrations. Collaborative supervision is available to support development beyond courses, and specialty workshops are in development with specific adaptations for:
The Mental Health community, for individual work and crisis response
Bodyworkers (e.g., physical therapy, massage, craniosacral work, etc)
Physicians and nurses
Yoga teachers
Certified coaches
The Recovery community
for you
Please share your interest in any or all of the above to receive updates about upcoming availability. Your information will, of course, NEVER be shared, sold, or spammed, and you’ll always be able to unsubscribe if your needs or wishes change.
Thank you so much for your trust and interest! 🙏🏻