About Ash

Ash Ryzen Witham (with-um) is a queer, nonbinary (they/she) trauma informed Somatic Coach and Connection & Embodiment Facilitator, dedicated to generating inclusive spaces for personal and collective transformation—guiding people into deeper connection with themselves, each other, and life itself.

Core Trainings & Credentials

Ash is trained in Somatic Coaching through the Strozzi Institute, a pioneering organization in embodied transformation with over four decades of impact at the intersection of personal growth, leadership, and social change. They’ve also completed Strozzi’s Embodied Transformation and Somatics, Trauma, and Resilience (with Staci Haines). Additionally, they are certified in Integrative Somatic Trauma Therapy through The Embody Lab.

Ash is a Level 1, Embodied Level 1, and Level 2 Course Leader with Authentic Relating Training (ART) International)—the most widely recognized organization sharing Authentic Relating worldwide. As part of ART’s global reach of 10,000+ participants, Ash has led hundreds internationally through these embodied, high-impact relational trainings.

They also earned their first coaching certification through The Relateful Co., further grounding their approach in presence-based, relational practices.

Key Contributions & Collaborations

Ash sees collaboration and innovation as powerful catalysts for inspiration. Their work lives at the intersection of embodiment, expression, and relational healing—and they’ve created + co-created several offerings that reflect this integrative approach:

  • Soma & Soul (Founder, 2025): An immersive framework delivered in workshop or retreat format blending somatic wisdom, embodied relating, movement, dance, breathwork, and vocal freedom - for conscious connection and personal & collective expansion

  • We AR Queer (Co-founder, 2023): Authentic Relating (AR) workshops and conscious events for LGBTQ+ folks, offering intimacy tools and community outside of nightlife

  • ARCI Retreat (Co-founder, 2022): A first-of-its-kind residential retreat weaving together Authentic Relating and Contact Improv

  • Shadow Academy (Co-founder, 2021): A 6-part course making shadow work and the journey to wholeness more approachable and actionable

From Global Influence to Global Impact

From 2017 to 2022, Ash lived nomadically across the globe, sharing and studying in the U.S., Western Europe, Central America, Israel, and Southeast Asia. In 2021, they brought the first Authentic Relating Level 1 training to Guatemala, helping seed an Authentic Relating community in San Marcos, La Laguna.

Now basing again in Los Angeles, Ash continues to facilitate across the U.S. and internationally. Always seeking to collaborate, evolve, and create diverse, inclusive, and impactful spaces for meaningful change.

Early Influences & Creative Roots

With a BA with honors in Fine Art and a minor in Visual and Performing Art Education from UCLA, Ash brings both critical thinking and artistic vision to their work. This early influence—combined with a former career in graphic design—shape their craft of experiences that are designed to the detail, thoughtfully structured, and deeply felt.

The Heart of the Work

Ash takes their work in the world seriously—and to them, that means creating space for play, humor, and levity alongside depth and vulnerability.

Their approach is rooted in the belief that the ache, tension, and longings we carry are not “problems to fix”—but actually the raw material of our personal evolution. That this is where the alchemy truly begins.

Whether it’s a one-off workshop or a weeklong retreat, each Alchemy with Ash offering is crafted to:

  • Disrupt social conditioning and un-serving autopilot patterns

  • Support nervous system resilience and embodied awareness

  • Invite more of ourselves into the room: messy, brilliant, and whole

  • Integrate the parts we’ve exiled or hidden

  • Expand our capacity to relate with courage, clarity, and care

  • Embody fuller expression in life, work, and love

The invitation here?
To come home to yourself.
To grow the capacity to be with what’s real moment to moment.
And to create a life that feels aligned, alive, and truly yours.

 

Video Credit: Connor Thorp
Photo Credits: top left - Casey Cooper, all the rest - Mark Fisher