Today we’d like to introduce you to Blakey Hastings.
Hi Blakey, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My path to this work has been anything but linear. I began my career as a yoga therapist, working with people to use movement, breath, and mindfulness as tools for greater health and well-being. That work eventually led me into addiction treatment, where I was a pioneer in my area bringing trauma-sensitive yoga into treatment centers.
That experience was a major turning point for me. Working with people whose bodies and nervous systems had adapted to difficult and sometimes traumatic life experiences gave me a much deeper understanding of the relationship between our minds, bodies, and spirits. I began to see that many of the patterns we develop aren’t simply problems to be fixed—they are intelligent adaptations to what we’ve lived through. The body is constantly responding to our experiences, often in ways that happen beneath conscious awareness.
From there, I became increasingly interested in what happens beneath the surface of physical symptoms and habitual patterns. That curiosity led me deeper into CranioSacral Therapy, somatic practices, breathwork, meditation, and embodiment.
Over time, embodiment became the thread connecting all of my work. I came to understand the body not simply as something we inhabit, but as an incredibly intelligent source of information. Learning to slow down and actually feel what is happening within us can open the door to change in ways that thinking and talking alone sometimes can’t.
I established my practice in the Philadelphia area in 2013, and my work has continued to evolve ever since. Today, through North Star Somatic Arts, I work with people locally through CranioSacral Therapy, somatic practices, and breathwork, while also offering online experiences that allow me to work with people beyond my immediate geographic community.
Whether I’m working one-on-one with someone on a massage table, guiding a breathwork journey, or teaching a group online, my intention is the same: to create a grounded space where people can develop a deeper relationship with their own bodies and inner wisdom. My role isn’t to tell someone what their body is saying or what they should feel. It’s to help create the conditions where they can begin to listen for themselves.
What began with yoga therapy has grown into a much broader exploration of what it means to be fully embodied—to understand the ways we have adapted to our experiences, to recognize the patterns that may no longer serve us, and to develop the capacity to live with greater authenticity, connection, and choice.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Definitely not. There have been plenty of twists, detours, and moments when I questioned what I was doing. One of the biggest challenges has been building a practice around work that doesn’t fit neatly into one category. I work at the intersection of bodywork, breath, movement, embodiment, and spirituality, and it can be difficult to explain something that is experiential and deeply personal in a way that makes sense in a conventional wellness marketplace.
I’ve also had to learn to let my work evolve rather than holding too tightly to the version of my business I started with. Over the years, I’ve added new modalities, let go of others, changed the way I work, and become much clearer about what I actually want to offer and who I want to serve. That process hasn’t always been comfortable. There have been times when I felt like I needed to have everything figured out before I could move forward.
I’ve also had to learn some very different lessons about entrepreneurship—how to value my time and expertise, how to set boundaries, how to talk about my work without feeling like I’m selling something, and how to build a sustainable business while still keeping the work deeply personal.
Probably the biggest lesson has been learning to trust the process of evolution. The same thing I teach in my work applies to building a business: we don’t always need to know exactly where we’re going. We can pay attention to what is happening, listen to what feels aligned, make an adjustment, and take the next step.
There have definitely been hard seasons, but I don’t see them as failures or wrong turns anymore. They have shaped both the practitioner and the business I have today.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
At North Star Somatic Arts, I create experiences that help people reconnect with their bodies and develop a deeper relationship with their own inner wisdom. My work lives at the intersection of somatic embodiment, breathwork, bodywork, movement, and contemplative practices.
Locally, I work one-on-one with people through CranioSacral Therapy, somatic practices, and breathwork, and I also create group experiences and classes that bring embodiment, breath, sound, meditation, and movement together. Online, I work with people through breathwork, embodiment practices, and longer-form experiences designed to help people develop a more lasting relationship with their bodies rather than simply learning another technique.
I think of myself as a facilitator and, in many ways, a creator. Every person and every group brings something different into the room, so while I have a strong foundation of training and experience, I’m not interested in applying a formula to everyone. I’m listening, observing, and responding to what is actually happening in the moment.
What I’m most proud of is the evolution of my work. I started with yoga therapy and eventually became deeply immersed in trauma-sensitive practices, particularly through my work bringing yoga into addiction treatment settings. That experience fundamentally changed how I understand healing and continues to inform everything I do today. I’m proud that I have been willing to keep learning, questioning, and evolving rather than becoming attached to one particular modality or philosophy.
What sets me apart is probably that combination of depth and practicality. I’m deeply interested in the science and physiology of the body, but I also leave room for intuition, spirituality, and the parts of being human that can’t be reduced to a protocol. While I enjoy diving deep into the quantitative science of physiology and biology, my passion is with positively impacting human consciousness through embodiment. I don’t believe people need to be fixed. I believe our bodies are incredibly adaptive and intelligent, and that with the right conditions, we can develop the capacity to listen, change old patterns, and make different choices.
For me, that’s where the creative part comes in. I’m not trying to create a particular experience for someone. I’m creating the conditions for them to discover their own experience—and ultimately, their own way forward.
What does success mean to you?
I define success by what I see happening in people.
Success is when I see someone come into direct contact with their own power. When I see them soften into themselves, trust their own knowing, and experience the kind of joy that seems to emanate naturally from their own heart. There is something incredibly moving about witnessing someone become more fully embodied in their own life.
Of course, there is a practical side to success in business. It feels good to fill a group, have a waitlist for new clients, create work that supports me financially, and know that people value what I offer. I’m proud of those things, too.
But those aren’t the moments that make me feel most successful. I see success in the hearts and eyes of the people who find themselves through the breath—in the person who realizes they can feel safe in their own body, or who reconnects with a part of themselves they had forgotten, or simply experiences the freedom of being fully present for a moment.
That’s the measure that matters most to me: not how many people I can reach, but whether the people I do reach are finding their way back to themselves.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://northstarsomaticarts.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/northstarsomaticarts/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/northstarholistichealth/
- Other: https://www.skool.com/inner-wisdom-926-5550
