Sam Balka, SEP
A Lens of Community & Land- I believe that the future of healing is rooted in community and land. I believe that the return to authentic connection with the world around us requires us to acknowledge and express the full wild nature in our own selves. The imperative but daunting task of the human race right now is the climate crisis that we have created for ourselves- but saving the human race needs to come from a deep saving of ourselves first.
I am also in service to community. A soul-fulfilled self and healthy ecosystem requires connection, belonging, and purpose to fully be whole. The place and people where we can be most truly known, and our gifts most greatly respected, is a place that we can be held accountable to carry forward our initiated soul-knowing selves into future generations of wholeness.
A Lens of Queerness- I define ‘Queerness’ as the radical pursuit and expression of our most authentic self-knowing of who we are, what our gifts are, and how we celebrate our full selves in community. As a queer guide, I am in that pursuit for our humanity- queer folk or not. I know that a whole society requires whole humans, and the survival of our planet is dependent on that, too.
A Lens of Restoration and Self-Knowing- I deeply believe that there is nothing “new” that we need to invent to restore our land, communities and selves to a place of centeredness and healing. Our bodies know what they need to heal if we learn to listen. Each body is capable of the type of deep listening, loving, and visioning necessary to know deeply who we are, and how we fit into the ecosystems we are a part of.
Philosophy
I have been training in SE work for 3 years, been a wilderness guide for 8 years, a rites of passage guide for 5 years, and began Rooted Rites back in 2023- a space where I have been able to offer my counseling, guidework, & mentorship individually to folks of all ages. In June 2025 I completed my certification to become a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP). I have also begun assisting SE™ trainings.
Beyond my work as an SEP, I am trained and working within the lineage of the School of Lost Borders, and facilitate rites of passage and wilderness solo experiences for both youth and adults. I spent 2 years working as a field guide and mentor for Legacy & Juniper Canyon Recovery Center, an adult 3-month recovery treatment program in rural Utah, where I supported and guided clients in acute need of support.
I love having a diverse base of clients and am open to working with all sorts of individuals with a range of challenges. Some areas I work with more commonly include: men’s issues, queer authenticity and challenges, individuals with histories of sexual trauma and discomfort with intimacy, adolescents and adults looking to find and know themselves, and individuals recovering from developmental trauma from childhood and adolescence.
I am a life-long dancer, a cultural explorer, and outdoor adventurer. I am a queer gender expansive gay man, and deepening into the practice of my ancestors through Earth- Based Jewish spirituality. I believe the collective liberation from toxic systems of structural power that is necessary for human survival begins with a re-meeting of our individual bodies and a re-recognition of these bodies as the same nature we so deeply need to heal and protect around us.
I come to this work in service to the unknown, the land, to our bodies, and to community. Through wholeness in being, authentic expression, ceremony, celebration and profanity, through wildness and through darkness, through action and through dance… I find my niche and joy for participation in serving this Earth.
Career & Life
Guiding with the School of Lost Borders at the Wild Mountain Queer Quest with Co-Guides Bear Bobb & Roo Wharton
