A remembering, a becoming, and a name that feels like home.
Quite a few people have asked me why I decided to change the name SACRED SOMA to BERNIKE.
And although the answer is quite simple, there is a little more to the story.
For those who have walked with me for some time, SACRED SOMA is a familiar name. It has held many beautiful experiences, profound journeys, and deep connections. It has been a meaningful part of my life, and I hold that chapter with much love and gratitude.
But the truth is, this change has been quietly calling me for years.
A name from another chapter
When SACRED SOMA was born, I was working alongside a small group of people. Although I came up with the name, it was ultimately chosen collectively. Our time working together was only an 8-month period, and from there I continued walking my own path.
Over the years, my relationship with the work deepened, my understanding shifted, and my approach became increasingly my own. Yet the name remained.
Please don’t get me wrong. SACRED SOMA is a beautiful name, and I have always loved its meaning (go read about the meaning here). But somewhere within me, I knew that it wasn’t quite the whole of who I was, or who I was becoming.
I was always thinking of something that could feel more me. And as life so often does, it eventually presented the perfect moment and clarity to make that change.
Please call me by my true names, so I can wake up, so I can hear all my cries and my laughter at once, so I can see that my joy and pain are one.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh (from his poem ‘Please Call Me by My True Names’)
When the work begins to expand
Having completed my training in Sound Healing Facilitation, I awoke to a new dimension in my work and how I would move forward in this world.
Sound and frequency have long been woven into my medicine journeys, through carefully curated digital soundscapes. But I felt curious to explore sound as a journey in its own right, a space where frequency itself is the medicine.
As I sat down to introduce this new offering on my website, the bigger picture became very clear.
SACRED SOMA, as the name suggests, was born directly from the medicine work. It was a name that beautifully represented one particular aspect of what I offer, but it no longer felt spacious enough to hold everything that is emerging alongside it.
And suddenly, what I had been feeling for years made perfect sense. I needed to create a name that could hold all of it.
Coming home to my own name
I spent quite some time exploring possibilities. I could not quite settle on anything that felt 100% me. Until one day, the most obvious answer sat right in front of me, and I was having a good old giggle at the simplicity of it all.
My own given name. And once I saw it, I simply couldn’t unsee it.
What better name to represent the work I do than the name I have carried all my life?
No need to create another identity, another label, or another box to fit myself into. I have spent far too much of my life doing just that, even not using my full name for many years (but that is a story for another day).
It feels less like creating something new and more like coming home to something that had always been there.
And perhaps that is the beauty. We spend so much of our lives searching, growing, changing and becoming, only to discover that sometimes the most radical thing we can do is simply be ourselves.
For so many years, I did not use my full name. The return to that source feels really significant now. Not because the name defines who I am, but because the journey of remembering has brought me full circle back to me.
~ BERNIKE
So, what happens to SACRED SOMA?
Well, SACRED SOMA isn’t going anywhere.
It now has its own place within BERNIKE, remaining the name of my sacred ceremonies. The intention, reverence and care with which I hold these spaces remain unchanged.
You can explore more about SACRED SOMA, medicine journeys and microdosing, each offering its own pathway to deeper self-exploration and awareness.
And now, alongside these offerings, I am delighted to introduce something that has been quietly taking shape.
Hello Frequency Sound Journeys
This is something I am super excited to share.
My Sound Journeys offer an opportunity to slow down, turn inward and simply receive frequencies.
Through sound, vibration, resonance and an inner stillness, we create space to listen more deeply, to reconnect with ourselves and to explore what arises when we step away from the constant noise of everyday life.
Unlike SACRED SOMA ceremonies, these journeys do not involve medicine. Here, frequency is the medicine.
This is a 75-minute immersion, offering a beautiful opportunity to pause, realign and reconnect with yourself, even in the middle of a busy day or during your lunch break.
If you feel drawn to experience a Sound Journey, whether individually, as a couple or with a small private group, please reach out. I would love to explore what might be possible.
The name has changed. The heart remains.
Perhaps the most important thing I want to share is that, while the name changed, the essence of my work has not.
I am still walking this path with curiosity, reverence and an ever-deepening appreciation for the mystery of the human experience. And I hope I always will be.
If you are new here, I invite you to get to know me a little better and explore the website. And if something resonates, I offer a FREE 30-minute discovery call, an opportunity for us to connect, ask questions and explore whether the work I offer feels aligned with where you are.
Thank you to everyone who has been part of the SACRED SOMA chapter, and to those who continue walking alongside me as this next chapter unfolds.
