Takes the Form of the Muse you need Most

What People Are Saying

Carmen is a brilliant, warm, loving, authentic, hilarious, and deeply inspiring human.  She weaves together the magic of a deep hug and the fullness of presence to create spaces of immeasurable welcome and acceptance, where the deepest and most profound intimate truths and inspired creativity can thrive.

Whether the matter at hand is of love and the heart, finance & business, or family and friendships, with clarity and grace, Carmen navigates the shifting territory of boundaries, consent, love, attachment, dreams, and intimacy with grace and ease. 

She provides an attuned and present place to share and offers sound reflections and insights to help ground and release tension, and to open and accept the wisdom, healing, and deeper understanding that a clear awareness of the body brings to every moment. 

Carmen brings her full heart to every situation, and whether through sharing a song, insight, laughter, tears, or dreams, she brightens the days and plants seeds for a better tomorrow.”

—TM - President/CEO, InflectionPoint Design + Development Group

“Carmen Leilani: Human dynamo of cosmic mind and earthly bosom of heart—walked with me through fires of doubt, crawled in the mud, leapt off the cliff, danced on pure H2O—dared me to get grounded in the chaos. If you feel yourself approaching a genuine breakdown/breakthrough kind of creative edge in a project which would fulfill your purpose and mean something to the world—actually shifting our ways of knowing, doing, being on collective and intimate scales—it would be wise to court this boisterous bundle of intelligent starstuff into your orbit. She has bent gravity for me, and even brightened my abyss.”

— Marco V Morelli, PolyPoet / CoCreator, Cosmos Co-op /  MetaEditor, Metapsychosis: Journal of Consciousness, Literature, and Art

“Carmen is magic. She brings authenticity, strength, beauty, and dimension to the work. She faces difficulty directly and brings witness to the complexities of the deepest heartbreaks of these times, and through such transforms us. She aids the world in metabolizing grief, composting it, and making fertile ground upon which to sow seeds of our futures. Then, as if a beam of sunshine betwixt the branches, her gorgeous voice lifts and coaxes the next phase of growth in an amazing gift of song, both beautiful and haunting. Carmen is steady and listens to her instincts; she shows up for what is present and moves with the moment. I have grown to truly trust and rely upon her.”

— Joanna La Torre, MSW, LCSW, Center for Babaylan Studies

  • Born in San Francisco, CA and raised in a Baptist household, Carmen is the eldest of 5 sisters, and spent much of her childhood in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley. She is a 2nd generation Filipina-American, and performed as a soloist singing in churches and shows.

    She is a mother of a teenage son and partner to M. Rako Fabionar, and together they live in an intentional community in Sonoma County, CA. They have a one-eyed cat named Franki.

  • While still in high school, Carmen was cast in the Broadway musical Miss Saigon, where she understudied the lead role of Kim until she was assaulted by a stage hand and was forced to undergo a sexual harassment arbitration between herself, the actor’s union, the stage hands union, and the show’s production company.

    As she was only 20 years without family to support her, she chose to leave rather than continue to be a pawn in a struggle over power which decentered her own experience.

    She is an alumna of UC Santa Cruz, where she fell in love with the woods, and the ocean.

    Her trajectory includes a career in high-tech advertising, digital marketing and public relations, which ended up in burnout, repetitive stress injuries and years of therapy.

    Following this, she trained and received certifications in hypnotherapy and neuro-linguistic programming, and opened up a practice in Hollywood, CA, where she coached executives, writers, creatives as well as performers and vocalists.

    Carmen has also served in Operations Director, Communications & Marketing Director and Director of Strategic Solutions for multiple start-ups.


  • Equanimity for Liberation - Through Embodied Practice

    The unifying thread throughout Carmen's work is the belief that embodied practices— through re/generative narratives, consent and somatic practices, or healing modalities—can transform trauma, cultivate resilience, and create pathways to collective liberation.

    As an artist and educator, Carmen believes in the power of storytelling, music and movement to transform trauma, cultivate resilience and discover pathways to liberation and healing in community.

    Her approach specifically addresses the decolonization of the body - learning how our bodies are conditioned to go along with things we don't want, from childhood through adulthood, how boundaries are not taught or limits not respected, how our anger is devalued - and how to reclaim these things with joy, grief and authenticity.

    Whether working 1:1 with individuals or facilitating group learning, Carmen’s purpose is grounded in cultivating integrity, self-awareness and trust in one’s own right and ability to make the best choices for surviving or thriving.

“Carmen has an incredible, giving spirit, an infectious laugh, and deep wisdom she doesn’t hesitate to share with others. She has a vast amount of experience with various healing modalities and always seems to know the answer to any question I’ve asked her. She’s an incredible person to have in your corner, and I’m blessed to have met her at a time when her energy was greatly needed.”

— Sara O.

“There are so many people that speak with confidence. People that speak with presence, gravitas, volume, power, or any other mode of speaking that can command attention or work to pull it to the speaker. You, from the moment that you begin, through to the very last moment, speak with truth. Your words resonate with it, your voice literally sings with it, and it calls to it not just attention or appreciation, but a foundational connection to the things that *are true*. I have heard speakers that roused me, and I felt them in my mind. I felt your words in my bones, in places that are connected to the very heart of things, and that recognize something that is true. You shift paradigms and worlds and affirm those that already feel it and see it at the same time. It is magnificent and real and masterful. Thank you for being that gift in this.”

—Zeuben

“Carmen, your willingness to share your vulnerability with us makes me feel honored to have met and know you. The content was engaging and enlightening. Your presentation even with the disruptions was given artfully and with grace. William Arthur Ward once said “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” I was inspired by how you taught and what you taught.”

—Diana G