About Malachi Gillihan
Survivor • Practitioner • Researcher • Teacher
Malachi Gillihan is a Trauma Specialist, yogi, and Certified Spiritual Counselor based in Berkeley, California, serving clients in person in the East Bay, and offering virtual sessions nationally and internationally. His practice is shaped by something not every practitioner can offer: the lived experience of healing from the very kind of trauma he now supports others in healing from.
His Story as a SURVIVOR.
Like many people drawn to the healing professions, Malachi describes his work as me-search. He has lived for more than thirty years with post-traumatic stress and what is now referred to as complex trauma or C-PTSD, and is grateful to have survived some of the more desperate avenues he tried in his younger years.
For the first twenty-plus years of his adulthood, Malachi used talk-centered work to cope, but it never quite reached the deeper layers. A pivot came when a friend suggested he read The Untethered Soul, which led him to integral and transpersonal approaches alongside somatic and body-mind trauma frameworks. That combination unlocked the transformation he had been searching for.
When Malachi works with clients, conducts research, writes, or teaches, he draws on direct experience. He knows what it is like to survive the unmentionable, to live with anxiety heavy enough to disrupt daily life, to have panic attacks about having panic attacks, and to feel so desperate to feel better that it seemed impossible. He also knows what it is like to learn about the nervous system and, through that learning, release shame carried for years. And he knows what it is like to have healing experiences so deep that, as Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl once wrote, when you look back, everything feels worth it somehow.
HIS METHOD AS A PRACTITIONER.
Malachi keeps a small, private practice as a Trauma Specialist. Most clients are in some phase of trauma recovery and healing, with Malachi serving either as their primary support or as a complement to the work clients are doing with other practitioners.
Sessions typically run 50 to 75 minutes and move between conversations about what is showing up and integrated body-mind practices such as yoga, guided meditations, mindfulness-based stress reduction, and qigong. Psychoeducation is woven throughout because understanding the nervous system tends to release the shame clients carry about why they feel the way they do, which then makes the rest of the work possible.
This integrative approach meets a wide range of patterns trauma can shape, including anxiety, depression, sleep disruption, chronic pain, digestive issues, procrastination, and relational difficulties.
his dedication AS A teacher.
Malachi has taught more than 1,000 yoga classes and continues to teach private sessions, support practitioners working with their clients on mind-body integration, and offer consultations for complex trauma cases. He also develops and facilitates workshops and trainings on sexual trauma recovery, yoga psychology, trauma frameworks, nervous system education, procrastination, and the intersection of trauma and spirituality. Teaching is where the work multiplies: a room of healing professionals learning to hold trauma skillfully changes how many lives are met with the right kind of support.
His JOURNEY AS A RESEARCHER.
Malachi is a PhD candidate at the California Institute of Integral Studies, where he is conducting a study evaluating a new, group-based intervention for male survivors of sexual trauma. As a survivor himself, he designed the intervention as the approach he was looking for and could not find. The research has given him a specialty within his specialty: a working understanding of both the direct experience of sexual trauma and the broader research on sexual violence, gender socialization, and recovery.
His research has also explored East-West approaches to trauma, surfacing methods that many clients find deeply helpful, especially those looking for something beyond conventional treatment paths.
Credentials and Professional Affiliations
Master of Arts (MA), East-West Psychology — California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), 2021
Certified Spiritual Counselor — California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), 2021
PhD Candidate — California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), researching group-based interventions for male survivors of sexual trauma
Education and Certifications
Malachi has trained under leaders in trauma, yoga, and contemplative practice, including Dr. Dan Siegel, Judith Lasater, Sean Feit-Oakes, Deb Dana, and Michael Brian Baker. His training spans yoga for trauma, interpersonal neurobiology, Polyvagal Theory, mindfulness-based stress reduction, Buddhist approaches to counseling, breathwork, and insight meditation. He has been practicing yoga and meditation for more than twenty years.
Notable Training and Mentors
ISTSS (International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies), member
ISTSS Complex Trauma Special Interest Group, co-chair
APA Division 51 (Psychology of Men and Masculinities), member
Harmony Network of Trauma-Informed Healthcare Providers, founder and facilitator
WCM Institute (West Coast Mindfulness Institute), member
BNI SF Bay (Business Networking International), member
Psychology Today, verified
Professional Affiliations
Beyond the practice, Malachi shares his work through writing, speaking, and academic conferences. Selected highlights:
2026: Presenting his PhD research at the 10th Annual APA Division 51 Conference on the Psychology of Men and Boys, the 37th International Boston Trauma Conference, and the 8th International Complex Trauma Conference
2025: Became Co-Chair of the Complex Trauma Special Interest Group within ISTSS
2024: Closing keynote speaker at the inaugural Conference on Violence Against Men and Boys; organized and facilitated an international panel on sexual trauma recovery at the annual ISTSS conference
2020: Featured speaker at the American Academy of Religion-Western Conference on ritual and rites of passage frameworks applied to sexual trauma recovery
Malachi has also appeared as a guest on podcasts focused on feeling safe in the body after trauma and the role of feeling in healing.
Speaking, Writing, and Conference Work
Begin When You Are Ready
If something in the story above resonated, the next step is a free consultation. It is a place to talk through what is showing up, what kind of support might fit, and whether this practice feels like the right container for the road ahead.