Home

About

My Work

Retreat

Book an intro call

CEO Coaching

Primal Therapy

Salons

connect with me

MENU

BOOK AN INTRO CALL

MENU

A 10-session, deeply structured 1:1 process to release long-held patterns, unwind conditioning, and lead with more authenticity, calm, and choice.

30-Minute free Consultation

Primal Therapy

Primal Therapy

Deep, Hoffman-Level Work—Without Leaving Your Life for a Week

High-Functioning, But Stuck: 

✔️ You’re constantly on edge, can’t relax, even when things are “good.” You feel overwhelmed and anxious more than you want to admit.

✔️  You notice yourself overreacting, shutting down, or people-pleasing in high-stakes moments

✔️  You keep recreating the same conflict with co-founders or partners.

✔️  Investor relations feel like a power struggle.

✔️ You don’t feel truly close and perhaps you’ve lost the intimacy with your partner and now notice some friction and triggers. 

✔️ You’ve tried mindset work, coaching, maybe even therapy. It helps—up to a point.


These are not just professional hurdles; they’re invitations to profound personal growth.

As a leader, you may find yourself:

This process aims to help you become more you—with less impact from the past running the show. It will help you become the pillar you most needed while growing up and learn how to truly take care of yourself and those around you from a place of stability and confidence. 

Primal Therapy is a deeply transformative process that explores the first 0–10 years of your life to uncover and heal early developmental trauma and conditioning.

This is not talk therapy and not “new age.”
It’s a grounded, experiential approach that integrates elements of gestalt, regression, systemic constellations, and somatic work to reach the root of long-held emotional patterns.

Similar in depth to the Hoffman Process, Primal follows a self-inquiry and release arc—only in an intimate, personalized 1:1 setting.

We don’t manage symptoms.
We go back to the original imprint, so your nervous system can finally complete what it never had space or support to complete.


What Is Primal Therapy?

When you’re leading a company, your unresolved patterns could get in the way:

  • Old adaptive strategies (over-achieving, controlling, disappearing, pleasing) become your leadership style.

  • The way you relate to caregivers often mirrors how you relate to co-founders, investors, and your team.

  • Unprocessed fear, shame, or anger shows up as indecision, burnout, reactivity, or emotional shutdown.

Primal Therapy gives you a structured way to:

  • See the original blueprint that’s been running your life and leadership.
  • Feel and release what’s been held in your body for decades.
  • Build a different internal foundation where you can hold pressure, intimacy, and visibility without collapsing or armoring up.

You might already know of deep-dive processes like the Hoffman Process, where you step away from your life for a full week, hand in your phone, and immerse yourself completely.

For many founders and investors, that sounds ideal… and also impossible.

You’re responsible for a company, a team, capital, a family. The idea of disappearing for 7–8 days with no phone can feel like a logistical nightmare, even if you want that level of work.





Why This Work Matters for Founders & VCs

If you’ve been Hoffman-curious but haven’t found the window to disappear for a week, Primal may be the format that actually fits your life.

  • Same level of inner work, different format: Instead of one intensive week, we work in a 10-session arc over 2.5–3 months.
  • You keep living your life: You still run your company, see your family, and stay connected, while doing profound internal work in the background.
  • Integration built in: Because sessions are weekly, you’re constantly applying and integrating what emerges into your real, everyday context.
This is a highly structured, time-bound container designed to create real movement, not endless processing.

Session Zero (30 minutes) – Orientation & Intentions. We clarify your desires, goals, and current patterns. We map how your early years may be showing up in your leadership, relationships, and nervous system today. If it’s a fit, we commit to the 10-session process.

Sessions 1–10 (60 minutes each, weekly). Over 2.5–3 months, we move through a progressive arc:

  • Early childhood (0–10): Exploring core imprints, attachment dynamics, and early emotional experiences.
  • Regression & release: Guided experiential work to safely access and express long-held feelings.
  • Somatic integration: Bringing the body into the process so the nervous system can actually shift, not just the story.
  • Linking past to present: Connecting early patterns to how you lead, love, and relate today.
  • Repatterning: Practicing new ways of being that are more authentic, boundaries, and resourced.

Closing Integration Session (30 minutes) We consolidate what’s shifted and define how you want to move forward in life, leadership, and relationships.

Between-session support: You’re not doing this alone between calls. The process includes:

  • WhatsApp support for check-ins and integration
  • Tailored homework and practices
  • Resources to help your system integrate the work week by week

Total: 11 touch points over ~ 3 months.

The 10-Session Primal Process

Every person’s process is unique, but common shifts include:

Emotionally

  • Feeling more at home in your own body instead of living only in your head
  • Less shame and inner criticism
  • Greater capacity to feel without being overwhelmed or shutting down

Relationally

  • Breaking recurring conflict patterns with co-founders, partners, and investors
  • Clearer boundaries and less people-pleasing
  • More intimacy, honesty, and emotional availability in close relationships

Professionally

  • Making decisions from clarity instead of anxiety or old fears
  • Navigating pressure, visibility, and responsibility with more steadiness
  • Leading with authenticity and confidence

This process aims to help you become more you, with less impact from the past running the show. It will help you become the pillar you most needed while growing up and learn how to truly take care of yourself and those around you from your grounded adult self.

What Can Change

BOOK AN INTRO CALL
Retreats like the Hoffman Process are powerful because:

  • You step out of your environment
  • You hand-in your phone
  • You’re fully immersed, with no distractions

Primal Therapy honors that depth, and offers an alternative format:

  • 1:1 instead of group – The work is tailored to your specific history, nervous system, and leadership reality.
  • Weekly sessions instead of one intensive week – You don’t need to pause your life; you bring your life into the work.
  • Continuous integration – Each week, you notice how early patterns show up in real time, with co-founders, investors, partners, and we work with that directly.

It’s a different structure for someone ready to go all the way in, who also carries responsibility they can't leave.

You don’t have to choose between doing the deepest work and running your company. Primal is designed for both - it is the bridge between your desire for depth and your reality of responsibility.

How Primal Compares to Retreat-Style Work

Yes, if you are:

  • A Seed to Series D founder, executive, or investor who is high-functioning but emotionally stuck, burnt out, or repeating old patterns.
  • You’re willing to go deeper than mindset hacks and surface-level optimization.
  • You’re ready to look at your early years and how they shaped your current reality.
  • You can commit to weekly sessions for ~ 3 months and show up honestly, even when it’s uncomfortable.

This is not for you if:

  • You’re looking for a quick fix without engaging in deeper emotional work.
  • You’re not willing to feel or express emotions, even with support.
  • You’re in acute crisis or dealing with untreated severe mental illness or active addiction - this work is not a replacement for specialized clinical care.

If you’re not sure whether this is the right level of work for you, Session Zero is the place to explore that together.

Is This Work For You?

Book session 0
  • Investment: 2600 USD
  • Structure: 10-session process over ~3 months (weekly, 60 minutes)
  • Total touchpoints: Session Zero (30 minutes), 10 core sessions, Closing Integration (30 minutes)
  • Support: WhatsApp support, home assignments, and resources between sessions

Payment options:

  • Paid in full - this work requires full energetic commitment

You begin by booking Session Zero, a 30-minute consultation to clarify your goals, ask questions, and feel whether this work and timing are right for you.

Investment & Commitment

Book Your 30-Minute Primal Consultation

Meet Your Guide

is an Executive Coach for tech Founders, CEOs, and leaders in the startup ecosystem. She works with companies from Seed stage and beyond, as well as top VC firms, coaching their partners and supporting their portfolio companies.

Vanya helps founders and executives navigate the complex realities of leadership, growth, and personal transformation. Her approach combines executive coaching, somatic and integral coaching and other transformational modalities, blending strategic leadership development with deep personal growth.

Additionally her practice is enhanced by insights gained from experiences living and studying in the Thai Buddhist tradition in Thailand, practicing and teaching holotropic breathwork and working with plant medicine.

Vanya Sofia

Trusted by leaders from:

Annie REardon,
Ceo and co-founder | ludo
forbes 30 under 30

I worked with her during the most challenging part of scaling my business. She helped me solve some critical gaps in my business, ultimately getting me on track to hit my company revenue goals and get Forbes 30 under 30. 

Vanya truly was a confidant, cheerleader, problem solver, and intuitively led coach.

MARTIN BISPELS
CEO | Upper Park Disc Golf

From help in setting intentions and finding focus, elevating my meditation practice, providing insight and perspective on new business strategies, and providing a (gentle) kick in the ass when needed, Vanya delivers!

Vanya is the Swiss Army knife of coaches…

ABISHEK JHA
CEO & Co-founder | Elucidata


Being a first-time founder is an immensely rewarding but lonely job. At times it's just listening, other times it's challenging my thought process. A lot of times it's helping me with tactical things.

She is always available with her repertoire of tools to help.

PATRICK O’LEARY
CEO & Co-founder | Boostr



Improving my own personal development, as well as helping us design and implement our people strategies, and planning and facilitating leadership offsites.

Vanya has been a great coach,

BRAD BOGOLEA
CEO & Co-founder | Simbe Robotics




She helps ensure founders and leaders have the right tools, processes, and awareness to meet the challenges of a high-growth startup.

Vanya has been an invaluable partner and trusted advisor

MORGAN DENIS
Chief of Staff | Simbe Robotics




By keeping a pulse of progress and providing targeted support. The manager trainings Vanya led helped us nurture and grow our management team and processes.

She helped us create a sustained impact across our organization…

JEFF BONALDI
Founder & CEO | The Explorer’s Passage





To the point where you feel you almost have a partner going to battle with you every day. Working with Vanya helped me grow as a leader and open up new marketing channels.

She makes you feel extremely supported

BARNEY SWAN
Founder & CEO | ClimateForce






For me and my nonprofit, ClimateForce. Vanya’s ability to help redirect and focus in times of hardship is remarkable.

She has been an invaluable support

JASON SU
Co-founder & CTO | Whiterabbit.ai







She helped me navigate critical conversations with my board and team—defining outcome, strategy, and even specific impactful verbiage. Like a veteran coach, she understands the makeup of a team and finds the plays that will succeed.

Vanya has been immensely beneficial to my growth as a first-time founder.

Tom Chadwick
Ceo | endurant energy






 She is never afraid to tell you what she thinks you can do better and what are clearly weaknesses, BUT you never feel she is judging you or that you're not an amazing person that can just unlock more of the best parts of yourself.

Vanya is high energy and has a huge amount of different areas she can work on.

Kind Words

Annie REardon,
Ceo and co-founder | ludo
forbes 30 under 30

I worked with her during the most challenging part of scaling my business. She helped me solve some critical gaps in my business, ultimately getting me on track to hit my company revenue goals and get Forbes 30 under 30. 

Vanya truly was a confidant, cheerleader, problem solver, and intuitively led coach.

Martin Bispels
CEO | Upper Park Disc Golf

From help in setting intentions and finding focus, elevating my meditation practice, providing insight and perspective on new business strategies, and providing a (gentle) kick in the ass when needed, Vanya delivers!

Vanya is the Swiss Army knife of coaches...

Abishek Jha
ceo & co-founder | elucidata

Being a first time founder is an immensely rewarding but lonely job. You need tons of support to survive and thrive...At times it is just listening, and other times it is challenging my thought process. A lot of times it is helping me with tactical things.

She is always available with her repertoire of tools to help. 

tom chadwick,
Ceo | endurant energy

 She is never afraid to tell you what she thinks you can do better and what are clearly weaknesses, BUT you never feel she is judging you or that you're not an amazing person that can just unlock more of the best parts of yourself.

Vanya is high energy and has a huge amount of different areas she can work on.

Martin Bispels
CEO | Upper Park Disc Golf

From help in setting intentions and finding focus, elevating my meditation practice, providing insight and perspective on new business strategies, and providing a (gentle) kick in the ass when needed, Vanya delivers!

Vanya is the Swiss Army knife of coaches...

tom chadwick,
Ceo | endurant energy

 She is never afraid to tell you what she thinks you can do better and what are clearly weaknesses, BUT you never feel she is judging you or that you're not an amazing person that can just unlock more of the best parts of yourself.

Vanya is high energy and has a huge amount of different areas she can work on.

Annie REardon,
Ceo and co-founder | ludo
forbes 30 under 30

I worked with her during the most challenging part of scaling my business. She helped me solve some critical gaps in my business, ultimately getting me on track to hit my company revenue goals.

Vanya truly was a confidant, cheerleader, problem solver, and intuitively led coach.

Jason Su
Co-founder and CTO | Whiterabbit.ai

She helped me navigate critical conversations with my board and team—defining outcome, strategy, and even specific impactful verbiage. Like a veteran coach, she understands the makeup of a team and finds the plays that will succeed.



Vanya has been immensely beneficial to my growth as a first-time founder.



Kind Words

FAQs:

Is this like regular CBT therapy?

Primal Therapy is deeply experiential and not like traditional talk therapy. We work with regression, somatic processes, and structured emotional release, always with grounding and integration. Many clients who have done years of therapy find that Primal reaches layers they haven’t accessed before.

Is this “screaming into a pillow” work?

Primal process was established in the 1960s and at the time the focus was catharsis. Today the method has evolved. While emotional expression is part of the process, the work is held in a contained, grounded, and attuned way. It’s not about the emotional release; it’s about feeling your feelings and completion.

What if I’m very busy as a founder?

The process is designed to be intensive and time-bound: 10 weekly sessions over 2.5–3 months, plus two shorter sessions. If you can commit to 60 minutes a week and are willing to protect that time, the structure will support you.

Is this safe?

Safety is foundational. We move at a pace your system can handle, and we’re always tracking your capacity. If at any point it becomes clear that you need a different level of support (e.g., specialized trauma treatment), we’ll acknowledge that and discuss referrals.

Is this confidential?

Absolutely. All sessions and communications are held in the strictest confidence. This is a space where you can be fully seen, without needing to perform or protect your image.

What’s expected of me?

Come with openness, honesty, and a willingness to engage. This work is powerful, but only if you’re ready to go deep and commit to your own transformation.

Are you ready?

If this resonates, I would love to connect

If you’ve been Hoffman-curious but haven’t found the window to disappear for a week, Primal may be the format that actually fits your life.

BOOK AN INTRO CALL

Thank You

We will be in contact soon!