What can you expect from working with me?
Let’s start by acknowledging how remarkable it is to choose presence over escape, clarity over haze. Especially in a world determined to push the opposite.
While it seems like the initial stopping would be the hardest part, it’s the staying that’s the most disorienting. But that messy middle is the place of expanding potential.
If you’ve gotten this far in your journey, you’ve likely found some support— podcasts, self-help books, therapy.
But as you’re looking around at your options, you may be wondering if the spaces meant to support sober women were actually created for you, or for someone else’s version of this experience that just doesn’t resonate with you.
Because you aren’t in crisis. You aren’t white-knuckling it day-by-day. Maybe you didn’t even have “that big of a problem”.
I’m not saying that sobriety is 100% smooth sailing for you, but what you’re really holding is a sacred question:
Now that I’m not numbing, who am I becoming?
That question is where my work begins.
What I Believe to be True
Sobriety isn’t the final destination. It’s your doorway.
What’s on the other side?
Your true self, who’s been there all along. Covered up by layers of conditioning— told how to live, who to be.
She’s expressed in creative choices, in relationships that truly fill you up, and in a sense of being genuinely, fully alive.
This is what you’re here for.
And Nature helps you get there.
Not only does research consistently show that time in nature is restorative— it reduces stress hormones, restores mental clarity, and expands our capacity for joy.
But the research shows that it isn’t simply clocking time in nature; it’s a felt sense of connection that brings the most benefits. The problem is, most modern people don’t even know what that means.
Connection with nature wakes up your senses—which is how you experience everything in the world.
Connection reminds you that you are nature, not a robot or a machine.
You see yourself more clearly in the mirror of nature. For example, you see your own capacity for strength in a boulder, or your ability to adapt in the water flowing through a stream.
The more you connect with nature, the more you connect with your deepest, truest self.
So don’t think of me as someone who’s just here to help you stay sober. I’m here to help you discover what your sobriety makes possible.
The SPARK Journey
The Sobernatural Way is guided by a framework I call SPARK— five interwoven areas of growth potential as women step out of numbing, into nature connection, and their fully expressed lives.
S— Self-Connection
Cultivate self-trust, intuition, and identity beyond alcohol. Come home to who you’ve always been, which allows creative freedom to flow.
P—Presence & Pleasure
Ground in the now. Rediscover joy in your body, senses, and the living world around you.
A— Authentic Relationships
Create and tend aligned relationships, and practice being fully known both by others, and by yourself.
R— Resilience Rituals
Build practices that keep you centered and empowered even in hard moments, especially ones that tap into the wisdom of the natural world.
K— Kindle Purpose
Explore the contribution only you can make— through your work, your creative expression, your way of being.
SPARK isn’t a linear program you move through in order. It’s a living framework— a way of paying attention to your whole life, together, creating the life you’re meant for.
How we work together
Nature isn’t the backdrop to our sessions— it’s part of the intelligence.
1:1 Coaching
You are unique, so 1:1 coaching is customized to where you are now, and your personal goals.
In the Portland area? We meet outdoors— in my backyard studio in the Reed Neighborhood, or another natural area, for 75 minutes of talking, walking, sensing, and noticing.
Online sessions are also available, and effective, via Zoom.
Start with a free 45-minute discovery call.
We’ll get a feel for each other, and together decide honestly if it’s a good fit.
Just need one powerful session to work on a single challenge?
Schedule a single, focused 90-minute coaching session with me for $220. Email me and let’s do it. naomi@theilluminatededge.com
Group Experiences
I also offer small, intentionally designed experiences for sober women who want to do the work of self-discovery while harnessing the power and collaboration of a group.
Add your email below to know about these as they launch.
Questions? Email naomiveak@theilluminatededge.com and let’s talk!
A little about me
I’ve been joyfully sober since 2018, and I’ve spent the years since building, facilitating, and learning from community with sober women in Portland.
Before founding The Illuminated Edge, I created and ran My Sober Girlfriends for close to six years— One of Portland’s first sober women’s communities, built before “sober curious” was a phrase most people knew. That work gave me something no training program could: I know what women in this chapter of life actually need, because I’ve sat with hundreds of them, and because I needed it myself.
I’m a credentialed ICF coach, a certified nature-connected coach through the Earth-Based Institute, and a trained facilitator in authentic relating. I bring all of that and more— with none of the recovery-coded language—into every conversation.
You can find me riding my bike around Portland, attending storytelling events with friends, at my local native plant nursery, or off having adventures with my loving husband and extended family. I moved from Wyoming to the Pacific Northwest for college in 1993 and I’ve been here ever since.