About Me

Coach, teacher,
fellow traveler.

I'm a queer, non-binary, polyamorous person who became a coach because I believe we deserve spaces where we can be fully known — and from that knowing, actually grow.

Mars laughing on a tiled outdoor bench at night
My Story

Hi, I'm Mars Williams

I'm a Relationships, Sex & Life Coach and MFT Trainee at California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). I'm also queer, non-binary (they/them), and polyamorous — and I bring that lived experience to this work.

Before this work, I spent ten years as a software engineer at major tech companies. I carry that experience with me. I understand the particular kind of alienation that can live inside high-achieving environments — the way emotional life gets bracketed off, the gap between outer success and inner experience, the loneliness that's hard to name when everything looks fine on paper. If any of that brought you here, I get it in a way that goes beyond professional empathy.

I came to this work through my own winding path — through community, through somatic practice, through the experience of living outside mainstream relationship and identity structures. I know what it's like to want a coach who's already in your corner — who's excited about you, not just tolerating the parts of you that don't fit a mainstream mold.

My approach is relational and somatic, and I'm also a certified yoga teacher. I often bring breathwork, body-based awareness, and movement-informed practices into sessions for clients who are interested — not as a separate thing, but as a way of supporting deeper integration.

I'm also a meditator with a long-standing contemplative practice, and I offer psychedelic integration sessions — supporting people in making meaning of psychedelic experiences and weaving what arose into their psychological and spiritual lives.

I believe coaching isn't just about reducing suffering. It's about expanding into what's possible — including pleasure, joy, connection, and the specific kind of aliveness that's yours alone.

Book a Free Consultation
Who I Am

Identities & Community

  • ✦ Queer, non-binary, polyamorous — I bring lived experience to this work, not just professional knowledge.
  • ✦ Deeply embedded in Bay Area queer, poly, and somatic communities — this practice is part of, not separate from, that world.
  • ✦ Kink-aware and kink-affirming. BDSM and kink practices are not pathology — and you shouldn't have to hide them from your coach.
  • ✦ A long-term meditator and someone on my own spiritual path — I meet clients where they are in their practice, without projection or dogma.
  • ✦ Committed to anti-oppressive, intersectional practice. Your whole self is welcome here — race, class, body, ability, and all.
Background

Training & Credentials

  • ✦
    Relationships, Sex & Life Coach, MFT Trainee California Institute of Integral Studies
  • ✦
    Master's in Integral Counseling Psychology (In Process) California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS)
  • ✦
    Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200) Yoga Alliance #662560 · Somatic integration focus
  • ✦
    Additional Training IFS Level 1 · Somatic Therapy · Gestalt · Mindfulness-Based Approaches · Psychedelic Integration · Long-term Meditation Practitioner
A Glimpse

My World

A few windows into who I am outside our sessions — and what shapes my work inside it.

Mars and Andrea embracing and laughing together
Mars standing arms raised inside a hollowed ancient cedar tree in a lush forest
Mars smiling in an olive outfit in a sunlit Colombian mountain valley
"Healing doesn't always look like returning to baseline. Sometimes it looks like discovering a whole new way of being alive."

I became a coach because I believe that people deserve not just relief from suffering, but genuine flourishing. That means joy, pleasure, connection, and the freedom to live as the fullest version of yourself — whatever that looks like.

Read About My Approach
Let's Connect

Ready to start?

A free 15-minute consultation is the easiest first step. No prep required — just show up.

Book a Free Consultation