I practice a unique form of bodywork that I’ve developed from my many years of training in both the subtle and gross realms of bodywork. With the sensitivity I’ve acquired from my CranioSacral background, I’m able to listen in a way that helps clients feel safe, thus building trust. Trust is the foundation of every session, without it no real change can occur. Once this is established, I can draw from my toolkit of techniques I’ve learned through my studies in Structural Integration, Trigger Point Therapy, Connective Tissue Massage and Swedish to help reduce pain and support overall alignment. What makes my approach unique is I only go as far as each client’s body is ready for, never imposing an agenda of what I believe is proper health or alignment. The client’s entire system communicates with me where it’s at and what it needs, then I support the areas that are ready to transform. I’ve created a very gentle yet powerful approach that can have a lasting impact.
When I work with clients, I tune into their physical and energetic fields to assess the areas of stagnation. I’ve trained for many years to listen with sincerity by opening up all of my senses to receive information, and through this receptivity I can hear what the client’s body needs for optimal health in each session. With the information, I can help increase movement throughout the body, thus enhancing functionality, performance and most of all, health. With the guidance of innate intelligence, I gently place my hands in areas that need more vitality. My hands move mindfully to first create space. One needs ample space to open up, unwind, let go, and get ready for change to occur. Once ample space is created, I can work more technically and draw from the advanced bodywork skills I’ve learned. Through this process, the system can see itself and begin to release trauma, realign to the midline, and come back to a greater sense of wholeness.
My healing journey
I began my healing journey as a young child when I realized the power of touch through laying my hands on my father’s back when he came home stressed out from work. Something about these regular interactions impacted me deeply, and at a young age I became very curious about the positive effects of loving touch. The moments of contact with my father opened up a world that I would dive into deeply upon the dawn of my Saturn return.
I grew up on Mercer Island in Washington state and felt that I lived in a world that I didn’t quite understand or connect with easily. I was rebellious and wanted to assert my own way of being in the world. Understandably, living in opposition to everything around me was quite a struggle, and I was not in good health for much of my adolescence and young adult life. I attended college in Washington state and while this felt much more in alignment with my interests at the time, I still felt that I didn’t fit into this mold. After graduating from college in 2008, I spent time nursing a knee injury, and this truly changed the course of my life.
Recovering from the knee injury helped me slow down and become much more aware of my body. I became curious about healing and how to help myself expedite the healing process through self massage, mindfulness and conscious movement. I discovered Somatics, a practice developed by Thomas Hanna, and attended some classes in the Seattle area. My experience during the weekly 90 minute practice periods opened me up to my inner world, a place that I sadly neglected. I began to release so much trauma from my system during the simple exercises, and my entire being knew this was just the tip of the iceberg for me. I dipped my toes in the waters of healing and I was excited to learn more. I began to read books on mindfulness, quantum healing, somatic psychology and much more. I felt an excitement that fueled me in a way I hadn’t experienced since a child.
Once recovered from the injury, I embarked on an adventure across Europe that would open up my mind to the endless possibilities and new horizons. I met people living on the fringe, using creativity to support themselves and I felt awe upon seeing this way of being. Inspired by their tremendous sense of freedom to explore the world, I began to shift my views and beliefs on what it means to be successful. I had been raised to believe that success means having a lot of money, but I always knew something was wrong with this picture. The friends I made in Europe showed me a way to live life with more passion, creativity, excitement and purpose. Seeing that they were happy without tons of money gave me hope for a new way to live. I returned to the USA excited to create a more fulfilling for myself, and ready to dive into the unknown.
Upon my return, I ended up in northern California and began work on an organic farm. Having only a small amount of farming experience, I definitely experienced my fair share of humbling moments. Even with the challenge of grueling physical labor, I loved the simplicity and freedom of living and eating from the land. For the first time in my adult life, I felt a deep sense of peace and happiness. During the time I spent at this farm near Arcata, CA, I began to experience a profound reverence for nature and the healing that happens when tuned into her cyclical rhythms. Soon after my first real farming endeavor came to an end for the season, I attended a yoga teacher training that helped me deepen my connection to embodiment and find more inner peace. Yoga connected me to my breath and body in a way I’d never experienced and it calmed my anxious, worried mind. This was my first big step towards discovering the practice of mindfulness. This discovery soon lead me to Sacramento, CA, where I lived at a meditation center to teach yoga and do service work. While in Sacramento, I met a man who changed my life and opened me up to the world of massage. He taught me techniques that I practiced on him and we developed a student mentor relationship. He saw something in me and strongly encouraged me to pursue my talents.
On January 6, 2013 a new chapter began for me when I attended massage school at the Pacific Center for Awareness and Bodywork (PCAB). PCAB offered a unique opportunity to look within and become more connected to direct experience while studying the body in depth. Teaching how to bring about greater harmony in mind, body and spirit, this school offered me something new and exciting on the path of self discovery and awakening. Upon completion of the 6 month Structural Integration program, I avidly practiced with clients in Kauai and returned in 2014 to be an assistant teacher at PCAB. My experience at massage school changed the course of my life and opened me up to a world of healing that, little did I know at the time, would lead me to the island of the gods, Bali, to study CranioSacral Therapy.
I have returned to Bali 3 times since 2015 to study with my CranioSacral teacher and assist in all of his foundational level courses. I have completed his advanced curriculum and now I practice this amazing healing art form and other modalities (Thai, Swedish, Lomi Lomi, Abdominal, Deep Tissue, Sports, and Trigger Point) at my home in Santa Fe. As an avid world traveler, I do my best to offer sessions wherever I go and I have created my own beautiful style of bodywork that combines the depth of structural integration with the gentle, spaciousness of CranioSacral therapy. My hands dance fluidly across the body, going slow enough to feel, sense and hear what each client’s body communicates. With deep reverence for each person I touch, I offer a unique experience that provides a greater sense of ease and peace for body, mind and spirit.
I have many loves in life: gardening, growing food, picking fresh figs and devouring them, dancing, hiking, swimming, yoga, traveling and soaking in hot springs. I regularly travel to hot springs around the pacific northwest and love the time spent in nature, relaxing in hot pools under the star-filled sky. The night sky and New Mexico’s sunsets bring me tremendous peace and joy; qualities I yearn to cultivate more within myself and share with the world.