Before I became a massage therapist, I was a swim coach. Like most athletes, I had some injuries and saw my share of injuries as well. I was dissatisfied with the traditional medical treatment of pills, rest and maybe some physical therapy until ultimately, surgery. After an injury, I was told: give up swimming or be in pain for the rest of my life. Instead, after receiving a birthday gift certificate, I gave massage therapy a try, and a decade of shoulder pain vanished. Through bodywork, I saw a better way. Later that year, I enrolled in massage school at the Milan Institute with a focus in therapeutic massage.
I didn’t start my bodywork journey with intuitive somatic bodywork. As a deep tissue massage therapist, I was firmly entrenched in the camp of “deeper is more therapeutic” and “you have to hurt to heal.” However, after being dealt my own personal blows of painful emotional trauma and beginning to deal with daily chronic pain, I felt that old familiar questioning arise once again – there must be a better way. So, I went on a deep journey of professional and self discovery, and eventually found myself enrolled in a shamanic medicine wheel course based in the Q’ero and Sufi traditions, with a healthy dose of “Depth Work” psychology thrown in.
Those teachings helped open me up to the critical connection of mind, body and spirit. I began to see, contrary to my staunchly-held original practices, the power of bodywork techniques that listen to the body and work with it instead of against it. I saw big shifts and started observing that clients who got the best results were the ones who also opened up emotionally while they were on the massage table. Pieces started falling into place in a big way.
In addition to ancient practice, I highly value science. That is how I came to find myself in a Craniosacral therapy (CST) training at the Upledger institute, Myofascial release (MFR) training through Moving Mountains Institute as well as studying trauma recovery. These modalities connected so many of the dots for me between the science of what was going on in the body and the energy-based practices I had learned in my medicine wheel training classes. I found my own body responded much better and held releases much longer with. Problems that my clients had been struggling with for years started to resolve completely, whereas before we had just been managing pain. I was hooked!
Since 2017, Craniosacral therapy and Myofascial release have been my primary course of study. To complement the hands-on work, I’ve added in plenty of research about trauma recovery, attachment styles, Somatic experiencing and more. I continue to experience the benefits of this amazing gentle modality for my own body and for my clients. To me, this work is endlessly fascinating and I love sharing it with people every day.
Combining my years of professional experience and a new zest for helping clients, in 2021 I boldly decided to start my own practice, Live Free Bodywork. My professional commitment is to continue learning and growing as a practitioner and bringing the best information I can to help my clients on their wellness journeys. I look forward to walking alongside you in this.