My journey into healing arts was shaped by my personal experience with my own health, which lead me into a deep exploration of allopathic medicine and alternative medicine. Acupuncture became an important part of my life in 2003, which led me to enroll in the Acupressure Institute to explore this fascinating system more closely. It was there that I began to understand how important touch is to our bodies and began to unravel the mysteries of the constant fluid exchanges that keep us alive.
Upon graduating from the Acupressure Institute in 2007, I began to study the Cranio Sacral System. During my training, I began to cultivate an understanding of the intricate patterns and connections that develop through our life time to keep us safe, protected and often times limited as we change and wish to grow. I learned about the connection we share with our emotional mind and body, how to address them both, and when it’s time- open to letting go of patterns we no longer have use for.
Having worked with children all my life, I felt directed into Pediatric Cranial Sacral work. I enjoy integrating my experience and knowledge in child development with body work to help support children in having optimal access to themselves, their bodies and their relationship to the world. Working with children and newborns lead me into pursuing certification in Pre and Peri Natal Massage, to gain education in how to support during the gestational process and transition to birth.
My studies of the Reflex System through a method developed by Dr. Svetlana Musgatova, MNRI, began as I worked with the family that I provided childcare for. In seeking further support for the 2 adopted children we found MNRI. As we continued to address their development through the modality that CST offers, we found that the reflex work helped everything “land” and settle in their systems. In 2017 I had the privilege of studying under Maxine Haller, a pediatric OT who developed a beautiful approach to working with infants and children through the primitive reflex system. This work has been incredibly informing and offers a supportive approach when working with structural and neurological issues that can be challenging to address with only bio-mechanical approaches.
My most impactful explorations to deepen my understand of human anatomy was attending dissection courses. This has been an immense lesson in humility and awe of this incredible body that each one of us lives through. My journey began in the Spring of 2015 with Gil Hedley’s 6-day dissection course. I have shared a bit about this experience on my home page, so I don’t want to repeat myself, but the opportunity to explore the internal world of the human body, following my own curiosity and love, was a life-changing experience. I found my practice forever changed by having a deeper understanding and felt a sense of the structures that I connect to within myself and with my clients. My anatomy book is always at my side now as I constantly recall tissues and structures, to revisit them and acquaint myself with where and how they are in relation to each other. In the Fall of 2015, I had the opportunity to attend another dissection workshop! This was a fresh tissue dissection, meaning that the body was un-preserved. I was interested to feel and see the difference between the fixed and unfixed forms, getting a bit closer to the living state that the tissues embody. This experience helped me understand on another level the relationships with our living tissue. I find that when I work now, it’s not just a picture or map of anatomy that I employ to connect with the body, but a more felt sense and friendship that is available from spending this time exploring.
My journey is far from complete and I look forward to gaining new experiences and deepening my knowledge in all of these amazing areas and more.
