Welcome to my site!
Life has never been without its difficulties, but for so many of us, the last few decades have served up one punishing experience--personal and collective--after another. Those traumas remain locked in our bodies. We are suffering, and continuing to ignore that suffering robs of our connection to ourselves and our joy.
While we can't go back to who we used to be, receiving trauma-informed bodywork and engaging in contemplative spiritual practices, like reading Tarot cards, can help each of us move forward and discover who we can become.
While we can't go back to who we used to be, receiving trauma-informed bodywork and engaging in contemplative spiritual practices, like reading Tarot cards, can help each of us move forward and discover who we can become.
I am passionate about trauma-informed bodywork because it has given me my life back
Somewhere in my thirties I lost myself. I was working as a High School teacher, thinking that by giving selflessly, I would somehow live a meaningful life. I kept giving, and the work culture at my school kept asking for more. When the Covid 19 pandemic accelerated my already present burn-out, and I found myself unable to continue. I would "dig deep" in an attempt to reignite my commitment and enthusiasm, but the well was dry. And, after years of living in my head, my body had become warped. I was in constant pain, I had no energy, and I stopped feeling any joy at all. It felt like, no matter how much my mind wanted to heal, my body was holding on to something.
I could not move forward spiritually and mentally until I tended to my physical body
After leaving teaching, I returned to my previous profession: therapeutic bodywork. As I worked on my own body, I would find traumatic memories locked in my soft tissues. By nurturing my ability to stay present with my trauma, and using neuromuscular therapy (NMT) to release trigger points, I eventually reclaimed both my body and my mind. And found that I was able to feel joy again and reclaim my connection to my own spirituality.
As I worked with the public, I have seen over and over again the profound power that can come from trauma-informed bodywork. It is my hope to not only perform therapeutic massage, but to educate people about the role of trauma-awareness in healing the body.
As I worked with the public, I have seen over and over again the profound power that can come from trauma-informed bodywork. It is my hope to not only perform therapeutic massage, but to educate people about the role of trauma-awareness in healing the body.
Salt dolls can recover
I named my business (and this website) after a lovely little spiritual parable from Hindu mystic Ramakrishna Paramhansa. He tells of a salt doll who arrives at the sea. Alchemists associated salt with Earth and physicality--we, as physically incarnate beings, are all "salt dolls" experiencing ourselves as separate from the wholeness of creation.
The salt doll stops in front of the ocean, staring in awe. Alchemists associated Water with the prima-materia--the starting material from which all life springs. A collective pool of undifferentiated oneness.
The only way for the salt doll to satiate her curiosity was to wade into the watery depths, but once knee-deep, she of course begins to dissolve.
That's where the story traditionally ends.
This story is considered a spiritual parable--you could read it as a story of ego-dissolution in the face of re-remembering oneself as a sentient expression of a communal spirit. Or you could read it as losing yourself in the collective forces beyond yourself: the currents of history, culture, and indoctrination.
That little story got me thinking: after sinking that far into the collective forces beyond ourselves, can we find our way back? Can we figure out ways to re-become ourselves again while still enmeshed in a toxic, oppressive system? And in re-becoming ourselves, could we potentially change that system so future generations have a better chance at living healthy, authentic, meaningful existences?
The only way to achieve this would be to face the Sun--to shine a light on ourselves and our wounds without turning away. Easier said than done. The process is profoundly difficult. I know because I have undergone it.
The healing journey is a highly individual experience. It isn't cute or easy. There's no rapture or superheros on the way. No one does it for you. You are the threshold guardian who decides if you pass. But you are not alone in wading through the filth, inner and outer. And by doing the work, you get to become–to discover–more and more of yourself-as-everything. And the everything learns by becoming aware in you.
My hope is to utilize my personal experiences and professional knowledge to help you on your journey back to yourself.
The salt doll stops in front of the ocean, staring in awe. Alchemists associated Water with the prima-materia--the starting material from which all life springs. A collective pool of undifferentiated oneness.
The only way for the salt doll to satiate her curiosity was to wade into the watery depths, but once knee-deep, she of course begins to dissolve.
That's where the story traditionally ends.
This story is considered a spiritual parable--you could read it as a story of ego-dissolution in the face of re-remembering oneself as a sentient expression of a communal spirit. Or you could read it as losing yourself in the collective forces beyond yourself: the currents of history, culture, and indoctrination.
That little story got me thinking: after sinking that far into the collective forces beyond ourselves, can we find our way back? Can we figure out ways to re-become ourselves again while still enmeshed in a toxic, oppressive system? And in re-becoming ourselves, could we potentially change that system so future generations have a better chance at living healthy, authentic, meaningful existences?
The only way to achieve this would be to face the Sun--to shine a light on ourselves and our wounds without turning away. Easier said than done. The process is profoundly difficult. I know because I have undergone it.
The healing journey is a highly individual experience. It isn't cute or easy. There's no rapture or superheros on the way. No one does it for you. You are the threshold guardian who decides if you pass. But you are not alone in wading through the filth, inner and outer. And by doing the work, you get to become–to discover–more and more of yourself-as-everything. And the everything learns by becoming aware in you.
My hope is to utilize my personal experiences and professional knowledge to help you on your journey back to yourself.