Bodywork, Massage & Energy Healing
Bodywork facilitates pain-reduction and energetic alignment, while supporting clients to feel more spacious, centered, and relaxed. I draw on over twenty-three years of professional training and experience to offer my clients a uniquely healing and transformative experience. Sessions are intuitively catered to address physical need and emotional-spiritual intentions.
I utilize professional Massage, Bodywork, Cranial Sacral, Myofascial Release, Energy Healing, Neuromuscular therapy, and Accupressure techniques to promote ease, spaciousness, and vitality. I also facilitate healing by offering body-centered (somatic) awareness practices to support nervous system regulation. At the root of tension, stress, and anxiety, is our mammalian sympathetic nervous system response, also known as the fight, flight, freeze response. When the body is continually operating from a place of sympathetic dysregulation, physical and emotional symptoms manifest, making life less manageable. My work empowers clients to get in touch with the parasympathetic branch of the nervous system, facilitating rest, digestion, peace and equilibrium throughout the body.
Both new and existing clients can self-schedule bodywork and massage appointments via my client portal.
My Approach
My bodywork style is nurturing, intuitive, and productive. Clinical and intuitive skills are utilized to heal, aid relaxation, reduce stress, regulate emotion, improve athletic performance, prevent injury, rehabilitate post-injury, and reduce (or remove) pain associated with injury or muscular strain. My approach to healing is deeply influenced by somatic-relational psychotherapy and intuitive healing. I view symptoms as being representative of one’s state of being, and support clients to elucidate psycho-emotional aspects inhibiting optimal functioning.
An individual’s intention has everything to do with where we go in the session. Depending on the interest of the client, bodywork may support people to sense beyond their physical symptoms, and delve into the psychosomatic aspects of physical tension and stress-response patterns. One person may want to treat lumbar strain and reduce stress, while another may choose to delve into their relationship issues or heal past trauma. Each session is unique. This work is never sexual in nature and advances will not be tolerated.
Modalities
The professional field of massage therapy and bodywork has expanded to include a large variety of healing modalities. Each modality has something therapeutic to offer, has a unique feel, and can be catered to the unique needs of the individual. To learn more about my specialties, click the tabs below.
This technique is deeply relaxing and rejuvenating. Nurturing touch and oil or lotion make the flow of this massage luxurious and calming. The technique may include long strokes, circular motion and kneading, applied with soft to medium pressure. In addition to alleviating muscle tension and a variety of symptoms, therapeutic massage aids in circulation, lymphatic movement, and cortisol (stress hormone) reduction. Therapeutic massage can be integrated into other modalities, or experienced on its own for an extremely relaxing experience.
This massage style is often generally called “Bodywork”, as it integrates various techniques to create more space in the body, while targeting a variety of physical symptoms. Deep tissue massage aids in pain relief and injury rehabilitation by penetrating deeper layers of soft tissue and muscle. Pressure is usually medium to firm, but can be catered to meet the needs of the client. A common misconception is that deep tissue massage is supposed to be unbearably painful. Although it can be uncomfortable, it should never be something the client and practitioner can’t comfortably work through.
Neuromuscular and trigger point therapy may also be integrated into a deep tissue session. These techniques involve adding concentrated pressure on areas of muscle spasm and tightness. Muscle articulation (gentle movement of limbs etc.) and resistance-based techniques may also be utilized to promote muscular release. Deep tissue, neuromuscular therapy, and trigger point techniques are highly effective for clients who present with chronic pain, and are often successful in reducing or eliminating the symptoms of longstanding painful conditions.
CranioSacral Therapy (CST) is a gentle, hands-on approach that releases tensions deep in the body to relieve pain and dysfunction and improve whole-body health and performance. It was pioneered and developed by Osteopathic Physician John E. Upledger after years of clinical testing and research at Michigan State University, where he served as professor of biomechanics. Using a soft touch, practitioners release restrictions in the soft tissues that surround the central nervous system. CST is increasingly used as a preventive health measure for its ability to bolster resistance to disease, and it’s effective for a wide range of medical problems associated with pain and dysfunction. For more information about Cranial Sacral Therapy, visit upledger.com.
Myofascial Release is a safe and very effective technique that involves applying sustained pressure into myofascial connective tissue restrictions to eliminate pain and restore motion. The practitioner applies techniques very slowly and does not use oil. The slow “time element” has to do with the viscous flow and the piezoelectric phenomenon: a low load of gentle pressure is applied slowly which allows the viscoelastic medium (fascia) to elongate. Trauma, inflammatory responses, and/or surgical procedures create Myofascial restrictions that can produce pressure and painful symptoms. Myofascial Release therapists use a multitude of techniques and movement therapy to relieve symptoms and fascial strain. After a MFR session, clients report feeling much more spacious, elongated, peaceful, and stretched out. Flexibility and postural awareness is also improved with regular treatment. Myofasical release was developed by John Barnes, P.T. More information can be found at myofascialrelease.com.
Accupressure, also know as Jin Shin Do, promotes a pleasant, trancelike state, in which one can relax and move into their body to access feelings and inner wisdom. This modality helps release body armoring (tense psychosomatic holding patterns) and chronic tension, balances “Qi” (energy), and improves vitality. Accupressure involves gentle, yet deep finger pressure on specific acu-points along the body. Generally, a local point in a tense area is held together with related distal points to help the tense area release. This clothes-on method helps relieve stress, muscle tension, and trauma related problems. Accupressure is a synthesis of a traditional Japanese acupressure technique, classic Chinese acupressure theory, Taoist philosophy, Reichian segmental theory, Ericksonian psychotherapy, and breathing techniques. You can learn more at jinshindo.org.
Benefits
There are many benefits to receiving therapeutic massage and healing bodywork. Some studies have shown massage and bodywork techniques to be effective in relieving a variety of physical issues including, but not limited to:
- soft tissue and fascial tension
- injuries
- stress
- anxiety
- muscle tension
- headaches
- insomnia
- digestive disorders
- temporomandibular join pain (TMJ)
- back pain
Massage, bodywork, and energy-work may also heal emotional and spiritual imbalance, which often predicates physical symptoms and pain. It reduces ischemia (tight tissue with reduced blood flow), can be beneficial after surgery to reduce scar tissue, and may also ease the discomfort of acute injuries. This work may also help professional athletes improve their performance and prevent injury, empowering them to reach their fullest potential.
Modalities may assist people to feel more relaxed and at peace, thereby promoting nervous system regulation. Moreover, the therapeutic relationship between the practitioner and the client is also beneficial, with nurturing energy playing a powerful role in relational healing.
Please note: Massage and bodywork is not meant to be a replacement for professional medical care. Those with serious medical conditions should consult with their doctor before receiving massage and bodywork.