A Short Story About Me
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I just want to say that I really love what I do! This body therapy work is so darn relaxing and fun! What a contrast from the way I used to approach life.
Early in my independent living years, I tried for a health focused career in nutrition but let that go in favor of my real passion which was fighting for the Earth. I assumed I'd have a long career in environmentally focused work. Then I stayed with my dad through some of the last months of his life and something else started getting my attention. What I realized in my grieving after his death was that I was not living an authentic life but just trying to agree with unclear expectations. I had to find out how to come back to myself. Who is this Me trying to live this life? I adopted a regular yoga practice where I began connecting to my body and crying. I cried most days, after not crying for most of my life. I also began learning to meditate and study the nature of mind with a group of friends at Sitagu, a Burmese Buddhist temple just outside of town. How fortuitous to have that incredible resource available! That lead to all sorts of unconventional and unforeseen explorations. One of my best therapies was the 5+ years of volunteering in a women's prison, facilitating a class called Talk To Me with an organization called Truth Be Told. Women respectfully, bravely sharing and hearing each others stories. Women becoming free by finding our voices of truth, coming out of the pernicious shame/trauma cycles that our culture does WAY too well. Amazing grace, that program was for me!! One thing I love the most is dancing, and dance has taken many shapes over my life. The primary was just being a kid with a free body. Then a little ballet and tap, but that didn't stick. Next was four years of high school drill team, including being an officer and the captain. I know the dance team saved me in those years when I may have otherwise lost myself to heavy drinking and a sad home life. In college I started exploring modern dance, which opened a lot of possibilities for a more organic way of moving. Then I discovered ecstatic dance, Contact Improvisation, Authentic Movement and contemporary dance, which I performed in several shows and festivals. I love this overlap of structure and improvisation in dance that I've been exploring in my adulthood. It brings me full-circle, to being a kid in a free body who just knows how to move and play creatively with others. Lifelong play is essential. I haven't returned to work in the environmental field, but I do feel the connection in my work around trauma healing and reconnecting to wholeness. I know the world needs our honest participation. The Earth is loved by us humans becoming authentic in ourselves. Our bodies ARE the Earth and the way we listen and move shapes and permeates everything. That is not hyperbole! This is why I love Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy since it is listening to life energy and being with it, which allows the honest wise thing to happen. That's what healing really is. I live simply in my little hobbit home under the Live Oaks with my best friend husband, Nathan, and our adorable pups, Grace and Hope. Major certifications and degrees Biodynamic Craniosacral Training - Body Intelligence, Austin 2018 Hakomi Mindfulness/Body-Centered Psychotherapy - Hakomi SW, Austin 2012 Massage Therapy Training - Texas Healing Arts Institute, Austin 2007 Thai Massage Training - ITM, Chiang Mai, Thailand 2006 Yoga Teacher Training - Living Yoga Program, Austin 2004 MPS Environmental & Community Land Planning - SUNY ESF, Syracuse 2003 BS Geography - SWTSU, San Marcos 1999 BS Nutrition - SWTSU, San Marcos 1994 |