WE ALL HAVE A STORY…
I Am Here To Help You Unravel Yours
I consider myself a life-learner. Curious, and willing to be humbled enough, to explore the places and circumstances in my life that I was taught to fear or encouraged not to touch. Because of this, I’ve questioned avenues and perspectives that are beyond our mainstream understandings of health and well being. This is where my life opened…
We don’t talk about physical health in reference to our psychological, and emotional well-being. Because of this, so many of us are at a loss — For myself, it took years of struggling with disordered eating in my teens, over-exercising, irregular periods, developing gastrointestinal inflammation, fighting hair loss, emotional overwhelm, weight gain, burnout/unexplained exhaustion, experiencing periods where I lacked motivation and felt creatively frozen, to a pelvic floor injury in my early 30’s...before I realized that there was a missing piece in the puzzle I was given for how to relate to, and take care, of my personal well being.
I was the “mystery case” on every health practitioners list, until I came to study Dr. Peter Levine’s work regarding trauma and the nervous system. Prior to this, despite grappling with the list of physical ailments above, I had been someone who had prided herself on her stoicism. On her capacity to take action/remain calm in the face of chaos, the person who others came to for advice, who they could depend on, and when asked, was always “fine”…What I didn’t realize is that “fine” was killing me. It was the cognitive override I had learned, the people-pleasing/good-girl persona I had adopted, to prevent me from meeting the trauma and unresolved emotional experiences that I didn’t know how to process, but was carrying with me unconsciously.
Through starting to work with myself somatically, I came into contact with what was living underneath the suppression. I had to meet myself in my own story, to understand how my life had touched me. And once I learned to be with myself on this level, to process deep emotional pain, and work intimately with my nervous system, the physical symptoms I was battling against started to resolve. My beliefs about myself, and what was possible for my life, started to change.
My pathway to professional development in this discipline was, by no means, linear. My story is a lot more long winded and complicated. However, the main theme of what transpired for me on this journey, is as simple as this: it is about creating intimacy with SELF. Having the willingness to introspect, feel and experience life, in all its iterations.
What we haven’t learned is that “feeling” is a skill, one that we’ve been acculturated out of, but must be re-cultivated in order for us to become creative participants in our lives.
My work is predicated on meeting the intersection of where our biomechanics, biochemistry, emotions and scar tissue meet in the body. I work from an expanded version of health that takes into account the wholeness of our humanity and lived experience.
Certifications & Credentials
BODYWORK
Core Confidence Specialist Certification - Course in Pelvic Floor Health and Re-Training, Pelvienne Wellness Inc., April 2020
Reiki Level 1 & 2 Certification - Studied with Elizabeth Nerland, Squamish, BC, April-July 2021
Professional Workshop - The Transformative Power of Eros: Sexual Development, Trauma, Power Dynamics, and Intimacy w/ Dr. Levine and Kimberly Ann Johnson, November 2021
Professional workshop - Wholeness in Fractured Times: A Real World Understanding of the Nervous System and Feminine Sexuality. w/ Kimberly Ann Johnson: October-December 2021
Basics of Craniosacral - Peirsman Craniosacral Academy, Tijeras, New Mexico, January 2022
Somatic Sex Educator/Pelvic Care Specialist: STREAM Mentorship Program - Scar Tissue Remediation Education and Management w/ Ellen Heed, PhD, 2021-23
Certified SOEA Feminine Embodiment Coach - The School of Embodied Arts, Australia, 2022-23
YOGA
200Hr Power/Vinyasa Training - The Power Yoga Company, London, UK, November 2015
200Hr Hatha/Vinyasa Training - Studied with Shelley Tomczyk, Bowen Island, October 2017
Mentorship Program - Studied with Kristin Campbell, Squamish, BC, 2017-2018
150Hr Iyengar Immersion - Studied with Adi Amar, Teton Yoga Shala, Jackson, WY, October 2019
20Hr Yin Training - Studied with Jodi Dodd, North Yoga, Squamish, November 2017