My grandmother had arthritis. She chose to live life and enjoy it regardless of what she was feeling. This taught me that pain can be a part of life but it doesn’t have to consume your life. Gramma showed compassion for all living things and felt it was our duty as human beings to help those in need. She fully supported my desire to be a massage therapist, which gave me confidence to seek training in massage therapy since I felt strongly that pain and suffering could be helped.

As I've gotten older, pain has been a teacher. I've learned a lot about how to manage my life to reduce painful occurrences and who to seek out when I need care. I found that I felt better sooner when getting care from a few different practitioners. Regular massage therapy was the base of my self-care. Chiropractic adjustments helped tremendously, as did the acupuncturist, a Feldenkrais practitioner and maintaining my home-based yoga and movement practice. Adjusting my diet and addressing how I thought about my life and my pain were key as well. I believe a team approach is the best path to address the many facets of any health issue.

I feel very grateful to have found the combination of care that works for me. To have had an experience of pain as a fluid thing that may come and go instead of a fixed thing that hangs on has been instrumental to my health and healing.  Although I cannot say I'm pain free since I do have the occasional 'pain days', I have less of them.    

In my eagerness to heal and my belief in ‘movement as healing’, I’ve explored everything from the power of dance to developmental movement, Tai Chi to simply walking and somatic practices such as Trager Mentastics, Continuum Movement and Body Mind Centering. Massage therapy educational experiences have ranged from Structural Integration and manual lymph drainage (MLD) to techniques that work with the nerves and organs (Visceral Manipulation). I've sought out techniques and knowledge that could help me to help others.   

Over the past three decades our understanding of the inner workings of our bodies and how we move, along with the research being done in the field of pain science have informed and shaped the massage therapy and bodywork profession and support its continued evolution. The benefits of massage therapy are now well known and have been integrated into our health care protocols. I consistently enhanced my professional knowledge with advanced trainings and ongoing study of the latest developments in related fields including pain management, neurology, manual nerve therapy, fascial research and somatic movement approaches. 

   
            Chicago School of Massage Therapy
            Trager Mentastics 
            Advanced Sports Massage
            Structural Bodywork
            Reiki - Master Level
            Barnes Myofascial Freedom
            Aston Therapeutics I
            CranioSacral Therapy I
            Manual Lymphatic Drainage I, II
            Visceral Manipulation I, II
            Anatomy Trains Myofascial Meridians Course
            Eric Dalton's Myoskeletal Alignment Technique I, II
            Eric Dalton's Posture and Pain I, II
            200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training - Prairie Yoga
 

            Member  -   Associated Massage & Bodywork Professionals (ABMP)  
 

           The Body's Wisdom - Established 1997