I have studied extensively various healing modalities throughout my life and graduated from the ‘Institute of Psycho-Structural Balancing’ (IPSB) in Los Angeles and the ‘Esalen Institute’ in Big Sur, essentially developing my own unique style of Integrative Bodywork as a licensed and certified Massage Therapist (Certified Esalen® Massage and Deep Bodywork® Therapist).

I take an intuitive and holistic body, mind and spirit approach to bodywork. Integrative bodywork heals from a holistic vantage point, and has the potential to be a transformative tool for anyone; it positively harmonizes the body, mind, and spirit so as to help with the release of stagnant energy whilst revitalizing an individual’s whole being.

Good bodywork practice with nurturing touch is both preventive medicine and highly therapeutic, as it has the potential to go to “the root” and heal from a full-spectrum perspective, addressing the cause and not just the symptom. Our own body-intelligence is always striving towards health and well-being. We just need to create the right conditions so the body can heal itself. It’s about caring for your body and health, so that disease, injury or illness can’t manifest themselves in your ‘temple’.

In these times of global and cosmic change, healing ourselves is especially essential. Integrative bodywork helps to heal both the body/mind separation and the wounds we have accumulated over years (and lifetimes). Besides these deeper effects, receiving regular bodywork helps to maintain a healthy body, mind and spirit ‘framework’, which will manifest in your life in positive ways on a daily basis, connecting you to your intuition, inner knowing, and personal guidance system. Individual sovereignty and global emancipation require a planetary population of healthy embodied human beings.

Looking at the entirety of existence, everything is manifest through the ‘latticework’ of universal energy. Our muscles, tissue, organs and bones are carriers of energy and memory, all of which are interrelated and connected to one another.

The body is a holistic organism, where nothing is isolated – everything affects us, both physically and energetically, on some level. Any experience we have ever had – even things that happened to us in the past but were forgotten about or we weren’t even aware of – is still held in the body, be it grief, a broken relationship, emotional pain, everyday stress, childhood wounds, injuries and accidents, trauma, etc.. The body stores the experience and does not “forget” about it until the pattern is released through holistic treatment.

Stress, the most common symptom of modern life, affects the body tremendously, resulting in muscle cramping, bad posture and build up of tension “armor-ing”. Chronic tight muscles are a sign that they are constantly contracting – in other words, they are always working and never relaxed and at ease. This state of hyper-activity alone constantly drains energy from the life force (sometimes referred to as “Qi” or “Chi”) to “keep one going”. It’s like driving a car with the hand brake on; energy can’t freely-flow, and the various areas of the body (muscles, organs, tissue, bones) aren’t getting enough “chi” or “prana” (life-force) to repair and regenerate themselves, resulting in entropy (breakdown/aging).

This can lead to negative emotions, tiredness, depression, mental sluggishness, irritation, illness, injuries and overall dis-ease. If the body keeps the stress inside itself instead of releasing it whilst simultaneously getting overloaded with more toxins (unhelpful life habits, poor diet, lack of exercise), the life force is simply not sufficient to keep the body in a healthy condition. The immune system then weakens, which can lead to sickness, injury, chronic pain or even seriously-life-threatening conditions like cancer.

Deep tissue method with slower, focused strokes and more pressure, targeting deeper muscle groups and freeing previously dense, hardened areas, which may have become chronically painful due to a lack of fluid exchange and energy flow. As such areas soften and ‘re-organize”, their chronic tension patterns release, revitalizing living tissues with blood, lymph, and “Chi” (life) energy. Because living systems like the human body require a constant flow of Chi energy to self-organize and heal, blockages to that flow within our tissues can create longer term health problems like joint and soft tissue pain, movement restriction, and circulatory problems to name some of the most common.

Developed at the Esalen Institute at Big Sur, Esalen Massage is an integrative modality that consist of slow long strokes, rhythmic compressions, rocking and gentle stretches. Integration is one of the most important aspects of Esalen Massage. The long stroke gives a client the experience of the integrity and interconnectedness of his/her body. Another important function is relaxation. When a long stroke is done within the context of a competent Esalen Massage, a kind a of relaxation unfolds within the nervous system of the client which is profound, and acts as an important support for stimulating the body’s natural healing systems.

CranioSacral Unwinding is a therapeutic modality that uses light, gentle touch to connect to the craniosacral system – the core of our bodies made up of the membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that covers the brain and spinal column. The focus of this system is on garnering the healing energy within the body, which jump-starts the client’s own healing ability and process. As a person’s core energy becomes related to the work being done, the tissue and the consciousness reorganize around the highest intelligence in the body resulting in work that extends far into one’s lives.

The application of slow, rhythmic compressions and stretches along ten of the most important “sen” (the body’s energy lines) using the palms of the hands, thumbs, elbows and feet. The body is positioned into yoga-like poses and gently rocked to more deeply open joints and facilitate limbering.

A unique style of work, releasing barriers and restrictions that unconscious holding patterns impose on the body, improving the range of joint movement and bodymind relaxation. The body is rocked, tuning into its own rhythm, helping the nervous system and muscles to relax. Slow passive joint mobilizations are applied, freeing the body from any holding patterns.

The human body is an energy system like a battery or magnet. It has positive, negative and neuter poles and currents of energy that flow through them. Polarity Therapy concerns itself with the flow of a very subtle high-frequency energy which in the East is called “prana” or “chi”, but which is perhaps best referred to in this context as life-energy. This kind of work focuses on balancing the human energy system of the whole person, body, mind and spirit.