For most of my young life, I spiraled around a focus in healing arts.  When I was a teenager, I thought I would study psychology because human behavior fascinated me and I wanted to be of service.  At the same time, I was experiencing art for the first time, and after a summer at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, it was becoming a real avenue of discovery for me, which led me to earn a BFA in Fine Art Photography at Washington University in St. Louis. Throughout my teens and twenties, I experienced a dark night of the soul that would be my longest journey and greatest teacher, leaving me with many tools and skills gained through healing myself. 

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In my mid to late 20s, I pursued a career in photo editing for magazines in New York City, while continuing to develop my voice as an artist. All along, though, in my heart I was more interested in personal transformation and transformation of the human spirit in general, so I sought out more practical education in that area.  I studied Reiki, then Qi Gong, and finally Alexander technique while still in New York, and when I left New York, I explored the possibility of studying Chinese Medicine. I drove across the country and up the northwest coast researching schools, but along that journey felt a strong calling to return to the southern Appalachians instead. 

 

Upon returning to Georgia in 2001, I found my 200 year old log cabin within hours of getting off the road from 20,000 miles of driving. Once in Georgia, I studied herbal medicine with a local herbalist and joined various environmental conservation organizations.  I was also participating in some shamanic work with another local practitioner. I discovered the Center For Spiritual Awareness just a few miles from my house, where I have on occasion over the last several years been studying Kriya Yoga meditation with Roy Davis (a disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda).  I am so lucky to have been able to take advantage of my proximity to this center, and I feel that the meditation has added much to my personal growth and presence.  It was at CSA that I met and did some fascinating Neurofeedback work with Marty Wuttke of the Wuttke Institute. 

 

I have been doing dream work for many years.  I have logged dreams for 30 years or more, and in recent years have led dream circles in my community. Dream work is an inspiring and transformative portal to learning about the wider arc of one’s larger story in life, and decoding one’s own unique symbolic language.

 

As to my philosophy of health care, I feel strongly that it should address all aspects of an individual – from brain and body to spirit and soul.  In addition, it should extend to the community.  Diet, rest, occupation, pleasure, relationships, community, physical activity and condition, spiritual practice – all these things are essential to good health.  There are so many facets to being healthy and whole, and just one of these being out of balance can affect all the others.  We can work from the outside in or from the inside out, and when we adjust just one facet, it can affect all of them. 

 

I have come to know that the more we resonate with the beauty in the world around us, the more our own beauty is engaged, and that what we choose to focus on has so much more impact on us - and on the world - than we realize. Awareness, and how we place our attention is an important aspect of health and balance, and for me this includes a deep relationship to Nature and her energies.

 

I approach massage as a transformative and healing aspect of care and an opportunity for me to work with people in many diverse ways. I am most interested in working deeply with people who are ready and want to transform their lives/selves – energetically, spiritually, emotionally, physically.  I am grateful for the honor to play a role in this transformative process.