Biography

My Life's Work

My life's journey has been a process of discovery — trying and learning those things which restore me to harmony, so I can help others. In my sessions, I re-combine all these familiar techniques, from a toolbox that has taken over 30 years to build, to help each client meet their goals — be it pain reduction in a specific area, or breaking free from life-long destructive patterns, even restoring your body to a state of health through diet ad exercise. Often all of these are related. Often, it takes someone with a wider vision and the knowledge of varied disciplines to make the connection; to help solve complex, interrelated problems. It takes a holistic approach that addresses the whole person: body, mind, spirit.

Bodywork

I massaged people from the time I was a child, beginning with my mother who had chronic back pain, and my grandmother, who had chronic abdominal pain. My hands were drawn to the locations where they were needed. Even then I felt this ability was a gift. I also felt I was a bit of an oddity, especially after seeing an episode of Star Trek about a healer, "The Last of Her Kind," and deciding that's what I wanted to do when I grew up. At that time, healing was not regarded as a legitimate profession, as was becoming President of the United States, or a ballerina. It was considered an occupation of "quacks" and charlatans.

I wanted to be accepted, so I tried... without much success, to be someone else, and to pursue a more "acceptable" career. I was often physically ill-experiencing back pain, and also abdominal problems from the stress of doing work that I was not suited for and did not enjoy.

Pain being the messenger it is, I overcame my fear, and attended massage school. I completed the course in 1987. I received my Los Angeles massage technician license (I now hold a California State license, which became available only recently), and became a member of the American Massage Therapy Association in 1987; I became Nationally Certified in Massage Therapy and Bodywork in 1993, the year after the certification became available. Two jobs opened up for me immediately, bringing me many clients, and I was no longer ill.

Exercise/Yoga/Teaching

I loved doing massage, and decided to pursue a formal education to learn more about the body and how it worked. In 1993, I earned a BA in Exercise Science, and Care and Prevention of Athletic Injuries from CSUN. My knowledge of the body increased. I am now better able to understand injuries, what they are and how to work with them, as well as being able to recommend exercises to enhance the effects of a massage, and to make the changes more permanent.

Being a firm believer in exercise, I also added private personal training to my resume. I have trained a number of actresses for film appearances, along with helping a few brides-to-be "firm up" before their ceremonies.

These private training sessions extend to Bikram Yoga. I fell in love with this yoga in 1996, taught the Anatomy portion of the Bikram Yoga Teacher Training from 1999-2008, and became a certified Bikram Yoga teacher in 2003. Since graduation, I have taught at local studios, and have taught a Yoga anatomy course on both U.S. Coasts.

Energy Work

Doing Bikram Yoga, with its heat and prolonged stretching, sometimes memories or feelings would come up, seemingly out of nowhere. I was comfortable with the idea of working with physical disturbances, but wasn't yet comfortable with their possible association with emotional issues. So this is what I was faced with next in my life.

In a four-month span, the break up of "the one" relationship, the death of two close family members and my two best friends, combined with a severe physical injury, left me unsure of who I was; the depression was crippling. Massage and acupuncture were unable to heal this level of pain. Even psychotherapy three times a week seemed only part of the answer to feeling whole again.

Synchronicity brought me to the Four Winds in 2004, in a curious set of impossible circumstances, which happened nevertheless. In the Healing the Light Body and Sage Program of the Four Winds Society, over seven years of learning and practice, including a trip to Peru to work with practicing Shamans, I learned how to heal myself, and heal others with the same practices.

My Life Now

I currently live a quiet life at my home in North Hollywood, where I work, care for the garden and the dogs, enjoy movies, theatre, reading, writing, and friends and family. I find joy in staying home now, more than traveling. I am an active meditation procrastinator/practitioner. I am excited to work with new clients, and to use my knowledge and my tools to help others along, when their paths get confused or they are in pain, to become more comfortable, relaxed and happy.