Welcome!

I am a Licensed Massage Therapist in Arizona. I began my healing training at the Center for Natural Wellness School of Massage in Albany, NY, in 2017, and have done quite a bit of additional study in myofascial release, craniosacral techniques, and energy healing since then. I am totally fascinated with this work and so grateful to be able to share my passion for it!

When I lived in New York State, I had a private practice in which I focused on myofascial release and energy work, but I have also worked in a spa environment, so I am comfortable in many settings, doing many things. Currently, I offer sessions that are solely myofascial release or solely energy-based as well as integrative massage sessions in which I flexibly and intuitively use a variety of techniques including Swedish massage, myofascial release, energy work, craniosacral therapy, shiatsu, and cupping depending on your goals. Different techniques offer different ways into the body because they target different systems (fascial, muscular, nervous, integumentary, meridians, etc.), which is important to consider when you are booking a massage. Are you interested in overall relaxation, release of tension in specific areas, treatment of pain, stress reduction, or opening of stuck areas that seem to go beyond the physical? My intention is to create a safe environment and provide physical and energetic guidance, and space, to support your unique healing process.
 
To book a session, or discuss your intentions, goals, and options further, send me a message. 

 
More about these services...

Myofascial release (MFR) 

I am a practitioner of the John Barnes approach to MFR. The explanation that follows is worth reading because you might not be familiar with what this involves--it's not regular spa-type massage, but therapeutic work that is intended to work with your goals to create positive change in your life.

MFR is a form of bodywork that specifically addresses the fascial system, which is the connective tissue web that interweaves the entire body, down to (and inside) the cellular level. The fascial system is a fascinating, still under-researched and definitely under-appreciated body system. Not only do fascia completely permeate the body, supporting and creating space for every cell, nerve, muscle, bone, organ, gland, etc.; scientists are beginning to appreciate the fascial system as a fiber optic continuum enabling coordinated communication of the entire body.

Fascial restrictions are therefore broadly interpreted as interruptions in the normal, healthy flow of consciousness. These arise naturally when you go through traumatic experiences which can be accidents, surgeries, emotional events, etc. Physical consequences of the disruption of bodily communication can include pain, loss of sensation, loss of emotional range or emotional dysregulation, loss of mobility, and so on. Considering that the body is the transducer of your perceptual experience, and fascia interpenetrate everything, it makes sense that fascial restrictions would have multilayered effects--the whole web of you is affected! Interestingly, fascial restrictions are not visible with modern imaging technology like MRI--so they might exist and be causing real problems, but "fascial restrictions" may not be what a traditional diagnostician points to as the cause of pain, loss of function, etc. Many types of more traditional medical interventions separately label and treat symptoms that arise from fascial restrictions (cut this out, take this pill)--but treating a symptom is different than treating the underlying cause. The intention of the MFR approach is to ease the fascial restrictions themselves. (Of course, there are appropriate and life-saving times and places for surgical and pharmaceutical interventions, but those are clearly not solving all of our health problems.)

In MFR sessions, we engage the fascial system to open, soften, unwind and unbind; destabilizing constraining, maladaptive patterns. This creates space for your body's innate wisdom (your set of design principles to build a healthy, whole, complete self) to express itself, so you can heal. Yes, the underlying philosophy is that you heal yourself--we are built to do this--your power comes from within. The therapist creates a container that enables YOUR ability to self-heal. 

Finally, it is important to mention how we engage the fascial system. Because of its structure, the fascial system responds to relatively gentle, sustained pressure. In a myofascial release session, you can expect a discussion of your goals and a physical evaluation, and hands-on techniques that generally involve long holds using gentle sustained pressure applied to areas of the body associated with or related to your symptoms. No two sessions are the same because I will respond in-the-moment to what you tell me you are experiencing, and what your body is telling me about how to support the release of an emerging pattern.

For your appointment, please wear shorts and a tank top or sports bra, or a two-piece bathing suit, and make sure your body is clean and dry, as these techniques involve no lubricants. If you are interested in receiving this work because you have a specific goal in mind, it is recommended that you book a block of sessions in relatively close proximity to each other, then follow up as needed. Periodic tune-ups, in my own experience, are important to keep the body (etc.) open.


Integrative massage 

This is where we flexibly combine methods to best suit your needs. In this kind of session we discuss your goals and intentions, and I tailor a session for you using an integrative and intuitive approach that draws from myofascial and craniosacral techniques, more traditional palliative or therapeutic massage (Swedish, deep tissue), shiatsu, cupping, and energy work.


Energy restoration and activation

We are all connected. Your energy field (and mine and everyone else's) extends infinitely in all directions. Acknowledging this allows us to work together within a shared consciousness in which a space is created for restoring and activating aspects of your energetic signature, which heavily (entirely?) influences how you experience life in physical. Or more simply, when you are thrown off by the demands of life, you need to get your energy back, and energy work can help realign and center you and put you in touch with the genertative source of your own energy--it is at its heart empowering. I've deeply, personally benefitted from energy work (at its best, nothing has ever made me feel more free, expansive, and connected to the reality of who/what I am) and have studied many energy healing techniques including distance healing via the holding space method, shamanic energy work, therapeutic touch, Reiki, working with meridians as in shiatsu, craniosacral unwinding, and other consciousness-changing practices (e.g., yoga nidra). I am happy to discuss this more with you and design a session using the techniques that best address your needs. Energy-oriented sessions can be done in-person or remotely. Remote work is no less powerful because the principles of interacting energetically involve no-time no-space--they are quantum principles!


To book a session, or discuss your intentions, goals, and options further, send me a message.