“Work harder. Give more.” For years, personally and professionally, this was my mantra.
My massage and bodywork clients would come to me with chronic pain, and I’d put 147% of my energy into trying to get their muscles to relax while they were on the table.
Whether they were suffering from chronic pain or excruciating neck tension, I’d do my best to “fix” them. And I would try to do it in the fewest sessions possible since they told me they were “too busy” to spend much time and money on themselves.
But I had a guilty secret.
See, I’m not just trained in medical massage and rehab. Yes, I’ve had rigorous training in anatomy, physiology, and muscle systems.
I'm also certified as a Health Coach and highly skilled at listening to the body.
I trained in Myofascial Release, Reiki, Cranial sacral, Touch for Health and corrective movement therapies, yoga... to name a few.
The problem was my clients didn’t want to hear about chakras and body-mind connections. They just wanted me to fix them, helping them to feel better— and I was!
The bigger problem was that they were getting relief from their symptoms.
But it was temporary and I was killing myself using all the “medical modalities”.
Even I didn’t want to completely acknowledge all that “unconventional, woo woo” stuff. I didn’t want to be that weird “hippy dippy” chick.
So I ignored my intuition (especially anything woo-woo) and buckled down even harder, chanting my “Work harder. Give more” mantra like a zombie cheerleader.
I was booking 30+ massages a week.
When I wasn’t doing massage, I was trying to support my clients in other ways, sharing all my tips and tricks off the table so they could get even faster better results.
The one teeny tiny problem was that I couldn’t actually type these emails and messages.
I had to record videos or voice memos and convert them to text because my arms and hands were in constant pain.
I was working myself so hard that the nerves in my neck and arms were going crazy. I would wake up in the middle of the night with my fingers, hands, and arms throbbing and numb.
I wasn’t sleeping well because I had to get up and walk around to get feeling back in my arms. Each morning I was drinking more and more caffeine just to feel slightly normal.
But that’s the price of “success” right…?
Breaking Point
“Fixing clients pain” and getting fabulous temporary results, I built a busy and successful referral-based practice this way.
My body started to cry out in desperation begging me to listen.
As I was dealing with my own crazy body rebellion, I started getting client referrals with increasingly major issues. They would even bring me their imaging and doctors reports!
Some were in so much pain that their doctor had prescribed medications or were looking at cortisone shots. In other cases, they were facing surgery for their pain.
They told me that if they could just book more sessions with me, it would all be “fixed.”
At that moment, I realized with horror what was going on. I was doing exactly what my clients were doing: Shoving self-care onto the back-burner and totally ignoring what my body was trying to tell me, thinking I could fight it into better health.
I knew I had to do something different for myself and for my clients ASAP.
Kicking Chronic Pain to the Curb
My arms were so messed up that I had to cut back on my massage hours. And this was actually the biggest gift. It forced me to listen to what my body was trying to tell me.
The message was loud and clear: My body needed to be acknowledged in a different way. It needed space to heal and rejuvenate. Have a different conversation WITH my body. And I saw the same pattern for my clients.
They needed to continue to nurture the connection with their bodies in between our hands on sessions to let their bodies readjust and recalibrate to a new, healthy, natural way of being.
I asked myself how I could make the best use of this time between sessions to support even better results for them.
The answer was clear: All that body-mind expertise I’d spent years and tens of thousands of dollars learning—and then years ignoring.
Slowly, I began unpacking my full-range of healing methods, inviting them to do some deeper work and ask some bigger questions.
At first, I was using them only with a handful of clients—people who had told me they were willing to try ANYTHING to stop their chronic, severe pain cycles.
In between our sessions I didn’t just send them tips. I began following up, supporting them, holding them accountable, and coaching them to live bodymind connected.
And I started seeing HUGE breakthroughs!!!
One client had been coming to me on and off for 7 years. She could barely move her neck. I’d tried different approaches. I’d tried every new skill I learned from my ongoing professional development training. I’d even referred her to a chiropractor and a pain specialist, but none of the changes stuck.
Finally, I was really honest and bold with her: “Might it be possible what’s going on with your neck and shoulders and jaw is really more about what’s going on in your thoughts and emotions?”
She was surprised to hear this, but she was open to follow me down this new path. After two sessions using a bodymind coaching approach, she felt more relief than in the entire time we had worked together!
A New Path
FREEDOM!
From that moment on, I knew I could never go back to trying to force bodies to heal. Not mine, and not my clients’. I knew that the secret to freedom from pain and better health was engaging with the body.
I became my own best client, committed to embodiment of personalized bodymind practices, that serve and support me in my life and business.
Consequently, I have become empowered and better equipped to help my clients find lasting relief from pain, exhaustion, tension, and everything else that was stealing their freedom.
I started using my full toolbox of healing expertise.
As a bodymind practitioner and coach, I’m on a mission to help my clients embody personal practices that serve and support them, so they can live freely feeling, vibrant, alive and purposeful.
Now not only has my own health flourished, but I have the amazing privilege of watching people truly heal from the inside out.
Most importantly , they learn how to listen to what their body is really saying and embrace their personal practices that bring freedom, ease and flow to their lives.
You are meant to touch lives, have adventures, enjoy your work, love your life and experience love.
You have a unique contribution to give the world. Get a clear picture. Make your own rules.
I teach you all the tools, strategies and secrets (including that missing puzzle piece I found) that will help you break old, unhealthy patterns and literally reprogram the way your brain and body communicate.
The true gift is the ability to listen keenly, trusting yourself and your body as you take empowered action by personal design.
It’s time to reclaim the missing piece for yourself and find out what is truly possible for you.
YOU ARE INVITED to join me here where I will be most active, engaging and supporting you! :https://www.facebook.com/TriBodyWellness/?modal=admin_todo_tour
