Here at The Collaborative Body, not surprisingly it is about collaboration, and this takes place on many levels, often simultaneously! While conventional massage therapy may offer momentary relief from muscle pain and tension, this process goes much deeper and provides you with long lasting healing and sustainable wellbeing.
Despite how it feels, your body has not betrayed you. It has actually been communicating with you and providing feedback all along the way. The problem is we are conditioned to believe that suppressing symptoms is the same thing as preserving health. When the underlying cause is not addressed and resolved, the body finds other ways to communicate. The good news is that your body wants to be healthy and it has internal processes that strive towards optimal balance and health. So when you begin to understand its language, you can fully enable your internal self-healing processes.
Your body is always trying to collaborate with you. You need someone who can show you how to listen and understand it.
Collaboration between the Therapist and Your Body
Your body has a story to tell. It is in fact your biographer and has been recording and storing significant events in your life since
birth. All this time it has been talking to you but you didn’t understand its unique language.
My job is to listen to your body, to discover the source of pain and dysfunction and to assist your body in releasing these tensions at their source, deep within the body. Whether your pain comes from an injury, repetitive motion, or is of unknown origin, your body knows what it needs, and my job is to help you and your body release pain and dysfunction so that you can get back to the life you are meant to love.
The Collaboration between Us
To provide you with the best outcomes, I need to know a great deal about you – your health, your history, your priorities and your goals. Each person’s healing journey is as unique as they are, and as your partner and guide on the journey, I want you to know that your privacy is completely protected.
Mutual trust ensures that we are able to collaborate effectively to co-create the outcomes you want. I take this responsibility very seriously.
Along the journey, I will teach you how to recognize and understand the unique language of your body. This education along with a variety of self-care tools and resources deliver on my commitment to empowering you with the knowledge and skills you need to create the outcomes you desire.
What the Collaborative Process Looks Like: Discover – Uncover - Recover
The first step is to schedule a brief phone consultation. This is the beginning of the discovery process. I want to learn about your situation, the challenges it presents in your life, and what outcomes you are looking for. If I believe that I am not able to provide the solutions you are seeking, I will acknowledge that and if possible, provide a referral to a subject matter expert who is better positioned to help you. When we are both comfortable that we are a good therapeutic match, we continue the process.
Discovery continues with a detailed intake form. This document is important because we often are so focused on the primary condition or pain that we don’t fully comprehend it within the larger context of our personal history. The intake document provides both of us with a more complete understanding of what you are dealing with, and this is vital to getting the journey started in the right direction. You can almost think of the intake form as a map helping us to chart a course towards your goal of healing.
The second phase of the process is the actual session. This is where we discover more details and uncover patterns. Wearing comfortable clothing, your job is to relax on a warm massage table while I gently connect with your body and its inner rhythms. I use a very light touch that enables me to work without provoking a defensive response from your body. Light touch often surprises people because it works gently yet provides deep and profound shifts within the body.
The subtlety of this technique encourages the body to integrate change over several days after the session. This is important because healing is actually continuing after the appointment ends.
Each session combines information gathering and therapeutic intervention. Every session is a unique moment on your healing journey. Your body leads each session. By
following your body’s rhythms and patterns, I facilitate comfortable releases along the way. During this exploration we may discover non-linear relationships between where a pain presents itself and where its root cause is located. As the body releases one layer of restriction, pain or dysfunction, there is relief. And a new, deeper layer of healing opportunity may arise. New patterns are created as you become more proficient in understanding your body’s unique language and as your body settles into healthy and sustainable balance.
Most clients report feeling both relaxed and energized after each appointment. At the end of each session we discuss the day’s discoveries, evaluate progress and adjust the plan of care based on our mutual understanding of where you are in relation to achieving your health goals. Following this process allows you to achieve your health goals and enjoy the recovery of your health so you are free to make a big impact in your life and career.
About Me
I have walked a path similar to yours. Most of my adult life has been spent dealing with a combination of chronic pain and persistent chronic illness. I felt I had a terrorist cell living in my body. It would strike at any moment, taking me from fully functioning to dysfunctional without warning. I was a prisoner within my own body and I felt betrayed by its ‘attacks’ on my life. Anxiety and depression became constant companions and additional diagnoses requiring medication.
I became very disillusioned with conventional medicine over time, realizing that suppressing symptoms was a game of whack-a-mole. It was a cycle of symptom suppression: pain, stress, medication, repeat and I was going nowhere fast. I needed to identify and resolve the root causeif I was ever going to regain my health and vitality.
My health challenges led me on a path for healthy, effective alternatives. I researched natural
healing methods, made a number of significant lifestyle changes, changed careers and went back to school to become a health care professional.
I have been pain and medication free for almost two decades now, and it feels great!
It is now my privilege and joy to use my knowledge and skills to help others find lasting solutions to their pain, and to regain healthy balance and peace in their lives.
When I chose to pursue a heart-centered career change, I left the corporate world and became certified as an equine sports massage therapist in 2004. Horses have had my heart since I was a child and once I reconnected with them recreationally as an adult, I knew I wanted to find a way to work with them professionally.
The interesting thing about working with horses is that they made me a better human practitioner. Horses are excellent (non-verbal) communicators, have vast emotional intelligence and have guided my career path for over sixteen years now. They have taught me a great deal about awareness, authenticity, intuition and how to be a fully present human BEING.
My life has been so transformed by working with horses that I offer my clients special opportunities for coaching with Horse Wisdom.
