I am an unlikely person to even be writing this bio. What I mean by that statement is at no point in my earlier life did I ever think I would be a bodyworker or an acupuncturist. I feel fortunate that I was cajoled into getting some bodywork by my first psychotherapist. I was resistant but eventually scheduled a session and actually went and it changed my life (more on this story is at the beginning of the podcast).
There is one quality that I try to maintain pretty consistent connection with both in my teaching and in my practice and that is a generosity of spirit. My mentor (the guy mentioned above, John Miller, who is now a dear friend) was unbelievably generous with me. I don’t know that I’d have the career, the life I have without the generosity that he showed me. He shared freely his time, what he’d learned and most of all his heart. It was the way he approached his work as much as the work itself that impacted me. So, in my own way, I try to keep that spirit alive and bring that to my work.
I love that the principles of Osteopathy and Chinese medicine are coherent with one another. Lynda Barry, alternative cartoonist and creativity teacher, said in her book Syllabus that she needed students to continue to explore the questions at the root of her work. Pursuing the question of how is it that the body can heal itself through Chinese and Osteopathic lenses is just amazing. I feel fortunate to have learners and patients to explore these questions as partners in inquiry and discovery.
I have been in private practice for 19 years and have been teaching now for 8 years. I teach at NUNM and run my own seminars in Cranialsacral Therapy, Myofascial Release and Visceral-Fascial Release through Moving Mountain Institute. Through the institute I am able to freely explore the interconnections between our work, collaborative community and culture. It’s fun!