I am a Reiki master, CranioSacral therapist, Qigong practitioner, pilates instructor.
I had taught pilates for seven years, four of them in a sports medicine clinic, when I started getting into energy work. Working in a sports medicine clinic, I saw all sorts of injuries: pain from multiples surgeries, repetitive stress injuries, sports injuries, imbalances, pain for reasons no one could figure out, and chronic and terminal illness. Outside of the clinic, I worked with elite athletes—professional dancers, competitive ice skaters, triathletes, the Cal Women’s Rugby team.
Even in conjunction with other doctors and body workers, there was only so much pilates could do to relieve everyone’s pain. I helped people to build strength, confidence, flexibility, stability and balance with pilates but there was always a subset of people who made the rounds of doctors, physical therapists, chiropractors, body workers and my practice who just never got better.
Their path was similar to mine with Lyme Disease. I had had it for 11 years before I was diagnosed and when I finally was, it took over a decade to unwind all the sickness. In a parallel to many of my clients who weren’t getting better, in 2008 my health had stagnated and I struggled to get through life feeling utterly depleted. None of my doctors knew what to do next.
A friend gifted me a Reiki session, before I even understood what “energy work” meant. I went, and after my first session, I felt, for the first time in my memory, rested. I returned to the clinic weekly and slowly but surely many of my symptoms dissipated, the main one being that I never had restorative sleep but after Reiki, I sleep deeply and woke refreshed. I had hope and joy again.
As I worked through the Reiki training, I began to incorporate a few minutes of Reiki at the end of my pilates sessions. People began asking for it, almost craving it, and, on tough days, asking for a longer amount of Reiki. I saw huge changes in how people accepted and understood their illnesses or injuries and how they healed. The people without injuries who continued with Reiki to calm their mind and help them through transitions, decisions and to, in the words on one, “hit the reset button on [her] life.”
I knew how much Reiki helped me and it was thrilling to see it help others, too. To increase the flow of Reiki through me, I began studying Qigong, whose exercises cultivate energy. Certain Qigong techniques blend well with Reiki, so I often combine the two.
After a few years of working with energy with Reiki and Qigong and moving the body with pilates, TRX, Franklin Method, Core Align, Yoga and other physical modalities that I studied, I began looking for a technique that could bridge the two. I found this bridge in CranioSacral Therapy. After experiencing the freedom of movement, the relief of discomfort and deep sense of well-being after each session, I decided to study it myself.
Over the years, studying work ranging from physical to energetic, I have grown so much as person and a practitioner and my understanding of health and healing has less to do with invasive medicine (I know that Western Medicine has much to offer as I have relied on it in my own healing path, and I also know how Reiki, Qigong and CranioSacral beautifully complement without interrupting allopathic medicine) and more to do integrating mind, body and spirit and resolving restrictions and blockages on all levels.
I have written about my personal journey and about the body at Narratively, xojane, Pilates Style Magazine, and Alpinist. To see more of my written work, click here.
I had taught pilates for seven years, four of them in a sports medicine clinic, when I started getting into energy work. Working in a sports medicine clinic, I saw all sorts of injuries: pain from multiples surgeries, repetitive stress injuries, sports injuries, imbalances, pain for reasons no one could figure out, and chronic and terminal illness. Outside of the clinic, I worked with elite athletes—professional dancers, competitive ice skaters, triathletes, the Cal Women’s Rugby team.
Even in conjunction with other doctors and body workers, there was only so much pilates could do to relieve everyone’s pain. I helped people to build strength, confidence, flexibility, stability and balance with pilates but there was always a subset of people who made the rounds of doctors, physical therapists, chiropractors, body workers and my practice who just never got better.
Their path was similar to mine with Lyme Disease. I had had it for 11 years before I was diagnosed and when I finally was, it took over a decade to unwind all the sickness. In a parallel to many of my clients who weren’t getting better, in 2008 my health had stagnated and I struggled to get through life feeling utterly depleted. None of my doctors knew what to do next.
A friend gifted me a Reiki session, before I even understood what “energy work” meant. I went, and after my first session, I felt, for the first time in my memory, rested. I returned to the clinic weekly and slowly but surely many of my symptoms dissipated, the main one being that I never had restorative sleep but after Reiki, I sleep deeply and woke refreshed. I had hope and joy again.
As I worked through the Reiki training, I began to incorporate a few minutes of Reiki at the end of my pilates sessions. People began asking for it, almost craving it, and, on tough days, asking for a longer amount of Reiki. I saw huge changes in how people accepted and understood their illnesses or injuries and how they healed. The people without injuries who continued with Reiki to calm their mind and help them through transitions, decisions and to, in the words on one, “hit the reset button on [her] life.”
I knew how much Reiki helped me and it was thrilling to see it help others, too. To increase the flow of Reiki through me, I began studying Qigong, whose exercises cultivate energy. Certain Qigong techniques blend well with Reiki, so I often combine the two.
After a few years of working with energy with Reiki and Qigong and moving the body with pilates, TRX, Franklin Method, Core Align, Yoga and other physical modalities that I studied, I began looking for a technique that could bridge the two. I found this bridge in CranioSacral Therapy. After experiencing the freedom of movement, the relief of discomfort and deep sense of well-being after each session, I decided to study it myself.
Over the years, studying work ranging from physical to energetic, I have grown so much as person and a practitioner and my understanding of health and healing has less to do with invasive medicine (I know that Western Medicine has much to offer as I have relied on it in my own healing path, and I also know how Reiki, Qigong and CranioSacral beautifully complement without interrupting allopathic medicine) and more to do integrating mind, body and spirit and resolving restrictions and blockages on all levels.
I have written about my personal journey and about the body at Narratively, xojane, Pilates Style Magazine, and Alpinist. To see more of my written work, click here.