I started my journey with bodywork at New Mexico Academy of Healing Arts (NMAHA) in Santa Fe in 2002. The lead teacher for the Polarity Therapy program was Avi Khadir. He was able to gracefully bridge the link between Polarity Therapy and Biodynamic Cranial Sacral therapy and he passed to us the palpation skills to navigate both. He was a master of bringing knowledge and observations of energy into practical applications within the session. The following semester, the massage therapy program was led by Philip Kessler and Jeffrey Thompson, both masters of their craft in their own right. Jeffrey was a skateboarder and student of Lomi Lomi technique who taught us the deep listening of right balance and right pressure. His work was fascinating to watch; it was as if he was skating the body like a halfpipe! Philip was a practitioner of Hellerwork, which focuses on structural alignment, and he gave us a meticulous eye for detail and the tools to encourage the best possible relationship with gravity for each client. NMAHA was a school on the leading edge of somatic bodywork arts and I have deep gratitude for the foundation these teachers laid in my career as a bodyworker.
Many teachers added their wisdom to my practice in the following years as I trained in neuromuscular therapy, taut band therapy, Watsu, Hakomi, and Arvigo uterine massage. I also had the joyful opportunity in 2006 to continue my education in Biodynamic Cranial Sacral therapy in an advanced workshop with Franklyn Sills. More recently, I have had the honor of training with Anna Chitty of the Colorado School of Energy Studies, whose wisdom and gentleness of spirit have taught me so much about the intelligence of the body.
My greatest teachers have been those that have come to me for bodywork, I feel so fortunate to have learned from each and every one!