“Chinese medicine is not just theory but a way of paying attention. It is poetry and a life philosophy and provides a context for recognizing our nature.”
Like many healing art practitioners, I found my way to my practice through my own healing. What I sought at the beginning of my process was a medicine concerned with all of me - the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical - and practitioners that could accompany me on my search to know myself, to feel alive, rather than prescribe an antidote to my very human experience.
I discovered an interest in massage therapy via a yoga training that I took in order to be part of a nurturing, healing community. My teacher was studying myofascial release at the time and walked us through a couple mini partner massage sessions. Connecting to a person in that way, being held in that way, was a life changing experience. There was a tenderness in the touch that welcomed release, as if layers of myself were shed - the pieces I didn’t choose so much as learned to wear - and I knew instantly that I wanted to pursue a hands-on approach to healing.
I fell in love with Chinese medicine at McKinnon Body Therapy Center where I first learned about the meridians, the Five Elements, and how this medicine is alive within each of us. Chinese medicine is not just theory but a way of paying attention. It is poetry and a life philosophy and provides a context for recognizing our nature. It carefully, and without bias, honors our whole experience. As a practitioner, I appreciate having this context when talking with my clients about the interconnectedness of all things, from what we feel to how we think to the way we move in the world. Through the meridians and acupressure points, I can touch and hold the experience of my client as I am guided by the body to offer the greatest benefit in the moment.
Part of my passion for being a massage therapist comes from accompanying others along their healing journey, and part comes from sharing what I have learned. Recently, I began teaching Acupressure and Shiatsu at McKinnon which offers a chance to deepen my relationship to Chinese medicine while inviting others to begin their own. This medicine has helped me deepen my relationship to myself most of all, which is where all healing begins.