My Mission

My aim is to facilitate an individual's ability to access their body's intelligence through CranioSacral Therapy/SomatoEmotional Release. This can include therapeutic imagery and dialogue which can enhance and awaken inner reflection and integration of previously unavailable information held in each person’s body/soma.

I offer bodywork, movement and astrology as tools to facilitate self-discovery.

My approach to each person is that we have within us the knowledge of everything that we need to live a healthy relatively pain-free life. All too often throughout our lives we can forget that we have a deep source of wisdom in our bodies and at times we need some help in remembering and trusting. The deep, inner quiet that can be reached during a CranioSacral session can help you reconnect and reclaim this valuable and often overlooked source. Basically, this is not a therapist directed approach but rather a client-directed approach, I serve as the facilitator to help access this font of wisdom.

My Experience

I’ve been in private practice in Tucson since 1991. I began studying with the Upledger Institute in 1992, apprenticing and assisting numerous classes (from Beginning through Advanced levels of practice) throughout the US and New Zealand. In 1997, I was invited to work alongside Dr.John Upledger, the Osteopath who re-imagined the CranioSacral modality, personally assisting Dr. Upledger in his private practice in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. I have been a visiting therapist at the Upledger Clinic both in Florida and New Mexico since that time.

In 1999, I was invited to participate in what was, at the time, an innovative pilot program to relieve PTSD symptoms in Vietnam Veterans, a ground-breaking collaboration between the Veterans Administration and the Upledger Institute. Using CranioSacral and SomatoEmotional Release modalities these vets experienced significant breakthrough’s over the two weeks of the program. The benefits included diminished dependance on prescription and non-prescription drugs and a newfound ability to engage in their lived in a more fulfilling way.

I am listed on the roster of the International Association of Healthcare Providers, and was on the faculty of ASIS Arizona School of Integrative Studies, the Desert Institute and the Providence Institute. I have also taught CST workshops such as Bodywork as Meditation, ShareCare and have collaborated with other healers in a variety of other workshops.

Professional Organizations & Certifications

Member of International Association of Healthcare Practitioners

One of a handful of Upledger Certified Diplomate CranioSacral practitioners in Arizona

• Coursework included: Successful completion of Advanced CranioSacral Therapy 1, Successful passing of all Techniques-level requirements, Diplomate-level essay exam, Diplomate-level objective exam, Diplomate-level practical/oral exam (includes testing of ability to apply CST), Preceptorship (30 contact hours minimum), Five case-history write-ups, Six hours of CranioSacral Therapy presentation to an organized group (can be in combinations) – OR – a published article on CranioSacral Therapy in a third-party publication

Teaching Experience:

• ASIS Arizona School of Integrative Studies

• Visiting faculty of the Desert Institute Of The Healing Arts School

• Providence Institute

My Journey

It was during my first CranioSacral massage class in 1992 that I was introduced to the possibility that the fascial/connective tissue system of the body is more than a strictly physical system.  During the class we were introduced to the central nervous system in brief with emphasis on the meninges, the membranous, connective tissue “bag” that surrounds the brain and the spine, and the cerebrospinal fluid that circulates within this membranous bag.  Physiologically that purpose of this fluid is to bathe, nourish and cushion the brain and spinal cord as well as facilitate the removal of metabolic waste.  It was at this juncture in the class that someone brought forth the quote from Andrew Taylor Still that is pertaining to connective tissue (Still is considered the founder of osteopathic medicine):

“By its action we live and by its failure we shrink, swell and die.  Each fiber of all muscles owes its pliability to that yielding septum-washer that gives all muscles help to glide over all adjacent muscles and ligaments without friction or jar.  It not only lubricates the fibers but gives nourishment to all parts of the body.  Its nerves are so abundant hat no atom of flesh fails to get nerve and fluid supply therefrom.  The Soul of man with all the streams of pure, living water seems to dwell in the fascia.  You deal and do business with the branch office of the brain and under the general corporation law, the same as the brain itself…and why not treat it with the same degree of respect?”[1] 

Needless to say my curiosity was piqued to the point of desiring to learn more about connective tissue and I began to explore further the realm of fascial/connective tissue within my chosen profession as a body worker. 

This has been an ongoing journey that, as I wended my way further and further into it, I was humbled and amazed as to how much there really is to connective tissue and the diverse ways in which various health and exercise systems either pay it homage, or ignore it altogether.  The more I knew the more I realized I didn’t know.