When a human body moves very little, it suffers. There's so many metrics on this challenge of human health that can be found in research after research paper. And the resultant metrics keep demonstrating that sedentary behavior causes poor quality of life and early death. If you move little or just a few times a week in a work out, only to sit the rest of the time, you're missing out on a world of health. I have a 25 year long background in exercise science so I absolutely understand the benefits of strength, mobility and cardiovascular fitness. But frequent physical activity, especially that which alternately moves both sides of your body, has a particularly profound effect on how clear and resilient your mind is. And if this activity is engaged in with presence and awareness of your body as it's interacting with your environment, you move out of the limbic (unconscious patterned response) part of the brain and into brain centers that enable learning and discovery. Walking is one such activity that loosens emotional blocks as both hemispheres of the brain cross talk. This literal bilateral brain stimulation causes processing to occur and the more mindful the movement is, the more the brain gets the safety signal to begin to move challenging emotion. You can access such profound insights in mindful movement. It's a way of creating a brain environment for the neuroplastic changes to occur that move us out of painful patterns. When we move with thoughtful intent, we create a brain that can transmute blocks into sources of wisdom about how to behave in a more authentic, wise and loving way. I do know it's not always easy. I recall many times during cancer treatment and still now, that it feels easier to distract from being present. Because it's in these times we tend to feel the pain patterns that seem easier to push aside. So, let movement (everyday) be one of the tools you use to allow this process of release and re-discovery to be more accessible. Let your movement be that of present intention to feel and to notice what begins to move in your mind. Please let me know how I can deepen your exploration of how the mind and the body connect. Message me here...

No one plans to feel pain or discomfort, but inevitably all of us come to know it at times in our life. We feel physical pain and emotional discomfort, and until we develop the awareness of how we feel and behave in our bodies, we tend to be perplexed at where it came from. Releasing your physical and emotional pain are not contingent on telling an old story in the past...it's dependent you feeling the emotion that developed from it. Pain develops if you don’t integrate a traumatic experience. The source of your posture or countenance is emotion yet to be seen, held without judgement and transformed to the free and authentic expression you're capable of in mind and body. I have always loved to feel the free movement of my body, whether it's doing yoga, hiking, running, rock climbing, skiing or dancing. For the past 15 years I've had a challenging relationship with movement because of the patterns of resistance I've discovered. When I take the time to be present with these blocks, whether in the stillness of meditation or in movement, I become aware of the patterns and ultimately give it an avenue for liberation. The solution is following impulse...the impulse of the heart. One of the most healing approaches of trauma resolution is to do exactly this...to give yourself permission to feel and move according to what you're being guided to by internal wisdom. The literal feeling of our physical heart space coupled with present awareness to what we are receiving through our senses, enables wise impulse to arise. When you are in some form of quiet contemplation or movement, this way of following impulse is self instructive. Yes, professionals like myself understand function and form which is so important for finding physical and emotional alignment. AND...your internal signals allow you to move in ways that feel and are better for you. The heart is such a potent center for each of us. I would love to help teach you how to step into this dormant power center within you. Please reach out to me and message me on FB if you feel called to understand more... Or set up a call with me... Wishing you well :)

We have several sense organs in our body that continually give us input from our environment. Many people are subconsciously drawing in low quality input as our patterns of thought and emotion only enable our awareness of what we don't like. And then our motor actions and behaviors are, unfortunately, in kind. Your eyes are sense organs that occupy significant amounts of real estate in your brain...if you are fortunate enough to still have your sight. How you take in with your eyes and interpret the experience has a massive impact on how your body/mind behaves. You can look at what you see and react through a patterned response that assumes the same ole' worst case scenario. And, when you move the body from this same patterned way of "seeing", you will get the same painful experience. The body/mind needs repetitious novel, present and curious input to create a new and functional pattern. Your physical form does so well with this approach. And the input of the eyes in this way (coupled with guidance of alignment), can dramatically improve the quality of how you move and how that makes you feel. I'll be demonstrating this later in the week on my FB live . For now, if you have questions or want to share what you've tried in this area, please reach out to me . Helping others transform how their body/mind feels is what I truly love to do...

Here's one behavior I've seen consistently in my 25 year profession in health and wellness. Individuals set big goals to be achieved within a small window of time. The end result is often falling short of the goals and then throwing out the entire routine that gets them to their goal point. The reason for giving up altogether has something to do with some form of self-judgement, coupled with a lack of understanding that pattern change is achieved through repetition. And that a huge quantity of changes at once overwhelms our neural endocrine (nervous and hormone) system which drives thought, feeling and action. You've heard it said that we only use 5% of our brain. More precisely put, 95% of our brain function is subconscious. Without gaining deeper awareness of the emotional and physical patterns that are at play, we run these programs on autopilot. A lot of our automatic patterns are great! I don't want to have to think about breathing or digesting food. But what I do want to think, feel and act upon, are patterns that move me out of pain in my body and mind. This is where the small things committed to daily create the big changes that decrease our discomfort and move us towards our dreams. A body that feels and holds the posture of the version of you that wants to be active and live out your desires, is the one that can show up to do just this. This is the transformation I love to see in others. I'm not a stranger to challenge, but of course who is? I have just made it my life's work to be as present and committed to all I've learned so I can grow and ultimately help others. Please reach out to me to explore the possibilities if this resonates with you. And I'll be putting this into practice this Friday on my FB live. Much love to you :)

The physical body, in tandem with the emotional experience, will hold tight tissues within the body in response to a stressor. The more off alignment you are when a force is applied, the more discomfort you will experienced from the binding process in the muscles and fascia. With regard to emotion, the more negative feeling patterns you enact, the more they become solidified in your nervous system. They ultimately become manifest as pain in your body. We end up creating this affect when the cause of the body's misalignment or negative emotional loop, remains without disruption. So, release is actually a liberating of the energy that binds the tissues of the body and keeps the nervous system in a holding pattern of negative feelings. Letting go of this energy is so important for a being to come back to alignment in body and mind. In the physical body it impedes the posture that creates integrity, In the mind of emotion, it blocks our openness to seeing options other than the negative spiral we're stuck in. And one of the most imperative tools to freeing this up is to be present with feelings and sensations without judgement. Judgement is effectively the manifestation of binding in the body. When it's already there, more of it will halt any liberation of the energy that is limiting you in the first place. There are many techniques that facilitate this process, but of course, I love somatic presence as a gateway since I know how profound it can be. It integrates the physical with the emotional experience so change happens from both of the triggers that hold the loop in place. I'll be putting this into practice later in the week on my FB live. Join me and feel free to ask questions if you want more clarity. Wishing you well :)

In Yoga, this central channel of energy is called the Shushumna Nadi. It's anatomically aligned with your spinal column. And it's understood to be linked to how functional your spine and the internal systems are, within the torso, neck and head. What I see in my clients and so many others is that their movement here is very restricted. It's not good for a body. Where there's limited mobility, there is limited stability. The spine moves in stuck sections of vertebrae which then shuts down the small, yet continuous stabilizer muscles necessary for health. Poor movement means a lack of blood flow and lymphatic fluid to the vertebrae, muscles and fascia, as well as decreasing nourishing energy that powers the nervous system along this central channel. It also disrupts the flow of SCF (cerebrospinal fluid) which bathes and nourishes the brain and spinal cord. And as you explore feeling and movement along this central line in your body, you begin to discover the emotional state that is intertwined within it. If you engage in a somatic movement practice with this part of your anatomy, it can be uncomfortable, yet it's so worth the effort. I have cycled through this exploration for years and revisited with more earnest intention in the years I journeyed through my treatment process. There's so much wisdom the body will share about what it wants to release...and then seek on the other side of that pain, when we call on our courage to feel it. I used my knowledge of anatomy and it's emotional connection, to release and transmute that stuck energy to a realization of innate wisdom and power. Spending dedicated time and presence along remarkable part of your anatomy can change the your body in ways you can't imagine. If you're curious, ask me how...

Last week I shared with you that I was having my last surgery to complete the process of breast cancer treatment. As it is with so many others who face this diagnosis, it's a long story with lots of details. There's much confusion when it comes to emotions and decisions, and sometimes leads to a longer journey than one would hope. I believe all my doctors and medical professionals were kind, caring and skilled. And...I also had internal wisdom that I may not have given full credence to when considering my course of action. This intuition is something that runs through me, and everyone. My body was always there giving clues that if I stayed present with long enough, I would hear. I didn't listen perfectly, and so perhaps my journey was a bit longer. But regardless of what happened, I can move forward in each moment to heal and claim that wisdom and all the strength contained within. Several of you reached out and I know many of you have lovingly been holding me in your thoughts. I wanted to take a moment to express genuine appreciation for this. When we care from our heart and connect to those around us, it heals...us and those we love. We reside in these amazing and wise bodies...with all the discomfort and beautiful expression that's available to us. I thank you because you care...and because you reaching out helps me to know that I can help others. That what I care to do for people and this incredible world, really matters. Keep reaching out , I appreciate you ❤️

As many of you may be aware of, I began treatment for breast cancer in April of 2021. I had already been heading down the path of learning and sharing somatic work for about 5 years prior. I did my level best to stay in my body through the process, but inevitably disconnected when the pain and discomfort became too great. And in the instance of several surgeries, my body and nervous system where having an experience that my conscious awareness wasn't having. And thank goodness... the anesthesia works to prevent an overwhelming quantity of pain that I certainly didn't want to feel. But, that doesn't prevent the nervous and other systems of the body from having their "memory" of the trauma. That truth, is something I've necessarily faced as I heal from the effects of cancer treatment, albeit imperfectly. The language of this trauma is feeling. I know I must be present with and process through feeling in order to thrive on the other side. As I'm present to unwind the physical sensation and emotion I am tracking within me, there's an avenue to release and find the re-alignment I was born for...in my body and mind. This upcoming Wednesday I have my final surgery. And, all is and will be well. I wouldn't have asked that 3 years of my life be occupied by the major hiccup of cancer, but here I am. I am lucky to be living after the journey. Even though I am closing this chapter, It is my earnest intention that the wisdom of it will forever flow through me. I look forward to connecting with you soon to share it :)

In my 25 years in the wellness field, I have engaged with many individuals who don't know the answer to this question. Why? Because at the pace we live in the western world, few of us have been taught to be still long enough to actually feel much of anything. The only thing that is felt are the limited and extreme emotions of anger, despair, melancholy or overwhelming happiness. There's nothing wrong with feeling these, it's just a restricted representation of what's going on within each human. The cost of this, is a lack of subtle awareness of the misalignments of the physical body and off kilter emotions that precede pain in the mind and body. Developing the skill of feeling slight downshifts in mood and the way the body responds to this, is invaluable to preventing big pains. If we can habitually tune into the way we feel, we can process challenging emotion ongoing. The result is the disruption of negative patterns in favor of feeling each moment in an authentic way. When we do this well we can cycle through the rhythm of ups and downs of the human experience without getting perpetually blocked from growth. Our ability to move through physical pain often mirrors the same logjam of our mind. We tend to only notice pain when it's big. We get stuck in the frustration of it until we solve the pain...at least temporarily, only to get frustrated again when the pendulum swings back. I've worked diligently in my own life to create a better way of resolving pain in both my body and mind. It's why I have been on a never ending quest to understand it and help others. If it resonates with you, ask me how I can help you...