How I got here

Three events encouraged me to pursue my career change into body and energy work. Back in 1997 I met Gayle, who became my Japanese Reiki Master Teacher. We encouraged each other to explore Energy and how to integrate within our daily lives Reiki. In 2000 I started to foster feral kittens (under three months old) with the local shelter. My home was a training ground for 42 feral kittens. Many were so wild that my personal three adult cats, Gayle and Reiki did miracles with these little ones. I was more the student to all involved. 41 of them were adopted. The single kitten that crossed the Rainbow Bridge is the one that reignited my youthful desire to work with all animals. Yes, reignited as I was the one that brought home strays and convinced my dog loving dad to allow me to have a cat (Nellie). Thank you! My mom was raised on a farm and her whole family understood animals. She and I still talk about those memories.

In 2006 I moved back to the Chicagoland area to be closer to my parents as my father’s health was declining. I was in the corporate workplace and felt in my heart this was no longer a match. I am grateful for the two years I shared with my father before he passed. He did what he loved right up to the day before he died, worked at his own company. Yes, at 84+ years old he was active in the family business and would say he “gets to go to work”.

My family would call on me to work their sore muscles and guide in stretching when I was a teenager. They saw in me skills that were natural to me. I am grateful for their trust and encouragement for this career change.

In 2009 the corporate world released me. Now my question was how I can expand being a Reiki practitioner in the expanding medical field. A dear friend gifted me with a massage and about a month later I was attending classes at Soma Institute of Clinical Massage in Chicago. The Angels were leading the way because it seemed like it was only seconds between the massage and sitting in a classroom.

Here in the western world I have found our language is difficult to explain “Energy”. I can say in hindsight that working with a client’s musculoskeletal the language barrier is removed. One of my first clients from “clinics” shared with me that he knew when I was flowing with bodywork because he felt I was painting healthy muscles versus working an area it was like cleaning the brushes. He did not know I love painting canvases and other things!

There are numerous modalities of bodywork with new ones being developed each year as we bring together Energy with bodywork. One that has come dear to my heart is CranioSacral Therapy. This is a gentle, light touch approach that releases tensions in the Central Nervous System so that every other physiological system in your body relaxes, self-correct and frees itself of pain and discomfort. The client’s body does the work at its pace to correct sequences necessary for core healing. This may or may not lead to SomatoEmotional Releases of tissue memory(s). Our tissues are record keepers of all the events in our lifetime. When we hear what the ache or pain is telling us we may correct the alignment or review the memory and put it into a new perspective to release the grip one has been holding on to. This release may include an emotional release. CranioSacral Therapy is an option for all clients with all discomforts and diseases, and wonderful with our seniors and veterans.

In 2013 I was honored to be one of five CST therapists at the Edward’s Hospital Cancer Center’s Fall Retreat and we gifted 75 cancer patients with 10 to 15 minute treatments. Currently this hospital and others have monthly CST treatment programs to donate CST treatments for their patients.

Bodyworkers/Massage Therapists are required to continually expand their education each year. There are so many modalities and classes I wish time would allow for me to take, like NOW.

I am continuing to expand in CST training for Humans, Equine and Small Animal Therapy, Body Alchemy for PTSD, Longevity for our Elders, and Healing From The Core®. The Energy curriculum continues in Vibrational Therapy, adding Reiki lineages, Past Life Regression, Akashic Record Reading, and more. In 2020 I have added being certified to teach Interspecies Counseling level one with levels two and three to follow when the requirements are complete.

And starting in September 2020 training for Shamanic Healing for Animals begins. One tool the animals have taught me is “all that works for them works for all creatures!” I am continually gathering knowledge and integrating what fits in my style and desires.

I am also updating my Energy 101 courses for ones interested in Energy and don’t know where to start.

Thank you for reading my abridged version of my life in Energy and look forward to meeting you soon.