🌱SPRING INTO RENEWAL🌼
A Fresh Space, A Deeper Flow
As the days lengthen and the Earth awakens, I’m feeling that same stirring of renewal in my practice—and I have something special to share with you:
As of mid-May I will be taking appointments at a beautiful new therapy studio! I’m transitioning out of my Friday rental at Sacred Fortune in Echo Park and into a more private, expansive studio in Silverlake. This gorgeous location offers the space needed to more fully integrate all the therapeutic modalities I employ. While I have loved my time at Sacred Fortune and value that community immensely (please go get acupuncture), this change feels like a breath of fresh air—an invitation to deepen the work, expand the flow, and align more fully with the season’s energy of blossoming and release. Like most transitions, it is bittersweet. But wisdom reminds us that real growth is rarely comfortable.
One of the ongoing challenges in my work has been integration—not due to a lack of tools, but the space to use them fully. My training in the LTAP™ method with the brilliant Anna Hartman was a game changer! It helped me unify my various modalities into a cohesive, responsive approach. Much like the crystalline extracellular matrix within our own bodies, this training acted as a connective medium—allowing each technique to support the next and revealing what was still needed to round out the system.
The main entryway, a hangout and movement space
Lately, I’ve come to realize that what’s needed now is the right environment—a space that supports the full depth and fluidity of my work. So, while I’ll still be seeing clients Mondays & Wednesdays at Body Synergy PT in Pasadena (a place I deeply value for its collaborative energy), I’m excited to step into a new, more private studio that gives me even greater freedom to work in a truly integrative way (And yes—parking is free.)
The manual therapy treatment room. Private outdoor access, yay for natural light and fresh air!
Just like plants need the right soil, light, and space to grow, our bodies—and the work that supports them—thrive in the right environment. This move feels like planting myself in more fertile ground, where the conditions are just right for deeper healing and fuller integration to take root. As Spring unfolds around us, I’m embracing this shift not just as a change of location, but as a natural next step in supporting growth—yours and mine.
*As with any transition, there may be a bit of back-and-forth while the new space fully takes root in June. Until then, a few appointments may temporarily have to land on a Thursday or return briefly to Sacred Fortune. I deeply appreciate your flexibility during this time of movement and settling. I’ll be sure to clearly communicate your session’s location at the time of booking to avoid any confusion.
PROTECTION MODE
“Safety is not the absence of threat, but the presence of connection.” — Gabor Maté
The definition of the word protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection mechanisms are characteristic of all living things to avoid harm and ensure our survival. Our bodies, outside of the cognitive awareness of our existence, are organisms imbued with layers of protection. The most superficial layer being our skin, our always on alert nervous system interwoven with myofascia, zooming in deeper to the proton/electron balance holding our molecules together and even further beyond that at the quantum energetic level. This innate intelligence governs every function. We are in a constant state of self-regulation and self-protection which is crucial to our survival.
I often associate the winter season with protection more so than other times of the year. It is a time with more darkness than daylight. A time when we literally and metaphorically take our fall harvests and conserve for the months ahead, slow down and go within. Some mammals go so far as to hibernate the entire season to survive the adverse conditions of winter. Female black bears go into a semi hibernation during these months to give birth to their offspring, ensuring a safe and warm environment for their cubs to enter the world. Us humans don’t go quite that far but we do employ many methods to protect ourselves from winter’s brusqueness. We layer on additional clothing, spend more time inside, light a fire (or just turn on the heater), drink hot beverages, eat hearty meals and snuggle up in cozy blankets with our loved ones.
Human adaptability to our environment is a double-edged sword, our greatest asset and at times Achille’s heel. Protective mechanisms, like anything, are effective and supportive at the right moment, in moderation. But what happens when we take these mechanisms too far? When we over-protect? Perhaps we become too sequestered, we become hardened or calloused; less flexible, less available. Scar tissue is a great example of somatic overprotection. In the short-term shoring up or splinting damaged tissue makes sense, but over the long-term, sensation, mobility and function decline. We also enact these defenses when people hurt us emotionally. We sometimes use that momentary heartache as an excuse to distrust and pull back from others when what we really need is support and connection. All these processes are physiological even if they are not physical and, as with all things, finding the right balance of protection and exposure is key to our health and well-being.
My goal as a practitioner is to help you find this balance by tuning into the self-healing processes we all possess, guiding your body towards its highest function. I am committed to staying curious, learning, growing and evolving so that I can provide the most effective care to all of you. As part of that commitment, I recently completed a course of training that I am very excited to incorporate into my practice. It is a method of assessment called the LTAP™ devised by the brilliant athletic trainer and educator Anna Hartman, AT, MS, ATC, CSCS. This paradigm integrates basic orthopedic tests and osteopathic principles to uncover the layers of protection our body employs to keep us safe on the day to day but can negatively impact posture and function and reduce healing outcomes. The goal of each LTAP™ based session is to meet every body exactly where it is, decipher where it says treatment is needed and apply it in the correct sequence that the body — not the clinician — prefers. There is no forcing the body to adhere, only peeling back the layers of protection in a way that cultivates the utmost safe environment for holistic healing. Ultimately this session structure leads to more specificity of treatment and therefore more effective and long-lasting treatment results.
As we wrap up yet another year and settle into the quiet austerity of the winter season we simultaneously barrel towards an unknown future in a very divided, tumultuous time in our country, where many of us feel unsafe. It is my hope in this moment to facilitate as much healing, stability and strength as I can so you feel better equipped to weather the oncoming storms. Any relief I help bring you, any balance, I hope you can reverberate to your communities. Perhaps then, collectively, we will carry onward with just the right amount of protection needed to preserve our humanity, dignity, and grace.