About Me
Throughout my life, I have felt a profound sense of distance; as if there was an invisible barrier between me and the rest of existence. I even felt at times like I wasn’t really in my body. I felt as if my actual soul retreated and was removed from my physical body. I tried every way possible to deal with this distance, including trying to embrace it by dubbing myself a ¨loner¨ who must just not need people or connections. This led to a lot of misery, where at times I would just weep myself to sleep because I somehow felt lost, unanchored and displaced. Eventually, I was so miserable, I realized that either I was going to accept this sub-life, or I needed to face my misery and understand its essence.
I decided to face it, and this was the beginning of my conscious healing journey.
In my understanding, I made a choice: I could pursue an evolving sense of understanding myself and my experience of the world, or I could be asleep- subject to an existence where I was just a zombie. Since I made the choice to be awake, I literally exist in a new world.
Essentially, I pursued the healing profession out of the need to understand how to heal myself. My healing unfolded in an organic way, as I tried to utilize every experience as an opportunity to reflect and grow. My capacities to perceive the energetic realm have manifested through my tireless efforts to shed all within me that is not mine and to heal the wounds that keep me separate from the natural flow of energy that connects us all.
Throughout my life, I have felt a profound sense of distance; as if there was an invisible barrier between me and the rest of existence. I even felt at times like I wasn’t really in my body. I felt as if my actual soul retreated and was removed from my physical body. I tried every way possible to deal with this distance, including trying to embrace it by dubbing myself a ¨loner¨ who must just not need people or connections. This led to a lot of misery, where at times I would just weep myself to sleep because I somehow felt lost, unanchored and displaced. Eventually, I was so miserable, I realized that either I was going to accept this sub-life, or I needed to face my misery and understand its essence.
I decided to face it, and this was the beginning of my conscious healing journey.
In my understanding, I made a choice: I could pursue an evolving sense of understanding myself and my experience of the world, or I could be asleep- subject to an existence where I was just a zombie. Since I made the choice to be awake, I literally exist in a new world.
Essentially, I pursued the healing profession out of the need to understand how to heal myself. My healing unfolded in an organic way, as I tried to utilize every experience as an opportunity to reflect and grow. My capacities to perceive the energetic realm have manifested through my tireless efforts to shed all within me that is not mine and to heal the wounds that keep me separate from the natural flow of energy that connects us all.
Healing Foundations
Because I have healed and shed many of my wounds, I have the capacity to both witness and hold the extremes that exist in a human being. I can hold the space for the depths of experience, and I am not scared of the capacity of a human to feel deeply. I love being with people in all of who they are and in all of who they can become.
I have been fortunate and humbled to be able to witness, hold and guide healing for many people since I started working as a healer over a decade ago. I have told you a bit about my personal journey, so now here is some more formal background information about my experience thus far:
I have been fortunate and humbled to be able to witness, hold and guide healing for many people since I started working as a healer over a decade ago. I have told you a bit about my personal journey, so now here is some more formal background information about my experience thus far:
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Shamanic Background
I have studied with renowned Shaman Jon Rasmussen, teacher and graduate of the Healing the Light Body School through The Four Winds. With him, I traveled to Peru where I worked intensively with Jon and Andean shamans, receiving rites to begin my work in shamanic practice. 
Formal Education For my undergraduate education, I attended the University of Maryland and graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Arts degree in both Dance and Psychology. From there, I went on to pursue my graduate studies in Chicago at Columbia College where I received a dual Masters of Arts degree in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling. Additionally, I have completed Level One training in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. Lastly, I have completed Level One training in Internal Family Systems, taught to me by Dick Schwartz, the founder of the model. |
Dance/Movement Therapy Background
I spent 7 years working as a dance/movement therapist and counselor for a residential treatment center for people suffering from eating disorders. Throughout my career at this facility, I held multiple roles, including Clinical Director, Partial Hospitalization and Intensive Outpatient Program Director and Primary Therapist. While working with this specialized population, I quickly realized that an eating disorder is a manifestation of a very complex, interwoven set of underlying causes. Therefore, in order to address these underlying causes as well as co-occurring disorders, I gained additional expertise in areas such as unresolved trauma, emotion regulation, body image, existential and spiritual crisis, sexual dysfunction and addiction, and intimacy disorders. I also quickly realized that those suffering from eating disorders have a very complex relationship to their bodies. I made it my mission to utilize my dance/movement therapy background to find ways to help these people feel safe enough to experience their body again in a tolerable and empowering way, so they could begin to build a new relationship with their body. I am the President of the California Chapter of the American Dance/Movement Therapy Association and lecture across the country on dance/movement therapy body-based intervention as a modality for healing. 
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A Final Note...
I tried my best to give you a sense ¨about me¨ as a healer and a person. I am very proud of my education and professional experiences, but even more so, I am proud of being able to bring a sense of openness, willingness, wonderment, vulnerability and reflection to every experience I can. It has been my own healing that has gotten me to that place, and it is now a gift that I get to share. My hope is that you decide to experience the world in its infinity, and if you would like me to be part of that journey, I would love to be with you!
I tried my best to give you a sense ¨about me¨ as a healer and a person. I am very proud of my education and professional experiences, but even more so, I am proud of being able to bring a sense of openness, willingness, wonderment, vulnerability and reflection to every experience I can. It has been my own healing that has gotten me to that place, and it is now a gift that I get to share. My hope is that you decide to experience the world in its infinity, and if you would like me to be part of that journey, I would love to be with you!