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Philosophy + Principles

The things I spend time thinking about both in and out of session, built from experience and contemplation. Inevitably evolving. 

  • Start with kindness

  • Meet people where they are whenever possible

  • Healthy community builds security

  • Listen. Receptivity, openness, and observation are part of the listening process. We communicate what we need in multiple ways.

  • Bodywork is the interplay of two dynamic systems - that of the therapist and that of the client. I cannot give the same massage to two different people. Finding play and exploration -- upon a foundation of training and practice -- is what makes a session successful, not illusory sameness.

Banana Leaf
  • When we are talking about mind-body exercise, mind-body connection, mind-body wellness, we are inescapably speaking of nervous system work.
    Mind-body implicates the nervous system.

  • Touch can be evaluated by a variety of measures - pressure and direction, for instance - but also its quality.  A compassionate palm on the shoulder carries energy starkly different from a palm across the cheek.  Regardless of pressure, therapeutic touch imbued with intention helps reeducate and reorient a system toward homeostasis. 

  • Compassionate human presence, not just touch, sustains healthy human systems. I structure my appointments with this in mind. Presence over distraction. Ease over rush.

Grassy Field
  • The agitation of stress can eventually anesthetize us from sensing some information from the nervous system. My practice - even in small ways - seeks to reattune us to that information. 

  • There's a surprisingly fine pivot between activity and stillness. When I sharpen my awareness to this boundary and can swivel between the two, that's when I feel incredibly grounded. The part where the two start to overlap –where there is activity within stillness and stillness within activity–that’s where the magic happens. That’s where the mind-body container builds riches.

  • Daily mind-body practices help me build resiliency to stress and increase my container for joy and happiness. My daily practices are a combination of qigong and ka’aleleau. They "fill my cup" (and even make my cup bigger!)

  • Chronic pain, as a long term visit in a dynamic mind-body system, can be multidimensional and contain psychological and emotional components. Recovery can excavate unexpected emotions, realizations, and ideas.

Leaf
  • Personal growth never ends and permeates time, space, and place. Even when it’s invisible to others, growth is “felt” through the system - the mind and body together. 

"Authenticity has been weaponized. You can almost say today’s society is characterized by an authenticity-industrial complex. We’re more concerned with appearing real than being real. "

-Eric Hu

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