Testimonials

re-newed focus on possibility

I am excited!  Our work together has been so inspiring and positive for me.  After years of pain, I truly hated my body, like it was sabotaging all my best efforts.  I tried so hard to fix what was "wrong."  I'm grateful for your skills in prompting my body to consider new ways of being, and for the big-hearted way in which you've approached my long-standing issues and concerns.  Trusting that my body is naturally moving toward functioning well, I'm better able to allow it to happen.  When I experience pain, it's now in context of this natural process, so it doesn't grab all my focus away.  Thank you! -- Harsi P. 

pre-exam anxiety stabilized

I am so incredibly grateful to you, Suzanne, for helping me through the stress of Board Exams. Being able to combine counseling, body awareness, massage and practical feedback made you uniquely equipped to provide me with support in so many different ways. During a vulnerable time for me, you were knowledgeably understanding, able to help me find the lighter moments, and help me keep this challenge in perspective.   Your guidance in finding my resources moment by moment prevented my last-minute "exam panic" from derailing my thorough study preparation.  I passed!!  --- Rachel M.

enjoying artistic freedom 

Thanks so much, Suzanne:   Your body work is helping my shoulder feel so much better, less pain and more flexibility and less numbness in the fingers.   --- Maia D.

 relieved post-concussion spinal tension

Let's just say, playing high school sports really made an impact.  I've been plagued with tension in my neck and back  since a mild concussion in football last November.  After just one session, there's a lot of relief already.  Thanks.   --- Preston H.

improved body mechanics

Job stress, boyfriend stress,  money stress --- it all adds up!  I called Suzanne because she had helped me with scoliosis back in my early teens.  To relieve my back pain this time, she used hands-on bodywork, and then we experimented with some ways my lower body can support my upper body with movement.  Now that I can feel the difference, I'm trying out some new ideas of how my body can move while standing all day at my job.  And my stress isn't so overwhelming anymore.    --- Rachel W.

relaxed jaw, more space

Tuesday's session was highly effective on relaxing my clenched jaw muscles and I noted a release in my neck as well.  I also was not sore the next day.  I am still aware of having a space between my upper and lower teeth even now several days later. What a great feeling!  Thanks much!  ---Janet T.

feel grounded, calm, balanced

Spasms in my left upper back and arm -- my primary goal for treatment --    soon eased.  But I noticed a more system-wide result:  I felt more grounded, physically more solid against the earth, and also more calm and settled mentally and emotionally.  At work, I could let go of worrying and trying to problem-solve issues that previously had me  anxiously churning inside.  This past week in particular, I noticed a different kind of calmness; a sense of balance in my thoughts and emotions.  I didn’t feel so scattered in my thoughts or reactive to them.  I could just sit calmly for a few minutes and it felt like my mind rested.  --- Christine T.

 

holistic, fibromyalgia relief

Suzanne is unique among my health care providers in that she works holistically with my entire body, mind, heart, and spirit, from the inside out, with superb results. Many other doctors, physical therapists, massage therapists, and bodywork practitioners have instead focused on one body part at a time, and have treated my condition based on preconceived assumptions from the outside about what my body needs. Because each body is unique and mine has often responded differently than their other patients, many of these practitioners have made me feel worse rather than better, bringing on flares of severe pain. On the other hand, Suzanne's gentle touch invites my body's own healing response from the inside, and her inquisitive words invite me to explore and allow the full range of my body's strength and healing potential, even when it manifests in surprising ways. Suzanne has helped me gain a new relationship with my body. My fibromyalgia came on very suddenly and very severely, and I felt at the beginning that it had taken away my dreams, and my ability to live the life I loved.  I felt like my body had fallen apart, and I no longer trusted it. 

Suzanne helped me to turn that around, to see all the things in my body that were still working right, and to feel able again. Since that day that I ran after her session, I have been able to hike (on good days, which is still not every day) up to 5 miles with 1000 foot elevation gain, up to some of the most exquisitely beautiful little lakes in the Sierra, and to camp there under the stars. I've even been dancing again, although months before, I could barely get out of bed!

My regained strength, reduced pain, increased energy, and more harmonious flow have given me my life back.

Suzanne uses the word "organism" to describe the whole body/mind/spirit/being that is responding and healing in this way, and as a biologist I understand this word as alluding to the animal within me, with instinctive responses toward protection and healing that I  share with other creatures. I have also read research articles that demonstrate the power of holistic therapies like Suzanne's, which effectively stimulate healing in the brain and nervous system, breath and circulatory system, digestive and immune systems. Most importantly, I trust Suzanne's expertise because I have felt its benefits, have felt my body healing itself in her presence, and have felt myself healing independently while remembering her guidance. For this, I am filled with gratitude.                      ---- Kristen S.

 

 no longer controlled by fear

I highly recommend this type of work. The greatest benefit has been in my body, mind, and spirit not having to be controlled by fear.  With the "somatic experiencing" approach, you do not need to know what the trauma was or discuss it.  Your  body knows and it knows how to release it if given the chance.   Suzanne is gentle and understanding and makes one feel comfortable during what can sometimes be a difficult but profound experience.  ----- Judy S.