Integrative Bodywork

Restore Balance Naturally

Would you like your body to feel better when you move?  To live more freely, with reduced  pain, and increased pleasure? 

My practice offers "body-centered therapy with your whole being in mind."   Integrative -- connecting differentiated elements into a whole -- Bodywork is for better health, for life.   

A California state certified massage practitioner, I incorporate manual therapy, movement education, and body awareness to facilitate your well-being.  Physiology-based trauma healing work, Somatic Experiencing helps restore a natural calm, counters anxiety and depression, and helps manage stress-related disorders such as fibromyalgia, migraine, gastric reflux, IBS --- even PTSD. 

Headache Relief: Let Gravity Help

At the base of your skull, lots of muscles connect and overlap with each other.  As these muscles constrict, this can reduce flow of blood, oxygen into and out of the head.   Paradoxically, pressing firmly here can re-set the body's message to constrict, therefore restoring flow.

Here are some self-care tips to try at home:

1                     Begin by lying down, face up, and putting your hands behind your head.  Apply pressure with your thumbs and fingertips along the ridge of base-of-skull bone (occiput), and just underneath, toward the neck.   Direct your pressure toward the front of the head, moving from spot to spot along the ridge of bone.   Allow the weight of your head to fall onto your fingertips, varying the pressure.  Try rotating or tilting your head to locate areas where pressure brings relief.  These areas might change day to day.

2                     A more passive version of this utilizes a “still point inducer”.  You can purchase one, or you can make one yourself.  Put 2 racquetballs inside an athletic sock; tie a knot.  Lie face up, positioning the 2 balls side-by-side in the sock under your head, supporting the base-of-skull bone (occiput) comfortably.  You may want to slightly tuck your chin as you begin.  Allow the weight of your head to sink with gravity over several minutes, adjusting your position as needed for comfort.