Embodied Living

Beginnings, again and again.  As I continue my journey as a scholar-practitioner, I recall not only the questions that are driving me down this path, but also the junctions before the questions even occurred to me.  An imperative as strong as mine must certainly be karmic.  Initially, I was compelled to seek intellectual answers for somatic questions I have encountered while providing massage therapy to individuals.  I wanted to know how massage and touch figured into development, learning and healing, having seen it in many permutations.

From this work, I believe that body, mind and spirit are one.   I think that somewhere in our modern construction of personal and societal reality, we have separated.   I believe the power of touch is transformative and can bring us back to a place where deep learning can occur.  My work as a massage therapist has been a personal journey of finding my own way home, home to my body.

More and more, I am drawn to systems thinking because everything is connected.  I think we will forge solutions in integrative health care by invoking complexity theory and framing and reframing situations through multiple view-finders and metaphors.  Because health care and wellness are not just complicated, they are complex, and one size will not fit all.  As a scholar-practitioner,  I am excited by the prospects of meshing academics, individual therapy, and the greater influence of work with policy and programs to support wellness.