I graduated from the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration in Boulder, CO in October of 2006. I was in private practice in downtown Chicago for 10 years and relocated to Charlotte in 2016 to enjoy more sun, nature, and calm with my husband. Here I've joined forces with the lovely Flex5 Wellness & Fitness Center which offers a bevy of integrative practices and services in the historic Charlotte National Building on the periphery of Uptown.

To say that before I began my Rolfing series my body felt like a prison would not be much of an exaggeration. I felt stuck, unable to express myself easily or fully - physically, but also in many ways beyond that, ways in which I wasn't even aware Rolfing could affect. My movements and stride were small and contained, unable to flow with the grace and buoyancy I longed for. When I learned of Rolfing I was intrigued; and when I finally signed on for the 10-series, though open and eager I was admittedly pretty skeptical. This Rolfing thing sounded a bit too good to be true.

I was in school for massage therapy when I began work with my Rolfer. It was immediately apparent that my studies would continue on not to include Rolfing but to become Rolfing. Rolfing began to create for me real change, lasting changes that could not only be felt after sessions but carrying into my life between sessions, which was markedly different than any of my experiences with massage.

These changes were felt as a consequence of the hands-on work but, perhaps more importantly, changes were also occurring in the growing awareness of how I existed in my body, allowing me to more effectively come to occupy the space of these newly created options. The educational component was really what set Rolfing apart from any other modality I had experienced. The insights offered through Rolfing were invaluable in my ability to really relax in my body, for perhaps the first time ever, and consequently a natural energy and vitality began to emerge.

In the course of my Rolfing sessions I was not only experiencing real shifts in the structure of my body but also in the experience of what it meant to exist inside my body and I came to realize more and more the way I existed in and interacted with the world around me. Rolfing was an education in who I had been up to that point and the ways that certain personal habits and patterns that may have at one time been useful had since run their course and were no longer serving my present needs or desires. Step by step, Rolfing began to introduce me to an unhindered sense of self; that ease and fluidity that had been struggling for expression.

As a byproduct of these shifts in my physical structure, the many aches and pains that I had progressively collected through life began to just slip away week by week. Not only did my neck and feet no longer ache, but one day it was noticed that my knees no longer locked, that my hips began to sway, and my arms now swung as I walked. 'Free at last' was the feeling. Now I knew what was possible, which continued to inspire and broaden my focus from not only fixing what hurt but encompassing this significant potential for true well-being versus simply not ailing. Rolfing not only helped resolve things that were uncomfortable but made me feel better in ways I didn't necessarily feel bad. I began to reconnect with a feeling of aliveness I hadn't felt since a child or maybe never even had.

We are each ripe with layers of ability to become more at ease, comfortable, more supported, connected, open, strong, capable, aware and present in our lives by discovering more balanced and connected ways of being in our bodies. As a Rolfer I feel my primary role is helping people enjoy their lives more by better understanding and enjoying their bodies; creating necessary connections in the relationship of how ones structure impacts ones experience of living, and vice versa. I have been so transformed by Rolfing that it is now a real pleasure and honor for me meeting others at the threshold of their individual needs and goals and escorting them through this remarkable process. It's a thrill to watch those sparks of finally feeling at home arrive in clients' eyes, as they come to settle into a place within themselves that they haven't resided in maybe a very long time, or ever, but upon meeting is unmistakable as the place they want to be.