When I assess the movement of my clients, a common physical pattern I will witness is a "hardening" along the body's anterior (front). It shows up mostly in the thighs, hips and chest, but can certainly present anywhere along this anterior. It tends to result in tight quadriceps, iliopsoas (hip flexor)rectus abdominus (six pack muscles), pecs and the fascia related to these muscle groups. The weakness (and dysfunction) that results is in the hamstrings, gluts and spinal erectors (long muscles of the back). My theory about what creates this physical behavior (for many people), is a mental drive to push and force things to happen. In the body, that originates from the compensatory action of forcing from the front side. When we start using our innate capacity to move forward from our back line (back side muscle/fascia network), we engage the integrity that is our natural design. You become the force that you were designed to emanate. There is effort to it, but rather that pushing from the front where your strength is very limited in this way, you drive from the back side that was created to move you forward. You can feel the joy and assuredness when you move from this back line pattern. It takes a somatic process of opening the front and re-connecting to the power that is the back side...to know the feeling of you as the force. It's amazing for me to teach this way of being in the body. And I'd love to support you if this calls to you. Please message me here ...or schedule a free 30 minute consultation to zero in on your needs and the path forward.

We live in these bodies that have so much capacity for ever expanding expression. Sadly, we tend to be unaware that this exists within us. We are sensing beings and it's through these inputs that we can tune into the lifeforce internally where we access innate power. Not power over anyone else, but power to create the most authentic, caring and self-assured version of yourself. I'm going to go out on a limb here as I relate this to the human biomechanical design and my experience of feeling. When we are aligned in our form and engage the patterns of muscle action that perpetuate this alignment, we feel strong and relieved from pain. When you are not in this physical and emotional alignment you can feel the fragility. A big part of our movement design is to move forward by being propelled by the synchronized action our back side. And doesn't moving forward through time and space guided by your own motor feel powerful? And what is missing from most people's function in the hind of our anatomy is the gluts. Yep, a weak butt can cause us to feel a total lack of connection and agency over our body. It translates into a feeling. And...perhaps the feeling is where it all began. When we don't hold our own self-perception of strength it can show in the way we carry ourselves through the world. So we can play with unveiling the emotion that causes it and embody power when we know the how of engaging it. And from my anatomy background, using those gluts is one of my favorite things to teach :) Join me on Friday on FB live as I teach this. And of course, reach out and schedule a free 30 minute consult if this aligns with you. Wishing you well...

Safety is a word that likely conjures images of predatory offense or inadvertent circumstances of being in harms way. Of course these fit that classification, but to the physical body, lack of safety can come just as readily from perception of imminent threat than a present moment of physical infliction. And unfortunately, these feelings of lack of safety are very prevalent in American society. It's a stress response to physical and psychological stimuli that shows in our medical system. The Journal of American Medical Association estimates that 60 to 80 percent of medical visits are stress related. To be alert, wise and emboldened when we are faced with danger could save our life. But to be constantly vigilant and reactionary to our psychological circumstances can take it away. To find that safety we need to be in balance in our alert yet restful state, is to cultivate an intelligently open body that reflects it. How can this be done? Somatic tools can teach you how to listen to your body's sensations and feelings as an access point to the heart capacity of intuition. Have you ever had a gut feeling to say no to something and then it worked in your favor when you acted in alignment with it? The wisdom didn't come from closing down with fear, it came with the openness of trusting your own guidance. And there are ways to develop this capacity. I'll be sharing one of those tools later this week. You can join me on my FB Live to learn it . And please feel free to schedule a complimentary 30 minute call if you think I may help. Sending all the best :)

If you find yourself in a position of recycling old behaviors and pains in the body, you've run headlong into a common human challenge. I know it too. I believe each of us really want to move forward to become better versions of ourself. And create a life where we serve others utilizing our gifts and skills. Where do these patterns come from? Most often they begin at a time in our life when we're in a highly receptive brain wave state. Essentially, until the age of 8 our brain waves are completely subconscious. We're either in Delta, Theta or Alpha, which means we don't analyze what's coming in. If we get a message about our lack (of whatever), we take it in as truth in our subconscious mind. And it stays there as a pattern in our emotional experience as well as in the body's manifestation of that belief. Until...we develop the awareness that it's there and how to transmute the energy stuck in it. Sadly, we don't change until we feel the pain in our body resulting from our misaligned way of seeing ourselves. But mastery of the way we feel, the thoughts we generate and how we hold our body, is the key to creating the version of ourselves that we're seeking. When we can master our emotions and the thoughts that interplay with them we can begin to embody them and change our pain cycle. Couple this with an understanding of anatomy and how to utilize the physical to access emotion, now we're really impacting the patterns that feel like they've been cemented within us. This is why I love and teach somatic presence for those I help...because it works well. If this speaks to you, schedule a free 30 minute session with me. We can talk about the possibility of making that change for you. As always, sending love :)

Many of our bodies reflect the challenging self-perception we have on the inside, that results from us looking for our value on the outside. Your somatic (body) experience outwardly represents how you have subscribed to the perceived or expressed beliefs about you from others. The real bummer is that most of the time, how you see yourself in others eyes has been very miscalculated by your limbic (emotional) brain. It can be so difficult for us to carry our body in a way that reflects grace and authentic care for ourselves, yet compassion and humility towards another. Self-effacing behavior seems to collide with confidence as though they are mutually exclusive. Rather, I believe that self-love and humility are partners that cannot be separated. When we care authentically for all we are...the flaws along with the positive attributes, we can extend that love and humility to another. When we are in this state of fear, shame, despair or frustration, we will not have an innately full and rhythmic breath. These thoughts and feelings cause a change in how we are moved by breath. And the breath is the way back in, to transmute this energy of feeling back to our inherent state of love. Humans are hard-wired to care for self AND others. Coming back to the simplicity of being present with the breath confirms this truth...that we can be deeply and lovingly connect to self while being humble with others. Would you like to know this embodied experience? If I can help you on this path of discovery, please reach out. Schedule a 30 minute free consultation... I hope you had a wonderful and loving holiday weekend with those you care for. Sending love...

I know just as much as the next person, the pain of repeating patterns. And I would imagine you have a few that give you grief as well. There are a lot of factors stacked against us as we live out of sync with our biological rest and work rhythms. And then when we're on our own quiet time, it seems we struggle with our ability to focus and stay disciplined to behave the ways we've committed ourselves to. So what actually is a pattern? Whether it's a squat pattern or a thought pattern about how worthy you are of what you want, it's driven by your nervous system. A linked chain of neurons comes together to form a network that ultimately acts to initiate a motor (movement) action or a feeling (emotional) response. Without awareness that you can do the pattern in a more functional or self loving way, you'll continue on the pattern that was set forth years before. What does it take to change? In short, select the new pattern over and over again until it becomes the automatic one that your brain chooses to enact. I know it sound simple and yes, there is a simplicity to it. But as the saying goes, it's not easy. There are essentially 2 fundamental commitments that enable a pattern to shift...an elevated emotional state of being and a frequency of practicing the new action or thought process. I believe one of the barriers to achieving this, is not having the awareness of the resistance that gets in the way. It's not a story we have to re-visit, it's a feeling we need to be present with so it transmutes. The somatic process entrusts that when we are present and kind to what we feel in each moment, the body and it's pattern will begin to unearth and make way for the new that we want. It's my honor to guide those who ask me to help. If you would like to explore this journey with me, book a 30 minute free call and i will share with you the distilled lessons of over 25 years of transformational discovery.

Misalignment is in our bodies seems to be more the norm than the exception. It can cause a lot of pain in a body and if it's not felt in the early stages, it becomes a challenge that can't be ignored. Alignment in the human body is the arrangement of bones, muscles, tendons and fascia that allows your bones to be stacked in a manner that creates balance in the action of opposing soft tissue forces. Essentially, if you're standing, the front/back and side/side soft tissues balance their action to keep your entire skeleton stacked in your natural born design. If there is no force acting upon your body, you can stand upright without any real need to exert muscle action or significant tension in the fascia. Only when the stillness of your body is upset, do you need to act with tension. And then, your aligned body can create muscle action from the innate patterns you were born to move through. But more often than not, these healthy patterns are disrupted by misalignments. Our joints suffer premature degradation because of these imbalances and lack of support. Coupling with your physical disproportion is the mental block or "offness" that you feel. And if you pay attention, your body's posture will show you the feeling that predominates with it. That's why alignment can be a feeling. When you're not in it, you can feel that there is something in the way of you moving forward...however you are desiring in that moment. This is precisely why I teach to discover the experience that is occurring in the body as it relates to our emotional countenance. When you release the physical while being mindful of feeling, then act in physical alignment and know THAT feeling, you can repeat it until it becomes the new pattern. The nervous system gains completion of the transformation when the physical and emotional are shifted in tandem. Without this, the energy of the pattern that hasn't served you remains in place. If you want to explore this shift with me, please message me to start that conversation . Or, you can schedule a free 30 minute call with me. As always, wishing you well :)

Pain in the body and emotional experience, is most often experienced as an unwanted guest. It gets in the way of our goals and plans, and we put up resistance to feeling it on almost any level. It makes sense that we have this reaction, because after all, the pain signaling in your body is a warning that you are headed towards some level of physical harm. This often is the same patterned response to emotional discomfort…and it mirrors the physical every time. In a moment of crisis (imminent danger), ideally, you don’t feel it, so you don’t overwhelm your being. But in instances of chronic discomfort and pain, the more we push back at the experience presented to us, the more we solidify the pattern. Life presents consistent highs and lows in health, relationships and your quest for purpose. The more you put up resistance to feeling the lows…and the highs, the greater the gap will grow between happiness and perceived hardship. This is why discomfort can be of great benefit. It’s a gentle metric that brings awareness to the misalignments inherent in each person when we are not truly present in each moment. This week I had many moments to experience this discomfort when we were among the thousands of people evacuated due to the Colorado fires in the Front Range. It was uncomfortable to be presented with the very eminent possibility that our home could be dramatically altered by nature’s powerful forces. But ultimately, we had limited control over whether or not that would happen. So, I spent some time feeling what it would be like to lose something very dear and how would I see the future after that. It wasn’t figuring out anything, it was simply vacillating between fear and the knowing that inner strength is ultimately greater than any external possession. On this journey, we’re not aiming to bring discomfort by any means, we’re simply learning what it means to be in the moment and not resist it when it shows up. Resistance always begets more resistance. So, the awareness, skill and discipline to “be with” the dis-ease when it appears in your experience will be that path that allows it to transmute. Wishing you the best on this journey. I would love to hear from you if this message resonates with you. Guiding individuals on this path is what I am inspired to do most…

If you've been to a handful of yoga classes, I'm guessing you've been a participant in a heart opening practice. The anatomy of these classes center around creating flexibility in the front of the body, allowing the arms to open and the chest to lift. Mobility (and functional strength) in your body is never just isolated to one structure. It is all interconnected in web of muscle, fascia and the energy that it holds. So while stretching the chest and shoulders can be pivotal in opening the heart, one of your most fundamental blocks can be the thoracic spine at the back of the heart. Middle back, or T-spine immobility, can cause quite a lot of pain along the length of the spine. It may very well be your sticking point in alleviating poor breathing, low back and neck pain. I certainly can't generalize why a particular area becomes a blockage for each individual, but I would guess the heart space is a common one. For reasons you can explore, through your own somatic experience, you may protect this vulnerability with posture and emotional expression. All the aforementioned structures may come into play. However, in my professional and personal experience, the thoracic spine opening presents a broad and deep array feelings that are worth moving through. That's why I take take physical tools and add the emotional exploration to make the strongest connection to the nervous system pattern. It's the compassionate presence and re-wiring to a new pattern that transmutes pain to strength and wisdom. Please reach out to me if you are drawn to know how this can help you. Message me here ...or book a free 30-minute consult to have a more experiential look at how the body and mind are truly intertwined. As always, sending warm wishes your way :)