Why body work?
I fell in love with massage whilst living in Malaysia in 2014 and observing how it is an integral part of Asian lifestyle and a natural aspect of daily relations between friends, family and community. Children naturally rub grandmothers sore feet, friends massage the hands and shoulders of broken-hearted friends and everyone regularly visits local massage establishments as part of their general health practices and as a first port of call for alleviating stress, pain and inflammation.
I also observed better general mental health, joy and contentment in the people across the countries I travelled. A higher sense of general wellbeing, irrelevant of economic status, which we are so enforced to believe contributes primarily to our happiness in the West. Of course another big factor was a lot more sunshine ( but I have since qualified in offering Vitamin D injections to help with that too!)
As a psychology graduate taking some time out to find clarity on my career path, after a few years of difficult work in the mental health and social sectors, I continued to integrate and observe Asian culture and recognised in myself how massage brought me a higher mind-body connection. I was noticing where I felt tension in my body, what or who triggered it, and how regular massage not only improves physical inflammations; but my awareness of my body's needs was more refined and this knock-on effect helped me to start noticing the value in nutrition choices, sleep and exercise practices. This deeper attention and empathy for myself also led profoundly to an empathy for the health of the planet I'm inhabiting, which provides me all that I need to thrive and I began to recognise my part in it: a tiny little organism like the good bacteria in my tummy, whom I'd now discovered fight for my health every day :)
There is a LOT of psychological data on the importance of touch on human beings' health and development, and any indigenous people around the planet can be quickly observed as more tactile than we in the West. Developing my own massage practice has been like a remembering of an integral human functioning, sharing that is a gift.
Since returning to the UK I qualified in massage and invested in every course I could find to have many different modalities to my belt, but the intuitive touch I learnt in Asia was the key foundations to my practice. The knowledge I gained from my Psychology degree and Western mental health training has been very useful to share the interrelation between the health of my client's mental, physical and emotional bodies.
I have been blessed to work all over the country and around the world at some of the most beautiful retreat centres, festivals and spas. I have dedicated my life to helping people heal, love, connect and respect their bodies more... which naturally develops a remembering in them for a more loving, respectful and connected relationship with Earth and their role in it.
My treatments are for all whether it be high profile and international clientele to donation-based festival goers in the Healing Fields of Glastonbury. My treatments are inclusive and ultimately diverse in that every treatment I do is a bespoke curation based on each person as I meet them: utilising intuition, experience and an extensive education. I enjoy an holistic approach whilst integrating my clinical background and a passion for science which allows me to enjoy considering all aspects of what it is to be human deeply: life history, diet, personal circumstance, stage of menstrual cycle, emotional regulation, season and weather!
My passion for natural aesthetics came later starting with the Vitamin B12 Injections, following my own health complications after Covid 19 these incredible intramuscular injections literally brought me back to life after a nasty case of long covid I was told to learn to live with. I realised how vital hydroxocobalamin, vitamin B12 injections are for so many of our life functions and did not want to be condemned to a life of prescriptions. Since this revelation I did a lot of research and realised my strange and extensive combination of qualification meant I could train to offer Vitmain B12 injections and then I went on to train i Vitamin C, Biotin and Vitmain D injections to help others. I also trained in Mesotherapy / skin boosters shortly after whilst looking for natural alternatives to anti-wrinkle injections and other anti-aging solutions that are sustainable and long lasting and works with the skins own natural processes to rehabilitate collagen production.
For the past 5 years I ran a thriving multi-disciplinary health centre in Cheltenham with osteopaths, physios, accupuncturists, massage therapists of all modalities, an ayurvedic practitioner and many more to create a community space that had a solution for anyone addressing their wellness journey. This was a fantastic experience in which I worked alongside incredibly talented therapists and learnt a lot from their practices, however found myself spending more time running the business and managing people than doing what I love which is working with clients one-to-one finding solutions to their health concerns. I now have my own clinic where I just work with my clients, and feel blessed every day in getting to do so!