Approach & Philosophy
Through the course of our lives our bodies communicate to us in a wide variety of ways. We know when it’s time to eat thanks to pangs of hunger and when it’s time to sleep thanks to symptoms of fatigue. The language the body uses to speak to us has as much subtlety as any other language. It is up to us how proficient we become in that language. Most people get down the basic tenses of past, present and future, remembering injuries past and behaving in order to avoid more in the future. With body awareness practices, including receiving healing arts treatments, we can strengthen our capacity to listen to the language of our bodies and correctly interpret those messages, ultimately leading to optimal wellness.
In contemporary times, the uniqueness of each body and it’s response to healing treatments is abundantly clear. When someone comes to me to guide them into a greater experience of wellness, I consider that an honor that includes empowering that person’s ability to sense into their body, to hear the unique language that is only theirs, to hone and trust their responses to what they hear.
So much of our present day reality takes us out of our bodies; all the time we spend with devices in hand is time spent predominantly in a mental space. More than ever before we all need help coming home to ourselves, coming home to our physical form in a way that feels good. By practicing body awareness and being guided into felt sense skills we can heed the calls our bodies make to us whether they are to rest more, move more or to hold ourselves differently. I believe we are all whole no matter what. We are all inherently good no matter what. I am devoted to returning to that simplicity through reframing illness, pain and suffering as more challenging linguistic lessons from our bodies and beings, inviting us into a fluency that can raise our quality of life.
On Shen: The Power of the Symbol in my Practice
This image, Josh Paynter’s rendition of shen represents two separate but joined characters.
The first depicts the Sun and Moon with the stars dangling from it while the second represents the hand of the shaman wrapping around the stick or rope that the ancients would use to travel and communicate between heaven and earth.
To see more of Josh Paynter’s calligraphy, see the link to his website below!
There is so much strength in community. Below you will find links to a number of local practitioners I recommend highly.
Acupuncture
Josh Paynter, L.Ac.
http://www.joshpaynter.com/
Chiropractic
Kathleen Favoloro
http://www.holisticspinalhealth.com/
Ayurvedic Massage
Kelly Bancroft
https://www.kellybancroft.com/
Biodynamic Craniosacral Education
Turtle Back Craniosacral Education, Margery Chessare
http://www.craniosacraleducation.com/
Micheal Shea
https://www.sheaheart.com/