I am whole, not the sum of my parts.

My training as a Physical Therapist initially taught me to look for dysfunction. I learned to zoom in on where is there loss of motion, strength and then treat that place. I spent years focusing on the specifics. As I learned more and grew as a therapist I took more classes that helped me back up and look at the larger picture. But still, it was looking at the picture as a whole of dysfunction. What is ‘wrong’ with the whole, where is the problem and how do I fix it? I learned and grew as a problem solver, how can I solve this and make it better? I loved what I was doing and how I felt I was helping people. But as I continued to work, over the next 15-20 years I was getting burned out. Although I loved what I did it felt unsustainable.

Then I started education in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy and the training had me shift my perspective. Yes, yes, people come to me with pain, loss of motion, loss of strength; but, this person who just walked in my office is functioning. Their body is truly amazing. It has learned compensatory patterns that have allowed them to get through each day. What a blessed thing to look at a client and see magic, the beauty of an amazing body that knows how to move through life even when there is limitation. I can look at this injury, trauma and rather than see problem, see wonder. I can look at that compensation with appreciation and say “yes, that is one way to move and thank you, I see you and you are beautiful” and add to that, “but is there something under this, a knowing, let’s sit back and notice the whole and in this place dwell in the health of the system”. It’s sitting in wholeness and wonder.

It’s a shift, a shift from seeing the parts to a place of seeing the whole. I have found as a practitioner, that when I see the whole my clients can step into being that whole, and heal themselves as a person in the fullness of that word. We are not just a knee or a shoulder or a back; we are not a physical injury, or a mental or emotional one; we are not chronic pain, a survivor, or an athlete. We are all these things, these beautiful, wondrous yet sometimes difficult things. This is how I have practiced over the past 5 years and it has been a remarkable learning and growing. I have seen health show up in tremendous ways. I have been a grateful witness.

But today, today was big because you see, today I truly felt from deep within for the first time, that I am whole. I am not the sum of my parts, or one or two parts, I am a whole beautiful person. Yes, I am a survivor, a mother, a partner, a friend, a therapist, an athlete, a musician, a dog lover, a Christian. But more than that, I am me, a soul that is so happy to be here experiencing this life with you.

I look forward each day to be with you. To see the whole you, with beautiful imprints that make you uniquely you. I look forward to learning how you move forward on your healing journey, and I am honored to stand with you along the way. Take a moment and schedule an appointment, or share this if you feel so moved. Let’s step together on a path of wholeness I look forward to the journey!