I opened Moving Well in Seattle in 1998. In 2010, I moved my full time practice to Bainbridge Island, WA.
I was a little girl with visions of ballerinas dancing in her head. I begged for dance lessons, and my parents finally gave in when I was about 8 or 9—and a very conveniently located studio was found. I took classes for a year or two and that was it. I believe the convenient studio closed, and my parents did not consider dance lessons a priority.
I left home for college at 17 and immediately found my way into dance classes at school. For many years and through several moves I managed to find adult ballet classes. I also became fascinated by how it was that certain great dancers and athletes moved with such effortless ease and grace.
I studied Kinesiology, the science of movement, and then physical therapy, as I clearly needed a career that would support me. As a physical therapist I could work with injured dancers, a strong interest at the time and still. As a PT I was privileged to work with many dancers, including members of Pacific NW Ballet, whose problems can be quite complex at times. My sense was that I needed to add something to my “tool bag” that took a more holistic.
I joined a Feldenkrais® training in 1999. Although my intentions for studying this work were primarily professional and not personal, while lying on the floor and doing all those Awareness through Movement® lessons in my training, I could not help but to learn lots about myself, most directly about how I moved. And I also noticed subtler changes related to my ability to be more aware in the broadest sense of the word.
The experiential way in which I studied movement taught me things that I had failed to learn despite a physical therapy school education and many years of dance training.
Movement should feel good and free of any unneeded muscular effort. I developed a body-based expertise that I could integrate with what I already knew to help people of all ages and abilities learn to move more easily, comfortably and effectively.
In 2010 I began a series of “mastery” trainings in the Anat Baniel Methodsm an evolution of the Feldenkrais® Method. These included working with children who have special needs, vitality and anti-aging, and working with high performers such as performers artists and athletes. Anat is a very gifted teacher and working with her had a very positive influence on my work. Her teachings about working with children who have special needs incited my passion to work with kids. You can learn more about that here.
If you would like to move through life with more comfort, ease and effectiveness, I would love to help you with that.
TRANSITIONS 2021
After 35 years I am retiring my physical therapist license. Those of you familiar with my recent work know that essentially my current models are Feldenkrais® and the Anat Baniel Methods(sm). It is time to simply things and stand clearly in the work I currently do. I am very grateful for the learning that was part of my PT education as excellent background knowledge and that remains with me.