Locations:
Costa Mesa
Big Bear Lake

My journey into a helping, people-oriented career began when i received a B.A. in Psychology from Pacific Christian College in 1993. I began working in hospitals in this capacity with the intention of continuing my education with at least a master's degree, but preferably a doctorate in psychology.

However, about the time i was ready to go on to finish my master's degree was when i received my first massage. In many ways massage was all that i desired to do as a psychologist, but of course in a different manner. Massage was working with people one on one for about an hour, but in the course of that hour, they could usually see immediate improvement in their issues. Also massage could be a short-term therapy as opposed to a longer course of therapy as psychotherapy usually is. While massage of course cannot “solve” serious emotional disturbances, there is a strong mind-body connection, & massage can bring relief to some people for a time & help them to relax.

So, rather than continue in the psychology field, i enrolled in massage school in the summer of 1999. The first school i attended was the American Institute of Massage Therapy which at that time was in Costa Mesa, California. I attended for 766 hours taking Anatomy, Physiology, Kinesiology and Swedish and Sports Massage, as well as short workshops in Lomi Lomi, Craniosacral, Thai Massage, Lymphatic Drainage, and Seated Massage. I then went to Mueller College of Holistic Massage Therapies in San Diego for another 178 hours of training including Deep Tissue Integration. I then worked in various chiropractic clinics part-time for a couple of years while continuing to work in the psychiatric field in as a crisis counselor at a hospital.

In the fall of 2003 i returned to school however, at Mesa Institute in Fullerton. It is an excellent school. I felt that the way in which the majority of my teaching was done, while excellent in its way, was not as thorough as i needed. Mesa has filled those holes in training for me. I have taken 250 hours there in Myotherapy (trigger point therapy), Shiatsu, Pregnancy massage, Lymphatic Drainage I & II, and Preparing for the National Board II (Energy work). I have also done workshops in CranioSacral Therapy, Reflexology and Ear Candling/Coning. (Total class hours currently, 1213.)

I will always be a student. There is so much to learn, and massage is just in its infancy in that we are just beginning to learn the good we can do as healers and body-workers. In time i would like to be involved in research in the massage field. Two interesting possibilities which show promise are using lymph or using ear coning to treat ear infections in children as an alternative to antibiotics which doctors are now moving away from.