Better Brain Body Balance Biblically
God wants you to feel safe and peaceful in
body and mind
How are you feeling?
Stressed, anxious, having a hard time falling asleep or staying asleep, moody, irritable, keep thinking about traumatic experiences, emotional, gut pain or constipation, eating or drinking to feel calmer?
Getting headaches or neck or back pain or stiffness, limited range of motion in neck, hips, knees, or pain in other areas?
Fatigued, puffy all over, difficulty losing weight, have swelling under the skin, rashes or allergies, feel like you need to detox, have gut bloating or digestive issues?
Creating better brain and body balance can help!
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Intuitive Bodywork
Treatments are tailored to what you most need the day we work together.
These are some of the methods we'll use to best bring healing
Pain, stiffness and reduced range of motion- Advanced Soft Tissue Release, Myofascial Release Therapy and Fascial Stretch Therapy to painlessly and effectively release and reorganize adhesions and scar tissue in connective tissue. Cupping and percussive therapy can be added as well.
Chronic Stress, Anxiety, PTSD, CFS/ME, Fibromyalgia, Autoimmune conditions- Gentle Myofascial Release, Craniosacral Therapy and The Perrin Technique. Focus is on helping the nervous system to deeply relax, come into greater safety and reorganize out of chronic fight, flight or freeze states. Helps develop greater stress resiliency and gently resolve trauma patterns.
Fatigue, feeling puffy, gut issues, brain fog, needing to detoxify, fluid retention/swelling or post surgery- Lymphatic drainage, the Perrin Technique, Myofascial Release, Craniosacral Therapy. Cupping and percussive therapy can be added as well. Goal is to open gut, brain and body lymphatic drainage along with Craniosacral Therapy to help the nervous system rebalance.
More About These Therapies
-The Perrin Technique lymphatic drainage of the brain and spinal cord, especially important for CSF/ME, chronic pain, stress and anxiety, MS, lyme, autoimmune conditions, long covid, hormonal imbalance, other brain based ailments (See below for info and video on The Perrin Technique)
-Craniosacral Therapy (CST) and Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST) Rebalancing brain, nervous system, visceral organs, and subtle energy systems, helpful for stress and healing all conditions of the body and mind (See below for info and video on CST)
-Myofascial Release Releases tension patterns and supports the body's connective tissues to reorganize in healthy ways. This supports lymph, blood and nervous system flow and reduces inflammation and pain
-Advanced Soft Tissue Release (ASTR) Next level pain release and mobility restoration, ASTR works with specialized tools that are designed to treat fascial adhesions and scar tissue very effectively and painlessly. (See below for info and video on ASTR)
-Lymphatic Drainage (LD) The lymphatic system is vital for our health as seat of the body's immune system and cellular waste disposal system. Chronic stress can cause the lymphatics to flow backward and become congested in tissues, organs and the brain, and allowing toxins to accumulate in and around cells, causing a myriad of health problems. When combined with detoxification and healthful nutrition, LD is an important support for healing and creating greater wellness.
-Fascial Stretch Therapy (FST) More than just stretching! Fascial Stretch Therapy works with the body's whole fascial system as an interconnected whole, helping to restore healthy alignment and opening lymph and blood flow. Utilized by many professional athletes because of it's effectiveness for recovery and sports performance, it's great for restoring ease of movement and vitality for all.
What a typical bodywork session looks like
Clients lie on a comfortable, warm, cushioned massage table undressing to comfort level while being modestly draped with sheets and a light blanket at all times. If clothing on is preferred, a tank top and loose shorts are helpful for soft tissue work and lymphatic drainage. At all times treatment is completely pain free and extremely relaxing.
Mind-Body Coaching
Cutting edge, mind-body and somatic trauma recovery coaching, especially when utilized in conjunction with intuitive bodywork, helps rewire thinking patterns in your brain to turn down over active danger signals and turn up safety signals. This helps to resolve past trauma, naturally end pain, lower inflammation, balance hormones and create deep relaxation, even down to the cellular level. When cells deeply relax they initiate a biochemical healing cascade that promotes healing throughout the whole body.
Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministry
"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules." Ezekiel 36:26-27
Nutrition for Trauma Recovery, Gut Healing and Hormonal Rebalancing
A healing diet is centered on fiber and micronutrients, along with adequate protein and healthy fats, and limiting or eliminating inflammatory foods. I recommend dietary guidelines that follow the "Bean Protocol," created by biochemist Karen Hurd, and nutritarian diet principles promoted by Dr Joel Fuhrman. While people are in a healing mode it's imperative to increase nutrient consumption and avoid toxic and inflammatory foods.
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Fees
Intuitive Bodywork:
90 min $150
Package of 10 $1350
Mind-Body Coaching
60 min $100
Package of 10 $750
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The coaching approach I offer is informed by several mind-body coaching/fields of study such as Polyvagal Theory, parts work/Internal Family Systems, Brain Spotting, Neuroplastic/Mind-Body, Ontological and Somatic Embodiment coaching. Please see info below and video's I've linked for more information!
The Polyvagal Theory (PVT)
Brought to the world through Neuroscientist and researcher Dr. Stephen Porges, PVT conceptualizes a hierarchal, 3 tiered structural and functional make up of our autonomic nervous system. This system is our subconscious survival system which functions "neuroceptively," continually assessing our environment below our level of conscious awareness for cues of safety or danger.
Dr. Porges on neuroception (click for link): "As opposed to perception, which depends on cognitive awareness, neuroception is an unconscious process that occurs in the more primal components of the brain and works to evaluate behavioral and environmental cues to assess the presence of safety."
The neuroceptive system is made up of a subconscious, autonomic sensory system, that continually scans our environment outside of us, inside of us and between us and other people, and compares what we are currently experiencing, at the brain level, with memories of past experiences to help evaluate whether we are safe or not in our current experience.
The 3 hierarchal levels of the polyvagal system are the ventral vagal "social connection system," the sympathetic "fight or flight" system and the dorsal vagal "freeze" system. Let's look at these.
1. The ventral vagal nervous system (VVNS)
Known as the social engagement system, the ventral vagal neural network is part of the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), and is also sometimes called "the rest, heal and digest" nervous system. Our body, through the process of neuroception discussed above, is continually sensing and feeling what is going on in our environment in three ways: inside of us (our thoughts, feelings and microbiome and other physiological functions), outside of us in the space around us (and in the world) and between us and other people, in relationship. This is a subconscious process that is happening all the time.
The parasympathetic nervous system sends the messages from all of our visceral organs and tissues, including our gut microbiome, to the brainstem, which sends those messages onto the brain which determines a response to our environment through complex mechanisms involving memory and other cues, and sends that information back to the visceral organs and gut microbiome, which governs their function.
The ventral vagus nerve system is one of 2 main branches of the parasympathetic nervous system. Anatomically, nerve fibers in the ventral vagus nervous system run upward from the diaphragm area to the brain stem, crossing over nerves in the lungs, neck, throat, and eyes, and continue upward from the brainstem into the brain connecting with four other cranial nerves (CN V, VII, IX, XI) to form the "Social Engagement System." Sometimes called the safety circuit, the Social Engagement System uses eye gaze, facial expression, tone of voice, head movements, and social gesture to perceive and create safe connections with others.
When the ventral vagus system is fully engaged we are able to connect with others and give and perceive cues of safety in relationship, such as appropriate eye contact, prosody in vocal expression, which means a non-threatening, safe tone of voice, much like a loving mother with her children, body language such as an open, relaxed stance, etc. When perceiving safety in our interactions with others we are "ventrally resourced" and can be present, attentive, curious, creative. In this state our prefrontal cortex, our seat of higher cognitive functions such as creativity, new ideas, short term memory, learning, etc., is available, along with our whole brain, is connected with our heart neurologically. We become "heart centered," feeling generally safe and others can perceive us as safe as well.
When our ventral vagal state comes online because we perceive that we are safe this lowers inflammation which improves every function of our physical wellbeing and we become a resource to help others regulate their ventral vagal nervous system by supporting a space of safety in our interaction with them through an interpersonal dynamic called "co-regulation." More about that in the video below.
When threat comes into our perceived reality, we shift out of a regulated, connected ventral vagal state into a sympathetic, fight or flight state, or farther down the polyvagal hierarchy, into a dorsal vagal freeze state.
2. The sympathetic, fight or flight nervous system (SNS)
Our SNS is a whole body system of nerves that essentially act to mobilize us in the face of threat to either confront it (fight) or get away from it (flight). When the neuroception system in our body senses something that is threatening our safety, which includes a sense of being "disconnected" from safe relationship with others, the sympathetic nervous system activates a series of "mobilizing functions," such as increasing heart rate, dilating blood vessels to get more oxygen to muscles while constricting blood flow to digestive and other organs that aren't immediately necessary for survival, stimulating the adrenal glands to release epinephrine (adrenaline) and cortisol, raising blood sugar for instant energy, increasing breathing rate, etc. Long term SNS activation through chronic stress can lead to type 2 diabetes due to chronically elevated blood sugar and other hormonal imbalances, chronic inflammation and pain, digestive problems and gut dysbiosis, high blood pressure and suppressed immune system function.
The nerves of the SNS travel through the spine and several cranial nerves. Those nerves ennervate our heart and lungs, respiratory diaphragm, kidneys and adrenals, visceral organs, throat, eyes, ears, and other structures. There is a reciprocal and inhibitory relationship between our SNS and PNS which is normal and needed to regulate our physiology, but in states of chronic, unabating stress this relationship can become imbalanced.
3. The dorsal vagal system (DVS)
The DVS governs a "freeze" or collapse state in response to perceived threat and is what people and other mammals default to when "fighting or fleeing" in the face of threat is unsuccessful in normalizing our system back into a calm, ventral vagal state.
A dorsal vagal response to perceived threat results in a shut down, freeze state. It is the organisms way of preparing for death in the face of what is perceived as overwhelming danger. This can result in feeling disassociated, numb, checked out, spacey, ungrounded, paralyzed in moving forward physically or in life, can cause gut or reproductive issues, or suicidal thoughts.
In the polyvagal model, the DVS governs generally the organs below the respiratory diaphragm. When the DVS is chronically dysregulated it can cause digestive issues such as IBS, Crohn's/colitis, SIBO, gut dysbiosis, urogenital issues, reproductive issues, etc.
**See important video here on the trauma causes of addiction with one of the world's foremost researchers and healers on embodied trauma, Dr. Gabor Mate.
Please see video below by psychologist Deb Dana for an in depth look at the Polyvagal system.
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Internal Family Systems (IFS)
IFS work is a revolutionary approach to bringing integration and healing to the human mind, heart and soul by helping to heal parts of us that have experienced trauma from events which triggered fear, rejection, abandonment and shame. When we experience a sense of disconnection from primary caregivers and others in vital relationships, from the womb onward, this triggers shame in human beings, and a sense that we are not "good enough." This shame is really the root of the intense pain we feel from rejection and abandonment and is the most painful emotion people can feel.
If the feeling of threat to our survival that comes from perceived separation from others is not immediately restored by safe, nurturing connection with our caregivers or in our significant relationships, we can repress, or "exile," the parts of us that experienced this trauma. This often results in other parts being recruited by our soul to protect the exiled part. While their job is to help us stay safe they can create maladaptive behavior patterns, such as angry outbursts, addictions, people pleasing, co-dependency, personality disorders, etc.
In the IFS paradigm, we have a "Self", that is always available and possessed of what Dr. Richard Schwartz, the creator of IFS calls "the 8 C's:" curiosity, compassion, clarity, connectedness, creativity, courage, confidence, calm. From a Biblical lens, we could say that as we are created in God's image, our "Self" referred to in IFS is our primary soul, the part of us created in the image of God. When trauma isn't resolved, our soul can fracture into what IFS calls the exiled parts. When these parts are seen, heard and validated by our primary Self/soul, they release the burdens of shame and hurt they are carrying and are liberated to be who God really created them to be. This healing process can happen relatively quickly in some cases and is quite miraculous.
The 3 main goals with an IFS approach to trauma healing are:
1. To liberate parts from their roles of carrying trauma burdens which allows them to be who they were created by God to be.
2. Allows the parts to come to trust the leadership of the Self. This is a quality of a mentally fit person. The parts listen to the Self and trust it to lead in the inner and outer world.
3. Bring harmony to the parts so they can get to know each other and work together. When this happens we feel integrated, safe and freed up from chronic stress. The parts are in their true roles and the body and soul can heal.
4. To bring our Self leadership out into the world, bringing forth our true purpose that God intended for us to express as only we can.
Please see video below for in depth look at the Internal Family Systems healing process with it's creator, Dr. Richard Schwartz.
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Neuroplastic/Mind-Body/Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy Coaching
Pioneering rehabilitative medical doctor Dr. John Sarno (click for video interview) originated the term "tension myositis syndrome," later renaming it "tension myoneural syndrome," during his medical practice from 1965 to 2012 to identify symptoms of chronic pain that have no discernable or statistically relevant physical cause. In treating his patients he noticed a pattern of particular personality traits, or emotional states, that his chronic pain patients had in common and came develop a therapeutic approach to treat the "psycho-somatic," or mind-body nature of these conditions. Since his pioneering work, others have further developed these concepts and are conducting research to better understand this phenomenon. Today this process is also known as mind-body conditions Neuroplastic Conditions.
Recent research has shown that up to 95% of all chronic pain and other idiopathic inflammatory conditions, such as autoimmune disease, are actually caused by the brain's response to threat, or stress.
From Dr. Dave Clarke, founder of the Psycho-Physiologic Disorder Association(www.symptomatic.me): "Symptoms happen for a reason. Pain and other symptoms not linked to organ/structure disease are usually generated by the brain due to nerve pathways that have been altered by one or more sources of stress. This condition is called a Psychophysiologic Disorder (PPD) because it results from a blend of psychology and physiology. Common stresses responsible for PPD include current life issues, a lack of self-care skills, the long-term impact of adverse childhood experience (ACEs) and somatic (body) manifestations of mental health conditions such as depression, PTSD and anxiety. Common sequelae of ACEs include stress-inducing personality traits (such as perfectionism, excessive self-criticism, caring for others to the detriment of oneself), repressed negative emotions (anger, fear, shame, grief, guilt) and people or situations that are triggering. When these stresses are identified and treated, PPD symptoms can be alleviated, often completely."
I have personally recovered from several severe TMS/PPD conditions through prayerfully healing the emotional stress causing them. This work is a truly fascinating and hopeful paradigm for healing.
Please see video below for discussion by Dr. Howard Schubiner, a leading voice in this emerging field of mind-body medicine.
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Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST)
Inside each of us there is a perfect, God-created, primal lifeforce blueprint that is not impacted by traumas in our lives and is ever present until the moment we die. A state of wellbeing and vital health. As long as we are alive, it is always available to be resourced to bring trauma resolution and healing to every part of us. Inspired by the Book of Genesis in the Bible, Dr. William Sutherland, father of Cranial Osteopathy, called this inherent blueprint of health "The Breath of Life."
"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Genesis 2:7
The breath of life is a universal, quantum respiratory mechanism that "breathes" in and out of all living things, is always available and never affected by trauma. Dr. Sutherland called this the "primary respiratory mechanism." It is a slow, deep and broad kind of in and out breathing that moves in and through all living beings within the God-created lifeforce nature of existence. It is an intelligent, stable resource for healing.
Practitioners learn to sense, palpate, align with and encourage fuller expression of this lifeforce to help their clients, through co-regulation and resonance, to resource it within themselves. Doing so promotes greater "potency," in the fluids and tissues of the body, resolution of trauma and reorganization toward health.
This gentle, unconditionally supportive, safe therapeutic approach can be profoundly transformational as it helps the body-mind system resolve deeply held traumas and shock in our systems in a very gentle, healing way that other healing methods can't really access. This work is deeply relaxing and safe and effective for everyone, from just born babies to elders.
Please see video below by Dr. Sylvia Schroer for a beautiful description of the BCST healing approach.
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Ontological Coaching
Ontological Coaching is an important part of mind-body healing as it helps us learn how to create empowered agency in our lives and helping us overcome the effects of trauma. It utilizes a person's beliefs, language, emotions and felt body sense in relationship to our sense of self in relationship to ourselves and others, harnessing the remarkable way God created our mind and body to work together to create our reality and transform our lives how we want to.
Check out video below with Amanda Blake PhD, author of "Your Body is Your Brain," to get a sense of the manifesting power that's available when we tap into the brain-body-consciousness connection.
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BrainSpotting Coaching
This incredible brain-body reintegration approach was discovered and developed by Dr David Grande. It harnesses the brain's self repair ability through eye position to literally "re-wire" the neural connections that are keeping trauma patterns in place and helps them shift to a state of balanced brain and body neural function that can be extremely fast and powerfully transformative, even with one session! This is definitely the most powerful mind-body trauma recovery tool I've ever experienced or learned.
Brainspotting is also wonderful for tapping into our God given creative genius, enabling the brain to "wire in" new patterns that support our goals, be they creative, business, sports performance, academic performance, relationship skills, and more.
See video below for interview with Dr David Grande on the miraculous power of Brainspotting
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The Perrin Technique
The Perrin Technique is an Osteopathic Manual Therapy developed by Dr Raymond Perrin to treat chronic fatigue/ME and fibromyalgia by manually stimulating lymphatic drainage and fluid motion of the brain and spinal cord, helping to flush out toxins that cause inflammation in the brain and nervous system. It involves gentle spinal/cranial manipulation and specific lymphatic massage of the head, neck, chest and back, and self massage to clear these toxins out of the body to restore normal nervous system function. Because many conditions are caused by lymphatic congestion in the brain and spinal cord, the Perrin Technique is helpful for those as well, such as dementia, Parkinson's, depression/anxiety/ADD, long covid, autoimmune conditions, chronic pain, etc.
See video below for more information from Dr Raymond Perrin on this effective brain healing technique!
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Advanced Soft Tissue Release (ASTR)
The miracle pain eraser and mobility restorer, this revolutionary manual therapy approach utilizes patented tools that are designed to completely painlessly and very quickly release tension and scar tissue in connective tissues.
We essentially have 5 layers of fascial tissue in the body. For an example to help conceptualize this, we can look at fascia's relationship with muscle. An useful analogy is to imagine going to the produce section and getting some apples, lemons and oranges, putting them all in their own bag. Then you put those 3 bags into one big bag. Each of those plastic bags is a layer of fascia around individual muscle groups. As well, each individual muscle group has facia encapsulating bundles of muscle fibers, and finally there is facia around individual muscle fibers. Putting all those bags in one the large bag represents the fascial tissue that envelopes entire muscle groupings, like the quadriceps, which is actually a functional group of 4 different muscles. Then on top of those muscles and all the structures of the body under the skin, like a whole body stocking, is the superficial fascia. Many layers!
Each of these layers can get injured by strain or trauma which creates inflammation, then scar tissue, and in the normal healing process, will eventually heal and return to normal function. But if the tissue remains in a pattern of inflammation to scar tissue and back again because of continued injury, such as occupational injury, emotional or physical stress or postural imbalances, then the scar tissue doesn't resolve and the fascial tissues stay shortened, tight and dehydrated. This is the most common cause of chronic and acute pain and lack of mobility issues.
Some common techniques used today that are intended to treat fascial scar tissue to restore functional mobility and reduce pain such as Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (IASTM), some forms of physical therapy, some forms of stretching, Rolfing, massage and other force-based, no pain/no gain techniques can be quite painful. The idea is that it requires force to manually stretch and break scar tissues which ideally will rehydrate and normalize the tight tissues. But this approach is contraindicated because it does not take into account the actual physiology of inflammation and scar tissue formation. Because of the force and instruments used these kinds of approaches can actually cause more inflammation, to which the body responds by creating more scar tissue, which perpetuates the pain/lack of mobility cycle. In addition, human hands and the instruments used in these techniques are often not able to precisely reach deeper, distinct fascial scar tissues.
The tools used in the ASTR approach are designed to identify and painlessly and effectively reach each all of the 5 layers of fascia, releasing the specific scar tissue that is causing restriction and pain. Rather than inducing more inflammation, this approach normalizes scar tissue, which helps it rehydrate and release tightness.
Because of it's effectiveness, the ASTR approach can quickly resolve even severe, long term pain and mobility issues that surgeries, injections, traditional massage, chiropractic, physical therapy, etc, haven't been able to fully address. It's great for frozen shoulders, hip and knee pain, migraines, chronic or acute back, neck, TMJ pain, plantar fasciitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and much more. In my experience it's the most effective approach to release connective tissue restriction I've ever used, and the results are long lasting.
Please see video below by ASTR inventor Dr. Joseph Jacobs on this remarkable technique.
