Finding my path…

One of the best memories of my childhood is laying in the sun on hot stones at the beach in Cape Breton Island. My favorite pastime was jumping off of a large rock outcropping into the cool salt-water Bras D’Or Lake and then climbing back up on it to bask in the sun. I never imagined I would find a career that would allow me to share the wonderful healing sensations I felt from those hot stones. The cold stones I sometimes use bring alive memories of that beautiful refreshing lake.

My life has been spent exploring the mysteries of the mind and sensations of the body. I felt like my body was my temple and I chose to keep it as pure and healthy as I could with good food and natural highs like dancing, biking,yoga and swimming.

My quest led me to The University of Toronto in 1978 where I studied the mind, metaphysics and parapsychology. I went on to explore alternative healing and bodywork there. I was so profoundly affected by the benefits of massage that I decided to explore that path more extensively.

I entered a 2-year comprehensive medically oriented massage program at Sutherland-Chan Massage School and Teaching Clinic in 1989. When I completed the program in 1991 I felt like I finally had the Owner’s Manual to my body! I was thrilled to have such a gratifying career that enabled me to use my gift of touch to facilitate people’s healing.

In 1994 I moved to California and vowed to experience all the styles of bodywork offered there. I was most inspired by a practitioner of Kahuna massage . Her hands manipulated my body in such powerful, healing ways I felt like I had been treated like Hawaiian royalty, deeply nurtured, and revitalized. I left that massage with the realization that this was the kind of experience I wanted to give others.

I started to veer away from my clinical style of massage, evolving toward a more nurturing approach. I think of massage as a purifying ritual for the client and it is a healing meditation for me. I created a Virtual Massage Vacation directory from which clients could select music and scents to enrich their chosen journey. I wanted my clients to feel like queens, like they were entering a temple where they would be purged of their stresses and revitalized.

In the spring of 1999 I found the final stone in the path that brought my journey full circle from my childhood.

I was intrigued to receive a massage from a therapist who was using hot stones to enhance her massage. As she guided the stones over my body, my mind flashed back to that intensely pleasurable sensation of basking on the hot rocks as a child. Pure bliss! The deep soothing comfort of the stones made my muscles as supple as they were when I was a carefree child. I had found the ultimate natural high! I learned to use the stones and feel honored to be able to share this extraordinary sensation, a natural element of the earth that I experienced as a child. The stones create a feeling of being recharged and grounded in both my clients and myself. We agree it is the most incredible massage we’ve ever had!