Originally trained at The Swedish Institute College of Health Sciences graduating in 1998 I have been in practice as a massage therapist with a very varied client base ever since my original New York training.
Returning to London, I moved into a live work studio at Westferry Studios in July 2000. While in that first premises I began to develop my London practice, to share my work space and help other therapists find their clients and also organise and provided teaching space for Yoga and Pilates classes. Later after a few years I moved us into a larger premises here at the Cannon Workshops.
Regarding the massage work, I have had the privilege of knowing some of my current clients since those early days and for all of these 20 plus years, along with all the usual neck shoulder back issues, I have been able to observe all the other life influencing benefits which regular massage can have.
Many Clients seemed to find their way to me when ready to take on a change of some kind in their lives. It is a very professionally fulfilling aspect of the work to be part of a major transformation or reset for someone. I am also of course more than happy to help you maintain some level of personal status quo while you deal with circumstances not really under your control like ongoing work pressures, wedding preps..injury, illness or various physical conditions. They come under the heading of life in general!
For me when The Quiet Space was also a yoga studio it felt like a temple and our yoga students did say it felt very reverential.
Closing the studio in 2008 was a huge change as I had been planning to buy a premises and live above it for the rest of my life! With hindsight closing down was probably not a 'good business decision' but it was definitely the right personal one at the time and life continued to unfold.
After all the responsibility of running the studio, supporting other therapists as well as maintaining my own therapy practice I soon found I did not know what to do with all the spare time. I joined the NHS working initially on a hyper acute stroke unit and within months began nurse training. Other interests and responsibilities (Nursing) (Parent caring) (Fun stuff like climbing Kilimanjaro and various mini peaks in Wales) have all come and gone over the years. The timing for returning to full time therapist mode in late 2019 was certainly off though as within 3 months the pandemic had arrived.
The current version of The Quiet Space is the one I made in 2008 after closing the yoga studio. Just myself and a small treatment room. Since basically beginning all over again after the pandemic my clients are once again totally varied in terms of lifestyles, hobbies and reasons for getting regular massage therapy.
All those years of yoga practice, self enquiry, the other interests, physical hobbies, personal accidents and injuries plus of course the insights and perspectives gained from nearly 24 years massage therapy practice provide a fundamental influence and knowledge base- physically, mentally and emotionally which I draw from when treating and working with you.
I am currently enjoying an all consuming passion training and competing in the without any doubt athletic and Cardio workout that International Standard and Latin Ballroom Dancing provides! Even at my low level , Strictly' it most definitely is not! I invite you to youtube Blackpool Ballroom or Latin Final to see the pros in action!
During the lockdown I also had the time to delve deeply into The Feldenkrais Method and the work of another related practitioner Anat Baniel. As well as benefitting myself, I also found many similarities in their neuro based awareness through movement method and my approach and understanding of massage gained over the years.
That lockdown learning experience tackling long held patterns of movement, the ballroom hobby and a physio and martial arts based athletic training program ensures my interest in all bodywork matters is constantly refreshed. Life experiences like the nursing role, caring for my parents, personal bereavements, a couple of broken bones and fractures and various ligament strains and muscular injuries keeps me humble and realistic; in constant and consistent personal lifelong learning mode and empathetic and understanding to my clients own life journeys and physical endeavours.
When I started out at The Quiet Space, many of my clients were older than me, and now it is reversing! As yet no plans to retire, there are many adventures yet to be had not the least of which is finally completing the Mastership in Reiki with my original teacher.
Our lineage is only five prior masters and from that perspective and the 23 years I already have as a Reiki practitioner, it will be quite different for me. I cannot see myself running the weekend workshops which are commonplace amongst masters whose primary activity is running courses and attuning others. Passing on the Reiki tradition and becoming a master within my lineage is a big responsibility.
Healing work is most likely to be something I will be able to continue on with long after the more physical massage role has ended. (Who knows when that will be!)