My Training

The Franklin Method is a student-centered system for teaching functional movement, anatomy, and biomechanics.  It uses imagery and its training effect to feel better in body and mind.  We use massage balls and stretchy bands as a way to work with the body’s skeletal, muscular, and fascial structures to improve strength, resilience, and imagination while working directly to calm the nervous system.

I am a level 3 Franklin Method Educator and have worked and studied directly with Eric Franklin. Eric is an international teacher, developed the system, and published more than 21 books on the pedagogy of imagery, movement teaching, and functional biomechanics.

Eric Franklin is the founder of the Franklin Method. His long-time collaborator is Morten Dithmer.  Eric and Morten were both trained initially as dancers in Europe, and Morten was also trained in the Japanese form of Aikido.  The Franklin Method’s pedagogy primarily focuses on the intentional use of mental imagery during movement.

Eric learned how to use deliberate imagery from Andre Bernard, who came from the teaching lineage of Mable Todd, Lulu Sweigard, and Martha Clark, founders of Ideokinesis.   Ideokinesis was primarily born out of Mable Todd’s work around studying the voice, physiology, and psychology of movement and how to apply it to day-to-day life.  See more about the Franklin Method origins here. View the Franklin Method page here.

I holistically use my Pilates training with you to help support your immune system, pelvic floor and abdominal strength, and physical and emotional resilience.

I studied Pilates under Lawson Harris in Brooklyn, who is under the lineage of Carola Trier under Joseph Pilates.  I also studied with Katherine and Kimberly Corp and Gail Giovanello in NYC. I learned from Bess Whitesel, Martha Mason, and Paula Spina in Cambridge, MA.

Pilates is a physical fitness system developed in the early 20th century by Joseph Pilates and can be used as a basis for most personal training exercises.  The primary principles in Pilates are breath, concentration, centering, control, precision, and flow.  Pilates is most useful at helping to improve posture, strength, endurance, stability, and range of motion.

Like so many modern exercise forms, Pilates was developed from the synthesis, borrowing, and appropriation of forms from multiple cultures that came before it.  The process of decolonizing the form and recognizing its roots is just in its infancy.

Joseph Pilates studied body-building, jiu-jitsu, boxing, wrestling, gymnastics, skiing, yoga, and the movement of animals, as well as Zen Buddhism and the  Greek culture.

After studying with a Kung Fu teacher, I realized that many of the Classical Pilates Mat exercises that people are so quick to credit to Joseph Pilates look very much like traditional Kung Fu exercises, which originate in China.

Joe Pilates’s contribution to strength training was developing the equipment he invented by taking apart beds in a war camp during WWI and using the bedsprings as resistance to help injured soldiers.

I no longer take clients who are solely interested in Pilates or Personal Training.

Yoga is a group of somatic, physical, mental, and spiritual practices in India, with even earlier roots in Northern Africa, including Ancient Egypt and Ethiopia.  The Hindu roots of Yoga are widely recognized, but it also has Buddhist, Taoist, Jainist, and even Sufi influences.  Other parts of Asia, such as Tibet and China, also influence the practice.

I have practiced and taught various forms of yoga since 2001.  I have worked at Baptiste Power Yoga, Kula Yoga Project, South Boston Yoga, and Savin Hill Yoga. In my early Yoga life, I trained most with Liz Owen, Claire Este-McDonald, and Debra Bluth.

I am particularly drawn to Yoga’s deep roots and its connection to the Chakra System.  I am most interested in how Yoga can help calm our nervous system, soothe our energetic bodies, and bring us stability in a challenging world.

I continue to train with teachers Debra Bluth, Alison Sinatra, and Kevin Courtney, who have deep understandings of the ancient lineages of the form.  I also have studied digitally with Nityda Gessel and Zabie Yamasaki, who bring a trauma-informed and anti-oppression-focused approach to the work.  I have a 40-hour training in evidence-based trauma-sensitive yoga from TCTSY.

Additional influences: Judith Lassader (leading educator on Restorative Yoga) and Susanna Barkataki (Honor Don’t Appropriate Yoga).

Breathing well is a function of strong health.  As many of us recover from the effects of systemic stress or trauma, and now the virus of COVID-19, breathing exercises can help support and improve vitality, calm our bodies, and restore the supportive role of our nervous systems.

I offer breathing exercises from Yoga, the Franklin Method, Tai Chi, and Qigong and an understanding of the biomechanics of breathing and its relationship to other systems, such as surrounding fascia, the pelvic floor, and the immune system.  We work together to create breathing exercises and practices that fit into your life and support your overall health.

I have 20 years of experience teaching rehabilitation exercises and injury prevention.  I use a whole-systems approach, and work from the core understanding that our bodies are interrelated organic systems, not a collection of parts that make up a machine.

If there is pain or injury in one part of the body, we often have to strengthen and mobilize neighboring systems to support health, well-being, and recovery.

In addition to my work with Eric Franklin, I have learned injury prevention, functional biomechanics, and rehab exercises with Marcus Schulkind (acupuncture and dance) and Christopher Clock (physical therapist and MGH Institute of Health professor).  If you’re already working with a physical therapist, I can collaborate with them.

I teach pelvic floor anatomy from a non-binary perspective.  Pelvic floor exercises can be used to support and improve continence, posture, sexual health and pleasure, and recovery from pregnancy, birth, surgery, or any number of traumas.

I primarily use pelvic floor exercises developed by Eric Franklin.  I incorporate ancient pelvic floor exercises from Yoga and am continually learning from pelvic floor physical therapist Solange Ross in Manhattan.

Additional influences: Sheri Winston, Sarah Duvall, Layla Martin, Regena Thomashauer, Kimberly Johnson, Riane Eisler, Esther Perel, and Christopher Ryan & Cacilda Jetha.

I studied CranioSacral Therapy with the Upledger Institute.  CranioSacral Therapy is a bodywork modality that uses gentle touch to palpate the joints of the skull and pelvis as a way to restore our bodies’ natural rhythms.  It is done with a light touch and a meditative state to calm the mind and nervous system.  We work with the fascial system to free the spinal channel and allow cerebrospinal fluid to flow.

John Upledger, an osteopathic physician, is named the method’s creator; however,  with a  bit of decolonizing work, we understand that many native peoples in the US, particularly the Shawnee and Cherokee peoples, had hands-on healing modalities that influenced the development of this form.

I’ve been enjoying the writing by Susan Raffo and Hugh Milne about the Indigenous Origins of this form of bodywork.

I studied Usui Reiki Ryoho levels I and II with Jeff Arbor and received my Reiki Master’s degree from Libby Barnett.  Reiki is a gentle system for helping a person balance their energy system.  Reiki is a Japanese form of energy work with Buddhist origins that uses meditation, spiritual and mental focus, and the hands to guide and balance energetic systems.  Reiki can be hands-on or hands-off the body; remotely or in-person; practiced on oneself or others.

Commonly misperceived as an ancient practice, Reiki is genuinely more modern than old; Reiki founder Mikao Usui set up his first Reiki clinic and school in 1922.  Reiki was first brought to the West around the beginning of WWII by Hawayo Takata.  Although Reiki itself may be modern, ancient practices across the globe included hands-on energy work.

While Reiki is credited as being Japanese, it draws on Indian and Hindi traditions, as shown by its references to Tantric and Vedic Chakra System.

I studied the Chakra System with Yogi, herbalist, and flower essence practitioner Debra Bluth.  I continue to learn about it with Shamanic Practitioner Ann Drake and Yoga/meditation expert Kevin Courtney.

There are many different Chakra Systems from varying indigenous practices worldwide; I’ve trained in the system that originates in India from a Hindi and Vedic perspective. The Chakras are described as energy centers with interdependent relationships; balancing these centers can help a person be healthier in mind, body, and spirit.

Reiki can help with balancing the energy of these centers, but so can a whole host of practices, meditations, foods, and activities.  We use the Chakras to look at both personal and community health.

Myofascial Mobilization can be done with Franklin Balls, with your own hands, with my hands, or with a combination of these tools.  We work with the fascial and muscular systems to restore the sense of slide and movement to the soft tissues in the body.  We use a combination of touch, body rolling, visualization, and movement to improve your range of motion and reduce tension.

I studied Myofascial Trigger Point Therapy with Richard Finn, LMT, and CMTPT.  Trigger points are a highly debated phenomenon within the scientific community.  Most people think of having “knots” (i.e., taut bands within the muscular-fascial system).

Trigger Point Therapy is a western practice that uses pressure to alleviate pain.  It originated from researchers in Germany, Britain, and France.  Finn’s approach utilizes classic Swedish Movements (initially part of Swedish Massage) to keep nerves moving within their soft tissue to prevent the pain patterns from returning.

I believe that everyone has the right to be free of trauma symptoms.  Body and movement work can support the work you are already doing with your licensed mental health professional.  Together we will help you feel and sense your body while learning about your nervous system. I can teach you calming and grounding techniques for use on your own.

I have done over 100 hours of trauma-informed training, including the 40-hour introduction to TCTSY with David Emerson and Jen Turner, the Trauma Conscious Yoga Method with Nityda Gessel, as well as courses by Peter Levine (the creator of Somatic Experiencing), Richard Schwartz (the creator of Internal Family Systems), and Stephen Porges (the primary scientific researcher of Polyvagal Theory).

I am currently enrolled in the Trauma Research Foundation’s Certificate in Trauma Stress Studies (70-hour training in evidence-based methods) and in Transcending Sexual Trauma through Yoga with Zabie Yamasaki.

Modern society has normalized high levels of continuous stress.  Unfortunately, most of us are not taught how to cope with and discharge stress in healthy ways.

Ongoing high stress is destructive to our bodies and can show up in the following ways: shallow breathing, heart rate dysregulation, disrupted sleep, lethargy or too much sleep, autoimmune issues, and feeling anxious or on edge most of the time.

We work together to train your nervous system so that you are calm, clear, and connected to make intelligent choices around life’s inevitable challenges.

I have a Master of Education in Theatre Education from Emerson College (dance and movement) and more than 20 years of improvisational movement and theatre experience. I’ve taught at the K-12 and college levels, as well as at the professional level.

Theatre and movement games can expand our bodies’ creative ways of being, our expressive range, and our bodies’ innate capacity to feel, experience, connect, and grow.

I use exercises from Action Theatre, Contact Improvisation, Tuning Scores, Drama and Dance Therapy, Mirror and Attunement exercises, Laban Movement Dynamics, Bartineiff Fundamentals, developmental movement, clowning, mask work, and composition exercises as a way to help cultivate curiosity, play, experimentation, co-regulation, and self-regulation.

Master’s level study: Bob Colby and Bethany Nelson. Early career study: Sarah Hickler, Ruth Zaporah, and Debra Bluth.

Recent study: Karen Nelson, Billie Jo Joy, and Avital Manor-Peleg. Intensive study: Emmanuelle Delpech (Pig Iron Theatre in Philly).

I am in dialogue and ongoing learning with Gail Burton (Theatre of the Oppressed).

“Nothing is going to remain the way it is. Let us, in the present, study the past so as to invent the future.” –Augusto Boal

Oppression shows up as trauma in our bodies.  Noticing how systems of oppression have caused physical patterns within us can be a first step in the unlearning of behavior and the repatterining of our physicality and engagement with others.

Learning to calm ourselves and our nervous systems while also studying the past and taking thoughtful action enables us to create a more equitable world and more vitality in ourselves and in our communities.

I can guide you through your steps, both in your body and in the world, and be transparent about my process (and my mistakes!) as you choose how you want to engage in creating meaningful change.

See more info here.