FAQ

Psychedelic Somatic Therapy (PST) is a unique treatment process that I have crafted as an alternative to the talk-focused therapist approach to healing and transformation with psychedelic substances. I have developed a nuanced and gentle somatic approach as an alternative to the Psychedelic Assisted Therapy (PAT) that is generally offered by licensed therapists and guides. Following my personal work of diving into these medicines as agents for deep insight and transformation, coupled with my study of varied somatic approaches to healing, I have developed a practice over the last six years of helping you, my patients, to stay in closer connection with the somatic body while journeying into altered states within the PST model.

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ITT is a treatment process that I developed as a response to my desire to gain deeper access to settling into a rhythm of regulation with my patients and responding to my patients' desires for more hands-on time with me.

In these 50 or 80 minute sessions I maintain a presence with you throughout the treatment, providing a weaving of various modalities, similar to my PST work but without the substance.

What does it look like?

After a short check-in about your needs and complaints, we move to the table. Meshing guidance from our check-in with my wisdom from years of experience, I will seamlessly move between gentle touch therapies like CranioSacral Therapy and Medical Qigong to massage therapeutics and more subtle forms of myofascial release, sound healing and acupuncture to help resolve imbalances in your body’s network and help to unwind congestions, generate vitality and soothe your nervous system. Each session is unique, and dependent on where your body guides us.

Many ancient cultures have unique ways of using sound to promote healing. Singing bowls of Tibet, Aboriginal dijeridoo, flute and lyre of Ancient Greece and vocal toning in Egypt. Most of us are aware of the soothing nature that gentle music or lovely sounds can have on your nervous system, relaxing and reducing stress. But what most people don’t recognize is that sound healing has scientifically researched benefits as well as ancient chops. Sound healing instruments generate sound waves that create a resonance effect across the body’s tissues. This resonance causes an alternation of compression and then relaxation of cells, kind of like a form of cellular-level massage. When the cell is compressed, some of the fluids are pushed out taking waste products and toxins along. As the pressure relaxes fresh fluids containing nutrients are drawn into the cell, supporting a therapeutic healing process. As sound vibration pulses are conducted through the connective tissue, blood, lymph, spinal fluids, cartilage, muscle tissue, bone and joints there are significant therapeutic benefits.

Most people have at least a general understanding of what acupuncture is, as the insertion of thin needles into points in the skin. But what they don’t know is “how it works”. The truth is, we don’t know exactly how it works, but we know that it does. It is an ancient branch of Chinese medicine, practiced for centuries - over 2500 years! Chinese medicine has its roots in Taoist philosophy, mirroring the wisdom that we are in essence beings that reflect the cosmology of the natural world. Through observation of complaints and professional diagnostics, disharmony can be observed in how we are out of rhythm with that natural balance. Acupuncture accesses specific points on meridians, or channels, that run through the body, similar to blood vessels or nerves. Those acupuncture channels circulate qi throughout the body. Qi is your lifeforce, the energy that circulates throughout your system and energizes every action from your organ functions to body movements.

Each point on the acupuncture channel has its set of unique functions and accesses different organs of the Chinese physiology (Chinese interpretations of the organs are similar but also very different than Western physiology). Inserting needles into these specific locations will adjust the organ network and influence a harmony, depending on what is out of balance in the system. If you are coming in for issues of physical pain, I will choose additional points such as trigger points, and other points surrounding the painful areas that may or may not be on the acupuncture channels.

In addition to the more traditional concerns of organ function, acupuncture has other more relatable benefits including reducing inflammation and swelling, softening contracted muscles and tissues, promoting relaxation, and supporting physiological homeostasis. It’s used for every health concern under the sun and then some!

You might be used to thinking of those tight spots in your body that cause pain as knots. When you are in the clinic on my table, I will locate epicenters in those “knots” called trigger points. Trigger points can be massaged as well as receive acupuncture. Inserting a thin needle into the trigger point can release the contraction of the muscle and soften the surrounding tissues, as well as increase circulation in the area, and reduce inflammation and swelling.

Cupping has been used for more than 5000 years as a health practice in many cultures. Small cups are placed on the skin and using a pneumatic vacuum pump, the tissue is drawn up into the vessel. This is similar to a “reverse massage”. Cupping will increase circulation to an area which will bring in fresh blood to an otherwise stagnant area, transport out accumulated waste products and fluids, and relax contracted tissues.

Gua Sha roughly translates as “dredging meridian stagnation”. A generous amount of oil is applied locally to the area where a tool is applied to “scrape” the skin with pressure, stimulating blood flow in the affected area. This helps to increase healing of traumatized tissues and relieve pain.

Qi is understood as the universal life force. My favorite way to understanding this concept of “qi” comes from meditation on the concept of “that which animates life”. Many people translate qi as energy, but from my studies it is much more dynamic than this. But this understanding is a good beginning to grasping the concept. Have you ever considered what it is that animates you? Your body and mind? The energy that grows a tree, moves your one foot in front of the other, both are considered qi. Gong translates to cultivation, so a cultivation of the energy we are considering life force.

This qi cultivation (qigong) can look like a variety of subtle meditative practices and movements that will heal system imbalances, offer pain relief, and nourish vitality in your body. When we place the term Medical in the front, it means that I am using these practices in hands on healing to support your health. The lineage that I am certified in is the Yijing Medical Qigong System.

CranioSacral Therapy is a gentle manual therapy. I use this therapy to release tensions in the body, nudge a rhythmic flow for the cerebrospinal fluid and to help regulate the central nervous system. I started my journey of studying CranioSacral Therapy as a practice where I could hone the intuitive skills of subtle tissue, joint and energetic manipulations and adjustments that I was already naturally creatively expressing with my patients.