About Me

First and foremost, I have trained as an educator with that as a firm foundation for my identity.  My MA in Experiential Education was largely a result of knowing that learning something for me was deeply tied to the experience.  It was not only the doing of tasks and book work, it was the being there in the midst of what was transpiring that informed me. When I found myself in Massage School after completing graduate school it was the laying on of hands, and the practical approach to comfort, ease, and wholeness that began to show me how to facilitate the interconnectedness that I sensed was so crucial to healing.   I have been educating myself and others via my private practice of massage therapy for 35 years now.

I have studied many subjects in depth throughout my life:  education, yoga, healing, meditation, gardening, cooking. Both formal and informal training have been constants as I work with my own curiosity and the need to know or understand people, place, and process.  Following is a list of some of the major influences upon my work: Iyengar, Kriya and Kaiut yoga, Jin Shin Jyutsu, the Enneagram, Chi Kung Healing, Cranial Sacral Therapy, Tarot, character strategies of Wilhelm Reich, Essential Oils, Flower Essences.  My education is an ongoing project.

Even before going to college or earning a degree I was a student of literature and nature.  I spent hours immersed in books, often in a natural setting: by the pond, in the woods, at the edge of a lake.   I spent summers camping and camp counseling learning the ways of the woods and land where I lived. As a child I considered myself more fairie, than human, for it was in nature that I thrived.  Stories were like food for me, keeping an essential part of me fed and nourished. The stories shared by clients, laid upon the foundation of literature have fueled my deepening understanding of humanity and nature.  Having created a home in many different places I have developed an easy way with various environments, modest means, and a taste for beauty.

Comfort, internal and external, unique to each of us, and yet a common language, has been a thread throughout my life.  For many, many years it has been an offering that flowed freely through me and others: a gifting of sorts that has fostered many deep relationships and cherished friendships.  Now I am able to extend a palpable experience of comfort to provide support, facilitate ease, and lead both myself and others back into essential relationship with oneself.

I've taught in a pre-school, elementary schools, at massage schools, in workshops, and mentorships.   I thrive in relationship, most specifically one-on-one relationships, where there is an intensity of focus and a common thread of interest.  It is in relationship that my creativity blossoms and my deep care, compassion, and concern for others is evident. A nurturer by nature, the opportunity to assist the process of slowing down, resting in nature, pausing to relax and refresh in service to consciousness allowing the next steps in life to unfold: this work is my pleasure, and my gift to you.  Rounding out your retreat experience, I prepare a menu specifically to nourish your body and soul, as well as designing activities (or not) suited to your current needs.

Holadia