New Client Readiness

Announcing: New Response in FAQ Section!

Not really a question, but I am really nervous...

I understand! It makes a lot of sense to be nervous about initiating this work. I appreciate the transparency and I know your nervous system does, too. We are strangers and this is a high-contact, deeply impacting process - your anxiety, fears, and concerns are as welcome as they are appropriate. You are the ultimate decider of what is safe - I will not decide what is safe for you.

But let's talk about the possibility of you changing your mind.

The most popular reason people cancel their New Client or Intake Call sessions with me is because they don't feel ready. I receive this transparency with massive gratitude and have written a set of questions that I hope feels supportive now or when/if you happen to change your mind. Sometimes people change their minds about being ready and this is a-OK with me! You always have an out. Always, always, always.

As I mention often, nobody randomly finds me. It is likely you have sought this work out for very good reason. Those reasons, motives, and the readiness... are important and yet they can change without losing their importance. You have every right to change your mind about this work. I will not punish you for choosing it's not the right time. In fact, it already shows me that you are listening to your body! This is the whole point of my work! How could I be upset about someone following their body's whispers - or screams, if we are being real - ? ?

If your anxiety or nervousness scoots out of your window of tolerance, there is absolutely no problem with canceling your session. I will also cancel sessions if my anxiety happens to sneak outside of my window of tolerance! This happens! The world is an actual shit show and we are actually only human. I think any anxiety that shows up is a fierce, loving protector showing up to the party/trip of life.

You owe me no explanation and I will not be upset with you if you need more time to decide or to settle into the choice of receiving this work.

Respectfully, I ask that folks at least communicate a cancellation rather than floating into the No Call No Show world because that could impact the way I feel ready to meet with you as I consider NCNS situations disrespectful and a waste of my time. Deposits you've made are not refundable but I would be happy to work with you in the future if your readiness changes again. More info about canceling a session is under another section of this FAQ page, which I do expect you to read before booking your first session.

Truthfully, I am astonished by the grace and compassion you've already allowed yourself by seeking this work out. I take my practice very seriously and I honor the time you've already put into this thus far by reading my website and considering it. The last decade of my professional life would mean nothing without people like you who have mustered up the courage to get deep with themselves in self-discovery. I applaud you and am here whenever you decide it's best for you.

There is absolutely no worry on my end that your nervous system is doing nervous system things. We will always have a check-in before you hop on the bodywork table. There will always be an opportunity to leave, to say No, and to stop. That can be now or in the middle of a session - doesn't matter.

Regardless - it has been an absolute pleasure to have been considered someone you would trust with such intimate threads of your human tapestry. May the best always be yours for your nervous system to decide.

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The FAQ page has been updated and you'll start to see other changes on the site that I hope articulate my work more accurately and descriptively in the very near future. You'll notice changes to the booking page eventually - and there may even be packages and a new special extended session lasting no shorter than 90 minutes that includes new modalities like dry brushing, hot stones, and scents... don't hold your breath quite yet, though. I need time to figure that out and will likely have discounted trial sessions for the first few!

I am often at my own loss of words to describe my work because it can mean so many things to different people. I can see how this lack of description can leave people feeling like they don't know what they are signing up for or what to expect. I also keep hearing from folks who have said they found me long before reaching out because they were waiting to feel ready. I am listening and I want to respond with support!

This practice is what you decide it is for you. I don't have the right to decide that for you, therefore I cannot in good conscious tell you exactly how you'll know when you'll be ready for it. I actually have no interest in future-telling but I can tell you from experience that I have a pretty good guess that you will leave with feelings of euphoria, connectedness, and agency of your pleasure and grief (yes, grief shows up in this work all the time). However, this also comes with a lot of effort to show up for it.

There is absolutely nothing shameful about not feeling ready. Many people arrive to this work not feeling ready, but perhaps just courageous enough. Not being ready does not mean you are not courageous - it just means you aren't ready. This is a large investment and costs much more than a typical massage you would find at a spa; it makes all the sense to rely on your readiness before spending hundreds of dollars on a bodywork session. I approach you with grace.

Below I have written out a living set of questions in hopes to offer support for anyone who is in contemplation to start but also to deepen a connection to the reason you want to be here in the first place. May it be here for you whenever you need it.

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General questions I think could be helpful to think about before reaching out to a provider:

How does touch impact me?

How do I like to be touched?

What kind of touch bothers me?

What does self-discovery mean to me?

And what does touch have to do with it?

Where do I feel resistance in my body about this work? How does this resistance have my best interest at heart?

Gentle interrogation: How does this show up in the body?

Does this have a texture? A taste? A scent?

If it could speak, what would it say?

Do I want to turn away or turn towards something?

Where do I feel welcoming in my body about this work? How does this welcoming have my best interest at heart?

Gentle interrogation: How does this show up in the body?

Does this have a texture? A taste? A scent?

If it could speak, what would it say?

What kinds of things have I heard about somatics?

What would I like to learn about somatic practices?

What can touch teach me? What would I like to learn from touch?

What else can support me on this journey?

How could this work impact my life?

My relationship with my body, my sensuality, or my emotions?

How do I feel about new experiences?

What is my capacity for new experiences?

What is my capacity for receiving touch?

What conditions are necessary for me to feel safe being touched by a stranger?

Am I confident I can say No?

Am I confident I can say Yes?

Let these questions live in effortless support for you - come back to them when you feel called to. Notice when your answers might change - and why they change. No information is bad information!

(Side note: If you want to use a different word than interrogation, feel free :) lol, it's just the way I feel when I am in deep curiosity of interoception)