hands-on treatment
to be free and at home in your body and your life
advanced bodywork for
abdominal + pelvic balance,
deep nervous system care,
+ spiritual anchoring
words of praise
Hi, I'm Muse
she/her, wanderer of the wilds, creatrix, and medicine woman — a.k.a. , bodyworker, acupuncturist, vagina whisperer, and herbalist.
I began studying generative systems health and herbalism at 17 years old, and have worked as a practitioner since I completed massage school in 2005.
There I fell in love with East Asian medicine through studies in Shiatsu and Thai massage, and eventually earned a Master's in Acupuncture and Chinese medicine in 2016.
My years in practice have brought me into a unique framework of care that I'm honored to share with you!
Treatments with me explore three main threads:
DEEP NERVOUS SYSTEM CARE
Your nervous system is the guide for our work together in treatment, because your nervous system is the register of your emotional experience.
Whatever unresolved past wounding we have, whatever is hard now; it resides within our nervous system.
Thus, working directly with our nervous system is the key to our healing and transformation. It is the key to BEING PRESENT with our body and in our life.
In sessions, we make simple work with breath, touch, and movement to help you:
Gently unravel emotional material held in your body
Anchor into your strength and build emotional resilience
Sense your intuition and discernment to define and exercise clear boundaries
Clarify your focus towards the habits and rhythms that help you live the life you want for yourself
ABDOMINAL + PELVIC TENDING
Tending abdominal and pelvic health is where my work as a practitioner began 20+ years ago and is the center I continue to orbit, because how we feel in our belly and pelvis directly reflects our wellness as a whole.
Our belly is the nexus of our emotional body. Our pelvis is the foundation of our physical form and the domain of our generative force - our creative energy.
When we inhabit our center + root of our body, we inhabit ourselves fully.
In my experience, an abdominal or pelvic imbalance is always connected to something that needs tending in the emotional, spiritual, and/or ancestral realm. Caring for our body with attention to these deeper layers of our experience allows us a different kind of access to address long-standing, unresolved issues, and find more ease and freedom in our body and our life.
SPIRITUAL ANCHORING
While my technical training is in healthcare for the physical body, through the years my practice has led me into accompanying my clients in the realm of the unseen: the unfolding of your soul through the greater arch of your life path, the deepest stirrings of your heart, and the ancestral lineage material that asks to be healed through you.
Our hands-on work with your body gives us a pathway into these deeper realms, and it's here in this inner landscape that we can find true WELLNESS… because when we are well in our spirit, we can be WELL even in illness, even in dying.
Spiritual anchor is a felt sense of belonging - to ourselves, and to life itself. It's self-knowing: feeling connected to our intuition and vision and purpose.
What I'm describing is an experience totally unique for each of us. Ultimately, it's something that only we can know for ourselves as we walk it. It is my great honor to support you in your own relationship to all that you are, and all that you are becoming.
FAQs
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My work with pelvic health focuses on qi dynamics that are specific to YIN generative systems — meaning, bodies that have (or previously held) uterine, ovarian, and/or vulvo-vaginal systems.
I welcome all genders and sexual orientations in my practice! I use gender-neutral language in all of my work.
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Each treatment begins with a consultation: we sit together and discuss what’s happening for you, and how our session can best support you.
A full treatment is 2.5 hours, and includes up to 45 minutes of consultation at the beginning of the session. This consultation time helps us create a map for your treatment and answer any questions you have before we begin our hands-on work.
During our hands-on work, we follow your nervous system as a guide for the pace and direction of the treatment. I invite you to engage simple breath practices as I apply manual techniques.
At the end of session, we come back to sit together for another 10-15 minutes to talk about how the treatment was for you and discuss any suggestions I have for you for aftercare.
After your treatment, I’m always available for brief exchanges via email, and am also availalble for online consultation sessions as my schedule allows.
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Somatics
Our body is the instrument through which we experience and feel and think and act and respond. Our work together approaches the body as a pathway through which we can access all aspects of our life.
Chinese Medicine
My bodywork is greatly informed by classical Chinese medicine; I utilize pulse diagnosis and channel system analysis; qi-moving manual techniques from Shiatsu like gentle rocking and percussion, acupressure; as well as gua sha, cupping, and moxibustion. In NC and OH, I also practice acupuncture, as I'm licensed to do so in these states!
Holistic Pelvic Care
The pelvic bowl plays a huge role in our overall well-being. Physically, the pelvis is the foundation for our spine, posture, and all of our movement. On an energetic level, the pelvis is a palace of consciousness: it houses the wisdom, intuition, and creative power of our generative organs, and is the domain of our sexuality and sensual pleasure.
Holistic Pelvic Care is gentle, internal pelvic manual therapy that utilizes hands-on assessment, bodywork techniques, and simple breathing exercises to balance and revitalize the pelvic bowl.
My work with the pelvis is centered in embodiment rather than bio-mechanical function. We invite your consciousness, breath, and life force to reside throughout the entirety of your root. This presence gives your body the resources to process and let go of bound emotional material and restore optimal function.
Over the last 13 years of focused work for the pelvic bowl, I find this embodied approach is extremely effective in addressing a wide array of pelvic issues: function follows inhabitance!
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Over the last 20+ years, I have facilitated over 4,500 one-on-one sessions tending pelvic, nervous system, and spirit-level health in my work as bodyworker, acupuncturist, and teacher. I have walked alongside my clients through treacherous landscapes of grief, rage, and emotional pain into profound connection with their body as the ultimate source of wisdom and direct access point to the earth itself.
I am trained in Shiatsu, uterine-moving massage, breast massage, and holistic pelvic floor manual therapy in addition to my formal training in acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. I also draw from my ongoing study of Western herbalism, evidence-based modern medicine, and indigenous healing practices. My teachers and mentors in hands-on medicine include Jim Cleaver, Rosita Arvigo, Tami Kent, Mark Jensen, Sarah Girard, Peter Shea, and Josephine Spilka.
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(This is a very abbreviated list; please get in touch if you're looking for help with something that's not written here!)
Physical discomfort or imbalance:
stress held in the belly
digestive distress
chronic constipation or diarrhea
pelvic pain
vaginal pain
menstrual pain
irregular or difficult cycles
hormonal imbalance
difficulty conceiving
birth preparation + recovery
pelvic floor weakness or tension patterns
Emotional imbalance:
chronic overwhelm
sexual trauma
disconnect from sexual expression
dissociation
low self-esteem
unclear sense of self
difficulty identifying or exercising boundaries