FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
NOTE: As I am new to practice in Phoenix, the below, normal price structure is TEMPORARILY discounted until my practice fills. Both my normal and discounted prices are shown: 60 Minutes @ $45 (this is a temporary, half price option until my practice fills). House Call additional $20. 90 Minute Minimum @ $150 (temporarily $65). (The 90 minute minimum does NOT currently apply until my practice fills). Additional 10 minute blocks are $10 each. Most Common for Complex Cases: 3 to 3.5 hours for $270 (temporarily $115). • This option is best for clients with complex, severe or, long-term issues. • This time frame is also best for those interested in Anti-Aging with Structural DE-Compression & Postural Balancing. • High-Performance Athletes are also inclined toward the longer sessions. First Session is GUARANTEED. ... If at the end of the first session you tell me the session was NOT worth your time or money, then there is No Charge. However, if you change your mind and return for more therapy, the first session will be paid for prior to the 2nd session. FINANCIALLY DISTRESSED CASES: I generally reserve approximately 10% of my session time for those who are financially distressed. Let me know your situation, and what you can pay, and I will do my best to fit you into my schedule.
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
1. Extended Initial Interview: Unless it a very minor problem, I get as much information, history & perspective as I can from the Client as to the background of their soft tissue issues. The more I know, the more I can figure out the fastest path to resolving those issues. These interviews can take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or more, depending on how much the Client is suffering, what they've been through, and for how long, especially if they've had multiple accidents and trauma. Clients often state I find out more about them than any of their doctors ever did. 2. Homeopathic Interview: During the initial interview, I attempt to facilitate the homeopathic idea of "like cures like." That means if the Client can become more intently self-aware of what they are feeling, thinking & doing, and correlate all that with remembering the history of their soft tissue issues, a spontaneous kind of "healing" might occur within their own "bodymind." It appears the nervous system can "reset" itself if the correct inputs occur. And sometimes, just the memory of various events can help to initiate that "neuro-reset." 3A. Postural Evaluation: This is done with Client standing, sometimes in front of a plumb line. (Some practitioners prefer Client laying down, a somewhat controversial issue.) Client's wear whatever clothes they are comfortable with. This can be as minimal as a brief swimsuit, or on up to whatever they walk in the door with. While it's true that minimal clothing makes evaluation more thorough and easier, the Client's sense of modesty is of equal importance. ... It's also a bit more effective to work directly on the skin, rather than through clothing. However, if the Client is more comfortable, feeling safe and secure (clothes on) can play a big factor in how effective the therapy is as well. 3B. Postural Evaluation: Standing up, I check the postural markers as to how the bones of the Client's body are aligned with each other and in the field of gravity, also looking for compressed and out of balance areas. This gives clues as to which musculo-fascial units are most contracted and over-shortened. These are, in most cases, the muscles we begin treating. 3C. Postural RE-Evaluation: Sometimes, during the course of the session, the Client's body changes quite rapidly. We therefore need to have the Client stand up periodically to see what progress is being made, and whether we should change strategy sooner rather than later. 4. In some cases, I might get a "hunch" that the Client's issues are mild enough that they could be handled with only a yoga "routine" tailored to the Client's particular situation. In that case, I will coach them through the appropriate stretches, including the many subtle elements I've found making postural yoga therapy far more effective. Sometimes, that's all they need. That is, IF they will do the stretches at home. If not, we go straight to hands-on work on the table. 5. Keeping most clothing on (depending upon Client's comfort preferences), the hands-on portion of the session begins. Most important is the NO Pain, MORE Gain philosophy. This means regardless of how much pressure I'm applying, the Client should always be inviting, not fighting, the level of sensation. More pressure is NOT necessarily better. This is not about what you can tolerate, but what you like or are at least completely neutral about. Most of the time, I'll be working on very specific parts of muscle for extended periods of time. 6. Upon completion of session, if the Client is willing, I offer a short series of stretches tailored to the Client's specific situation that perpetuate what was started in the hands-on session. This would be called the Self-Maintenance phase.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
CONSTANT self study of everything I can. ... In my early days, at 13 years old (1967), I was studying martial arts & meditation. In 1976, I spent one full month, full time, with Joel Kramer (whom some people call the *Father of American Yoga*), studying his pioneering principles of physical, mental & relational yoga. I began applying his yoga principles to the massage & bodywork process. In 1977 though 1982, I worked informally with a number of friends who were massage school owners or leading edge therapeutic seminar leaders. They represented a wide variety of modalities, from which I learned quite a lot. ... In 1982, I studied with Daniel Blake, who had been trained & certified by in Rolfing® by Ida P. Rolf (one of the early founders of structurally oriented bodywork). Daniel left the Rolf Institute to develop his own system of structural bodywork, and I studied with him for several months. ... In 1984, I attended acupuncture school, where I learned Asian bodywork such as acupuncture and Shiatsu. However, I did not resonate with Eastern modalities as much as I did the Western whole health therapies. ... In 1985 I began working with several alternative medical and osteopathic doctors, from whom I learned a LOT about metabolic & nutritional medicine and the nature of medicine in general. ... Over the years, I've spent unreasonable amounts of time in medical libraries searching for the most relevant and up-to-date knowledge about medical sciences applying to hands-on bodywork, yoga & fitness. (Now-a-days, I can get most of that via the internet.) ... I recently went though a 720 hour massage therapy curriculum at the Cortiva Institute, Scottsdale Campus. That's ironic because I was teaching in massage therapy schools starting way back in 1989, with very high ratings from students. But had never gone to massage school. So when I came to Arizona to live, I had no "official" credentials, even though back in the late 1980s and early 1990s my students & clients were presidents & executive board members of the American Massage Therapy Association and owners of some major massage schools! ... I still continue to research and develop my knowledge and hypotheses of how the human body works, and especially in light of yoga and bodywork therapy.