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The spark that led me on the path to becoming a Mind/Body practitioner happened during my physical therapy training in Germany, when I completed an internship at a school for children with special needs, where I was introduced to the Feldenkrais Method® by one of the special education teachers. I was quite intrigued and at the next opportunity attended a Feldenkrais workshop. Here I was guided through various series of very gentle movements and directed to pay close attention to the feeling of the movements in different places in my body. This process was unlike anything I had ever done before with movement. At the end of the day, I felt very different in my body – my feet felt spread out and planted in the ground, and I felt very light and tall. I had an unusually clear sense of myself. I was so surprised and wondered how these simple movements could lead to such dramatic changes in a person. After all I had just gone through three years of intense study of the human body, and I was a dancer. So, I thought for sure I knew everything about movement there is to know.

I was even more amazed watching another participant, a young woman with cerebral palsy, who had entered the workshop moving with great effort and having back pain from sitting long hours at her job. She left walking tall and apparently with great ease and enjoyment. Her pain was completely gone. I was very touched and inspired. I wanted to learn more as soon as possible. But I felt that after three years of studying it was necessary to practice what and gather experience of everything I had learned, before going on to more studies.

Three years later I attended a special Feldenkrais introductory seminar for physical therapists in Hamburg, which was taught by Paul Rubin, the director of the Institute for Somatic Education in San Francisco. Once again it was a truly amazing learning experience, and I was now determined to study this method.

I raised funds, secured permission from my employer to leave my job for nine weeks every year for the next four years and enrolled in the Feldenkrais professional training program in San Francisco.

Despite my previous experience, my only intention for studying the Feldenkrais Method was to broaden and refine my skills as a physical therapist. Little did I know how deeply this training would transform me in body, mind, and spirit.

The integration of the changes that I experienced through Awareness Through Movement and Functional Integration® lessons dramatically altered my perception and my understanding of movement and functional integrity in movement rehabilitation as well as the way in which I related to my patients. Over the next four years I experienced a metamorphosis from physical therapist, trained to diagnose, correct, and fix problems, to a facilitator of change; the change that can happen in a person at any time, when their nervous system wakes up to process information that prompts it to generate new patterns of movement, feeling and thinking; a process that allows people not only to overcome movement limitations and pain, but to evolve to and embody his or her full potential as a mature human being.

I believe that this profound process also led me to meditation and to an ongoing contemplation of the human experience. Ever since the Feldenkrais training, I have been fascinated with the human potential for personal refinement and growth and I hope to inspire others on their own journey of self-discovery.

When my colleagues witnessed the striking functional improvements in my clients, they referred patients to me for Feldenkrais work, particularly those who had suffered injury to their nervous system.

In addition to working as a physical therapist, I taught weekly Awareness Through Movement classes and workshops in health insurance-sponsored wellness programs and other venues.

I had met my husband, Jumbé Allen in my training, which gave my life yet another new direction.

I decided to leave my homeland, friends and family and move to California. I assisted with the management of my husband’s TCM practice while also establishing my own practice as Feldenkrais Practitioner. Jumbé and I shared a vision of creating a holistic health center, a place for healing, learning and change, a resource for the community. Raising two children and the special attention that we devoted to our boy, who had sensory integration problems and dyslexia changed our focus for some time.

During the many hours I spent on playgrounds and volunteering in my children’s schools I saw other children with developmental challenges. I observed that these children must cope every day with expectations that they cannot fulfill. The social and academic demands of a typical school environment often overwhelm them and lead to mental and physical exhaustion, and often to emotional distress, causing negative behavior that gets them in trouble. They quickly develop a negative self-image that erodes their confidence and leaves them feeling inadequate and misunderstood, despite the well-meaning and loving adults around them. At a formative age these kids develop resistances instead of resilience. When they have supportive parents and educators around them, they often learn to accept and deal with their limitations. They eventually learn to advocate for themselves and to work very hard to meet academic expectations.

I felt a growing desire to help children with special needs and learning differences, so that they get a chance to overcome their limitations and thrive, not only physically but also mentally and emotionally from an early age. Consequently, I studied the Anat Baniel Method to expand and refine my skills for working with children.

Today I experience myself as a co-creator of change in the universal field of unlimited possibilities. I facilitate a process of healing and personal growth by cultivating a clearer sense of self through refinement of movement and the awareness of choice.

I deeply enjoy this ongoing process of recognizing facets of our being-ness, transcending self-limiting concepts and beliefs, which ultimately leads us to personal freedom and fulfillment in life.