My path to Massage therapy has been a winding one. I began my working career in the service industry. I worked in Banff at the luxurious Fairmont Banff Springs hotel. There I learned how to engage with the world of hospitality and discovered what it meant to provide exceptional service. Service to others can be genuinely rewarding to yourself.

 

After several years and job titles at the hotel, I sold most of my belongings and set out to South East Asia to satisfy an intensifying curiosity about the meditative and Yogic arts. Thailand and India were steeped in ancient practices designed to open the heart and mind to a new paradigm of living. I embraced it fully, joining in a month-long monastic meditation retreat and learning Thai Massage in Thailand, followed by six months of living in a Yogic ashram in northern India practising Yoga, meditation and Reiki. Seeking out your own path can lead to miraculous discoveries.

 

I wandered through the far East for several years. I eventually took a position as an English teacher in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I fell in love with teaching. I had found a passionate career to pursue. Find what you love to do and you will never work a day in your life.

 

I returned to Canada and enrolled in university studying Environmental Geography and Biology. This degree helped me solidify the interconnectedness of the environment and their living components. I continued my studies earning a Bachelors of Education and was awarded a scholarship to complete a Masters of Education. These  degrees greatly broadened my understanding of what it means to learn deeply. Learning how to learn is the best education you can give yourself.

 

My Masters degree was focused on the benefits of Mindfulness in the Classroom. I was invited to visit Cape Dorset in Nunavut by a colleague. I ended up taking a position there for the last six months of their school year. Working in the isolated far north was both challenging and incredibly rewarding, especially seeing the effects that holistic teaching practices brought to the wellbeing and success of the students I worked with.

 

I left the extreme cold for the extreme heat of the deserts in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. I would spend the next seven years developing my skills as an International Baccalaureate teacher. In IB schools inquiry is a method in which students are encouraged to explore their curriculum. I learned to help students connect their own lived experiences with what was set out before them through curiosity and experimental discovery. I invited students to learn about their minds and how to recenter, calm and focus. As I learned the nuances of applying holistic methods in the classroom, I was reaping the benefits myself. Holistic practices can promote personal growth and discovery.

 

My students' academic performance grew as their confidence and mastery of their abilities. I played my role by creating assessments that I could find where their shortcomings may be hiding. Through extensive data collection, assessment and reassessment I found I could have a genuine understanding of where each of my students were in any given subject. This information was invaluable in designing learning opportunities to help them overcome the inevitable pitfalls. Assessment is the map on the road to improvement.

 

After over a decade of educational practice, I decided to become a student again. Seeing how profoundly the holistic practices helped my students and myself, I decided to return to the studies of Yoga, Mediation and Massage. I took a year off and completed my 200 and 300 hour Yoga teacher training in Croatia and India. I returned to Thailand to add to my massage knowledge and complete my Thai Massage Instructors course and pick up a few new skills in herbal compress massage, sports massage and Thai foot reflexology. Learning is a lifelong journey.

 

I moved back to Canada just in time for the Pandemic. I opted for a career shift. I had a goal of teaching Yogic and meditative practices, Thai Massage techniques while serving the community as a Registered Massage Therapist. I set out and completed my 2200 hour RMT diploma and began the reality of living my dream. If you can dream it, you can do it; It just might take a little while.

I now own and operate Atlantic Thai Massage Ltd., a space where I can serve the community of Moncton, through massage therapy and providing courses. I use my  clinical and assessment skills to promote health and wellbeing. In each step of my journey I was learning the skills to be exactly where I am.  Sometimes you have to look back from where you are to see that your journey made sense all along.

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