A note from Susan:There were two things I knew early in my life. First, I felt best and most alive when moving and being active. Second, it was essential to continue to grow throughout life. I knew I had to keep myself growing to stay alive, and then that I wanted to assist others in this.
As a young teenager I found modern dance and pursued that into a performing, choreographing and teaching career. Along the way I had to retrain myself to correct chronic knee pain which had nearly kept me from dancing. Through various techniques, including the Alexander Technique and Kinetic Awareness, I was able to retrain myself and continue dancing for another 15 years. I was based in New York City, touring to Europe, Asia and South America performing with the Stephen Petronio Company and with my own choreography and teaching.
This early experience highlighted the need to continue to grow, and as I began to feel fulfilled as a performer and artist I turned to teaching and healing work. I first taught dance with the Petronio company and later developed my own class. I continued to perform and choreograph as I developed my teaching and healing work.
To facilitate my own growth, I began to study various body work techniques, starting with Polarity and then receiving my certificate and license in Swedish Massage. I also found my way into yoga and the exciting practices of vinyasa, ashtanga, kundalini and various meditations.
I began to teach yoga classes, first to dancers and then to a broader range of students. I also began to practice bodywork/massage with dancers and artists, and again broadened into a practice with clients with MS and chronic pain.
I have continued to add techniques to my body and movement toolbox to assist in my students' and clients' growth. My work with someone may consist of assessing basic alignment issues, and relieving tension held in the muscle and connective tissues. It can also branch into identifying thoughts and feelings that are held in the body, either as pain or as stiff areas that resist movement in everyday situations or in a yoga pose. I can also focus on a deeply healing and nurturing session which balances one's body and mind, restoring a sense of well being.
My teaching, first of modern dance and then of yoga and anatomy, has grown organically from my own experience. I combined traditional ballet and modern dance styles with alignment and somatic techniques to train the dancers in an organized, efficient and healthy form of dancing, also known as release technique. This also serves a source for creative work, improvisation and choreography.
I then translated the dancing into yoga teaching, again focusing on organized, direct, healthy use of the body. I direct students to focus their minds on the physical practice, and promote a mind/body connection, that is, joining the body and mind to the same event in time, i.e., the asana/posture. This is deeply beneficial to us and to continued growth in our lives.
My teaching of anatomy sprung from teaching yoga, first teaching in yoga teacher trainings and then to a more general public. These workshops illuminate the nuts and bolts of our physical bodies. Utilizing visual aids, hands on palpation, lecture, asana practice and movement exercises, I cover many systems: skeletal, muscular, digestive, circulatory, nervous, endocrine, and kinetics. This gives the student great details to focus on in their practice and exploration of yoga, dance or alignment. It gives tools for personal growth and change.
Most recently I have begun studying Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy and am thrilled by the possibilities it presents. It offers support to the client to explore while in yoga poses, all the realms of the experience: physical sensations, images, feelings, and thoughts. It is a powerful path to joining the many levels of our experience in a session, and offering an integrating reflection on this. I look forward to offering this to my students when I complete the training next year.
I have experienced many powerful healings for myself and others through massage therapy, yoga, dancing and teaching. At times the experience is calm and peaceful, others are raucous, sad, profound, funny or blissful. It seems that living fully requests our willingness to experience all part of ourselves and opening to our potential to grow.