A native of San Francisco California USA, I was influenced early on by the creative environment around the Bay Area. In the true spirit of living out my passions for dance and bodywork I put together a trio and we signed contracts for a tour of Asia.

Little did I know that not only were the contracts just a bogus play to get us on a plane so also were the work permits promised to be processed for us on arrival. Looking back I still can’t believe how naïve I was actually turning over my passport to my employers to have the work permits issued.

So there we were three foreigners standing in a small office in Taipei forced into compliance. Arguments were useless over our contract conditions, which were wiped out one by one as we stood there. No longer considered a trio we were to be separated immediately and sent to different theaters spread out over all of Asia.

To make a really long story short, I ended up alone without a passport or work permit or any cash whatsoever, working illegally in a foreign country as a dancer. I never saw my partners again, they disappeared leaving me with all their debts to pay back to the ‘agency’ that paid our plane tickets and hotel rooms. It was a lot of money I had to dance off in order to buy myself eventual freedom from my ‘contract’ with that ‘agency’. My motto became, “never-trust- anyone”.

I lived a life that had me experiencing first hand the brutal harshness of what nowadays is called human trafficking and my survival instincts became very, very sharp. I aligned myself with the most powerful people in that underworld and got them to trust me so much I was spared of being beaten and otherwise abused and actually entrusted to look after the foreign dancers who were problematic.

Oddly they trusted me too, I covered for them, held them when their addictions got the better of them or when the beatings left them traumatized and bleeding. I stayed nearly ten years transitioning from the theater world to married life and had a beautiful daughter. But I did not adjust as any normal person would because I’d so closed off any real emotion as a coping strategy and I could not even imagine what it meant to trust any one.

It seemed to me in that decade I’d hit bottom so many times it felt normal to be there. If it weren’t for my daughter I’d probably still be there. Faced with the prospect of loosing her I nearly went insane but a woman I knew told me it would be better to get my life together for everyone’s sake. This was to be a really important transition time because I had to learn to trust and though I didn’t know it at the time my interest in Asian bodywork therapy would be the catalyst of change for the better in my life.

I knew a shiatsu master from Japan and eventually was invited by him to study shiatsu(acupressure) in Kyoto Japan.

One basic concept in Chinese medical theory, which is what shiatsu is also based upon, is to follow nature faithfully. This can mean to live according to nature by eating, dressing and behaving in accordance with the climate around us. It also means living according to ones own true nature. To be your authentic self so your life is harmonious and has true meaning.

Good physical and mental health begins from this point. And further, a person in balance with themselves and the world around them creates a ripple effect in those they come in contact with, others are affected in a positive way. This is active compassion which is such an important part of Chinese medical and Buddhist logic that it is considered the main healing factor.

The most important thing I experienced in my studies of Chinese medical theory and the hands on approach of shiatsu is that we truly are all connected by the life force that makes us humans on this planet. We feel better from our illnesses and traumatic experiences when we reach out to help others who are suffering.

I know this for a fact. I have seen it thousands of times and lived it in my own life. Chinese medicine provided the framework for me to understand this basic concept. There are many frameworks and religions who teach the same thing. The point is I took action, I transformed what I once was, way out of balance, into who I am now, someone who allowed my traumatic experiences to propel me into a compassionate life.

I am someone who listens without judgement or criticism to your story because I can understand and relate to your desire to be a survivor and not a victim. Every experience we have gives us tools we’ll need at some point in our lives. I alone am responsible for the interpretation of events in my life. I broke through and so can you.