My Story
I understand pain, and what it feels like when your body just won’t cooperate. I know what it’s like to feel hopeless, overwhelmed, and even broken at times.
I understand what it’s like to wonder if you’ll ever feel “normal” again, and able to live the type of life you really want to live… in a body that is pain free and capable.
I also understand what it’s like to be on the other side of pain, and to be strong and able after years of feeling unstable in my body.
My story of chronic lower back and hip pain and problems lasted for 12 years. It began a few months after I gave birth to my first child. My back went out of alignment so badly, I could not stand up straight, pick up or hold my 5 month old son, or freely function in my day to day life.
This began an endless cycle of chiropractic visits and trying different practitioners and modalities to get to the root of my lower back and hip issues. No one could definitively answer why I had the issues I did. There were periods where I would slightly improve if I was extra diligent with strengthening my core.
But if I slacked off for a short period of time, or “moved the wrong way”, I was right back to square one.
I was frustrated by having to get out of bed every day at a snail’s pace, constantly having to be careful about how I moved throughout my day. I was tired of being limited with the types of exercise and activities I couldn’t do without throwing my back out.
I was determined to find answers and change my body for good, so I could thrive again.
I started to piece together the puzzle once I began studying anatomy, physiology, and kinesiology through my massage therapy certification program and with the help of my mentors. I began to understand what type of corrective strengthening was needed to balance out my body and change my structure.
Gradually, I felt better and better. I didn’t have to think about how I bent down to pick something up, or how quickly I got up from lying down. I actually felt stronger than when I was in my 20’s, and I was able to do more strenuous exercise and activities without any trouble.
By balancing out my musculature using correct biomechanics, I created positive feedback loops in my body. Over time I unconsciously developed new movement patterns and my body reoriented itself, become stronger and more stable.
I look back now and remind myself with gratitude how much my body has changed.
I believe our bodies are incredibly resilient, and capable of healing given the right input and consistency.
I believe at a bare minimum anything can be made better and improved upon.
I believe that if I can do it, you can as well.
Practitioners
Bri is a certified personal trainer and licensed massage therapist in Haddon Township, New Jersey. She is a graduate of Lourdes Institute of Wholistic Studies, where she earned a Wholistic Massage Practitioner Certification. Lourdes Institute of Wholistic Studies is the only school in the field of holistic studies within a major medical center and has been consistently ranked as one of the top schools by the National Certification Board of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. Bri also has studied the Functional Patterns program, and holds a Human Foundations Certification with them.
Bri’s fascination with how the body moves began at a young age, as she trained intensively as a ballet dancer up until she was 19 years old. As an adult, she suffered from lower back pain on and off for years, frustrated and searching for the “why” and lasting solutions. She found lasting relief from her chronic musculoskeletal issues using holistic functional movement based exercise. Her passion for health and wellness has been a constant in her life, and she is driven by the desire to help others piece together their own puzzles and experience life with freer movement and more vitality.
Liz is a graduate of the Center of Healing Arts. She has a background in weightlifting and an associate’s degree in health science and has been a licensed massage therapist for a little over two years. Her approach to massage is based on the philosophy that everything in the body is connected. She believes the body requires strength, joint stabilization, and proper range of motion to function correctly.
Her goal with each massage is to find the source of the imbalance in the body and address it through soft tissue mobilization. Liz uses multiple modalities in her sessions including therapeutic massage (Swedish and deep tissue), stretching, traction, scraping, gliding and stationary cupping,
Liz also holds a certification in manual lymphatic drainage. Lymphatic drainage is amazing for calming the nervous system when it is overloaded and helping the lymphatic system move more effectively.
