Independents
Years in Tampa Bay
11
Job title
Licensed Massage Therapist, Reiki Master Teacher, Healing Arts Educator
What do you do?
My work brings together massage, reiki, meditation, yoga nidra, sound healing, shiatsu, Thai massage and other traditional healing practices to support the whole person — body, mind, and soul. Through my bodywork practice, I guide people through healing experiences where they can let go of tension, quiet the mind and reconnect with themselves in a more intentional way. I also teach reiki to people who want to develop a personal spiritual practice, as well as those who want to become professional practitioners.
Why do you do it?
This work is a calling to me. I do it because I believe we all have an innate capacity to heal, but our everyday lives and environments can disconnect us from that. I have lived through this myself, and after many years of practice and discovering this path within, I now share what I have learned with others. If my experience can help someone transform the way they think, experience life from a more grounded and joyful place, and feel lighter because some of the tension, stress, and emotional weight they have been carrying begins to lift, then I want to do that. That is why I do this work.
What was your Catalyst? (How did you get started?)
My catalyst was a combination of curiosity, personal experience, and realizing early on that I wanted to support people in their healing. I became interested in natural health and healing practices when I was young, and that eventually led me to massage school in the late 1990s. Massage became my foundation, but over the years I continued studying reiki, yoga, meditation, Thai Massage, Shiatsu, herbalism, and other traditional healing practices.
As my own understanding deepened, I began to see how connected our mind and our felt experiences are to our physical body, how that impacts the nervous system, and how it shapes our inner understanding of who we are. That became the foundation for Hand to Soul. My work has continued to evolve as I learn more, and that shapes the way the different practices I study weave together. It has allowed me to support people in slowing down, reconnecting with themselves and developing their own capacity for healing. I believe healing begins when we have the space to listen to ourselves, and my work is about helping people create that space so they can feel more at home in their own bodies and lives.
What’s a common misconception or unknown aspect of what you do?
I think one misconception about this work is that healing is something someone else does for you. Massage, reiki, meditation, and other practices support the healing process, but I see them as tools that help people reconnect with their own bodies, awareness, and inner wisdom. Together, these practices can awaken our own capacity for healing, and my role is to help guide people toward that place within themselves where healing can happen.
What’s the most challenging part of your work?
I think the most difficult part of my work is helping people understand that healing is a journey, not something that happens in an hour, but something that is cultivated over time. It happens bit by bit, in each session. It is an unwinding and release of old experiences that are still taking up space in the body, while creating space for new perspectives and ways of experiencing ourselves. Over time, these small shifts begin to create a deeper change – a paradigm shift in how someone understands themselves and moves through their life. That kind of growth takes time. So, I would say the most challenging part is patience: trusting that the work we do together, little by little, can lead somewhere meaningful.
What’s the most valuable piece of business advice/insight that’s helped you?
The most valuable business insight I’ve learned is to trust myself. Early in my career, I was told so many negative things: “This is a five-year career,” “You won’t be able to make a living from this,” “You need a Plan B,” and so on. For a while, I believed them. But one day I woke up and just knew I was going to be okay. So I went for it and put all of myself into it. I stopped following trends, stopped trying to be liked, and just let myself be me. The more I trusted myself, the more that showed up in my business. I stopped trying to build something based on what I thought I was supposed to be doing and started creating something that felt authentically mine. That has made all the difference. I absolutely love what I do and the life I’ve created for myself.
