Michelle Denise RCST, LSMT

I believe that the body carries it's own wisdom, and that healing happens not when we push toward it, but when we create the conditions for it to emerge. My work is about listening. Following. Trusting what is already there.

How I came to this work

I first came across Craniosacral therapy 24 years ago when I took my newborn son for a Craniosacral check-up. The therapist’s gentle, intuitive touch was beautiful to witness. But it wasn't until a few years later that I experienced Craniosacral therapy for myself, and it completely shifted something in me. It was so subtle, and yet it created change in me and touched places in me that nothing up to that point remotely had. I remember thinking that my therapist was utterly magical, and, whatever this magic is, one day I need to learn it!

The path here

I grew up in Kenya, surrounded by animals, open skies, and wild landscapes that taught me early on how to listen to the natural world. At fifteen I moved to the UK, and after many years of movement and change, I've settled into a gentle rhythm of life here in Somerset, close to family and the land.

Qualifications:

Cranio-Sacral Therapy Diploma (RCST) - College of Craniosacral Therapy (CCST), London

CST1 - Upledger UK

Certified Somatic Movement Facilitator (LSMT) - Living Somatics

Reflexology Diploma - Cheryl Butler School Of Reflexology

Rebirthing Breathwork - Fanny Van Laere

Ba(hons) Developmental Psychology - University of Sussex

Postgraduate Training:

Fascial Unwinding (Parts 1 & 2 - 2 weekends) - Thomas Atlee

Dancing with Potency (3 days) - Katherine Ukleja

Biodynamic Touch (2 days) - Katherine Ukleja

Working with Postnatal Mothers (1 day) - Sarah Nesling & Mary Bolingbroke

High Maintenance Babies (1 day) - Sarah Nesling & Mary Bolingbroke

Mobile Infants (1 day) - Sarah Nesling & Mary Bolingbroke

Early Attachment (1 day) - Sarah Nesling and Mary Bolingbroke

Working with Teenagers (1 day) - Sarah Nesling and Mary Bolingbroke

The Voice and the Hyoid - (2 days) - Katherine Ukleja

Working with The Ancestors (1 day) - Sarah Nesling and Mary Bolingbroke

The path to this work has been very much shaped by my life's journey: raising my amazing, complicated, neurodivergent son mostly on my own, navigating my own journey of healing chronic pain and illness, tending a dear friend through the final years of his brain cancer, and walking beside my father as Alzheimers changed him.

Walking the path of embodiment - learning to hold space for others' and my own process, healing through and with the body, learning to self-regulate and trust in my body's innate capacity to heal - has become my life's work. Craniosacral therapy is one of the ways I now support others to connect more deeply with themselves and with the possibility of healing in their own lives.

Along the way I have immersed myself in learning and embodying many different healing modalities (like Reflexology, Scaravelli yoga, Breathwork, Somatic Movement and Nutrition) and it all led me to study an integrated approach to Craniosacral therapy that combines a biodynamic perspective with fascial unwinding. I can safely say that I truly love this work, and for that I am extraordinarily grateful every day.

Outside the treatment room

You'll find me in nature - taking daily walks by the river Parrett on the Somerset levels with my two beloved dogs, or dancing. I'm currently falling in love with Contact Improvisation, which shares so many of the same principles and values of Craniosacral therapy: listening, following, meeting what's present without agenda.

Thank you for choosing to work with me. It brings me real joy to support you on your journey towards greater ease, balance and health.

Professional

I receive therapy and supervision regularly and remain a committed student, always curious, learning and growing, seeking out CPD courses to expand my knowledge and deepen my abilities. I hold an enhanced DBS & am a fully insured and registered member of the Craniosacral Therapy Association,