Michelle Denise RCST, LSMT

I work from the understanding that the body has it's own capacity to regulate and repair, and that the role of therapy is to create the conditions for that to happen, not to force a result. My work is about careful, attentive listening touch: paying close attention to what's happening in the tissues and nervous system, and following what I find.

How I came to this work

I first encountered 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. A few years later I had a session myself, and the change I felt - subtle but unmistakable - was enough to convince me this was work I wanted to learn.

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 own life: raising my remarkable, complicated, neurodivergent son largely on my own, working through my own experience of chronic pain and illness, supporting a dear friend through the final years of his brain cancer, and being alongside my father as Alzheimers changed him.

These experiences taught me, again and again, how much capacity the body has to adapt, cope and heal - and how much difference it makes to be properly supported through that process. Learning to regulate my own nervous system, and to trust what my body could tell me, became central to how I live and how I now work. Craniosacral therapy is one of the ways I now help others to build that same connection and capacity in their own lives.

Alongside my craniosacral training, I've studied a range of related approaches, including Reflexology, Scaravelli yoga, Breathwork, Somatic Movement and Nutrition, which led me to an integrated way of practising that combines a biodynamic perspective with fascial unwinding. I love this work, and I don't take for granted how fortunate I am to do it.

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've recently taken up Contact Improvisation, which shares a lot with Craniosacral work: listening, following, and responding to what's actually there rather than what you expect to find.

Thank you for considering work with me. It means a great deal to support people toward greater ease, balance and health.

Professional

I receive therapy and supervision regularly and remain a committed student to ongoing CPD to expand my knowledge and skills. I hold an enhanced DBS & am a fully insured and registered member of the Craniosacral Therapy Association,