Davis Community Massage and Body Therapy

02/18/2026

02/02/2026

body based safety is often the key to trauma recovery.

02/02/2026

"Check in on your q***r friends with ADHD/AuDHD right now cuz their Justice Sensitivity combined with their Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria means that they are both acutely aware of how f*cked up things are *and* also feel personally responsible for fixing it *while* dealing with the helplessness inherent in the reality that individual action is not gonna do it this time. This means that their brains/bodies are going into overdrive and also that they are feeling guilty for any kind of self-care or joy in their lives because their brain weasels are telling them that resting or being happy while others cannot/are not is selfish. It's an exhausting state and we're not OK."

01/30/2026

Somatic Psychology is a powerful approach to healing the war between body and mind, especially for trans folks. While I do body therapy, our mental health colleagues in Oakland are offering a 4-part workshop.

01/30/2026

Did you know that most of my clients are "level 1" autistics?

Most "level 1" autistics are actually undiagnosed, but usually most of their friends and family are autistic or adhd'rs. They often have subclinical versions of serious hearing, vision, and connective tissue challenges, as well as chemical sensitivities, anxiety/depression/burnout, and higher than normal systemic muscular tension.

01/30/2026

Anyone else have all three?
I know there is already documented comorbidity with hEDS and AuDHD and connections between LGBTQ and ND people. I wonder if anyone has studied all three at once and our chair sitting habits.

01/30/2026

We are a trauma-informed clinic... and in many cases that means actually acknowledging it.

01/26/2026

So many of the folks that end up finding me are autistic, and this is near the top of the reasons why I am seeing so much dis-regulation and stress.

Disinformation leads to sensory overload. Why? How? Send Help?

01/26/2026

This is why so much of my work is focused on regulation, safety, and "good pain."

The idea that “comfort is the enemy of growth” misunderstands how human nervous systems actually work.

From an Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) lens, growth, change, and learning do not happen by relentlessly pushing past comfort alone. They happen when the nervous system is regulated enough to tolerate challenge.

If someone is chronically stressed or dysregulated, forcing them into discomfort doesn’t produce growth; it overloads their system, shuts down connection, and strengthens survival adaptations instead of adaptive learning.

True growth arises in the window of tolerance, a space where the nervous system is alert but not overwhelmed, engaged but not terrified. The place that yoga instructor Lilias Folan calls "sweet discomfort."

Comfort isn’t the enemy; unsafe or unsupported experiences are. Comfort provides the relational and physiological safety needed to explore, integrate, and expand. Without safety, discomfort becomes trauma, not growth.

So the mantra that we must suffer to improve is misleading. From an IPNB perspective, sustainable growth is about balancing challenge with attuned support, predictable environment, and embodied regulation, not glorifying hardship for its own sake.

The “comfort is the enemy of growth” idea feeds directly into a culture that separates us from ourselves. When society glorifies pushing past discomfort, it trains people to ignore their bodily signals, emotions, and relational needs to override the nervous system’s cues. We disconnect when we stop listening to ourselves. We numb or rationalize, and mistake endurance or achievement for mastery.

In this culture, stress is a virtue, and internal signals of overwhelm are considered weakness. People learn to dissociate from their own sensations, feelings, and rhythms, which weakens self-awareness and regulation. Growth becomes something imposed externally rather than arising from attuned engagement with your own system.

The nervous system can’t integrate experiences or develop resilience when we’re chronically ignoring its feedback; instead, it stores tension, fear, and fragmentation.

The myth of “comfort is the enemy of growth” isn’t neutral. It’s a tool of a culture that prizes hierarchy, achievement, and productivity over embodied presence and connection. Real growth happens not by rejecting comfort but by creating environments where our systems feel safe enough to explore, tolerate challenge, and reconnect with ourselves.

01/24/2026

01/17/2026

I learned recently that shiatsu (an early 20th century Japanese massage modality that combines traditional Japanese Anma massage with traditional Chinese medical [TCM] theory) is the only massage modality that was performed by disabled people (mostly the blind did Anma) and FOR the disabled and chronically ill.

I guess there is a reason why I have always used a deeply TCM informed Anma Shiatsu as the base of my massage practice!

I am teaching Shiatsu at the Davis Massage Therapy Institute in February, so if you are in for an especially good nourishing winter massage, I have expanded my hours so that I am in the office Wed, Thurs, Friday, AND Saturday!