Hi! I’m Maat!
I took my first massage courses during the summer after High School in 19*mumblemumble* studying the Esalen technique at Body Mind College in San Diego. The idea was that I would be a massage therapist to pay for college… And it totally worked! After college I realized that I had already found my calling. Bodywork, it turns out, made me deliriously happy!
Shortly thereafter I started classes in a Holistic Health Practitioner certification at The Academy Of Health Professions. This was a two year program which allowed me to gain experience in many modalities of bodywork including Swedish Massage, Shiatsu, Sports Massage, Hydrotherapy, Deep Tissue techniques, and Herbology. I loved every moment of it!
Toward the end of that series of courses I saw a demonstration of a modality of which I had never heard: Lomi Ke Ala Hoku. It was so amazingly beautiful! Lomi combines elements of massage, martial arts, and dance in a fusion of long, rhythmic strokes that span the body from head to toe. I was hooked. Instantly hooked. After finishing my classes at the Academy and receiving my certification as an HHP, I begged my Lomi teacher to take me on as an apprentice… And she said yes!
I spent the next few years working with her intensively, learning progressively more advanced techniques, gaining extensive teaching experience under her supervision, as well as delving deeply into a somatic mapping system unique to this modality. It was exhausting and intensely rewarding.
After my apprenticeship I set up my practice with an amazing chiropractor and I began to teach. Firstly at The Academy Of Health Professions, where I’d done my own studying, then at The Natural Healing Institute, as well as teaching workshops at The International Professional School of Bodywork (IPSB), and the Esalen Institute.
In 2006 I moved to the Bay Area and have been operating a small outcall practice since then. Recently the opportunity to join The Embodiment Arts Collective presented itself and I leaped at the chance! The people here are amazing, their practices vibrant, and their location superb! I am loving the situation more and more every day and feel like I have found a beautiful true home for my work. I feel so very blessed! I look forward to working here, and with these beautiful healers, for a years and years!