My life journey has taken me to very different countries, continents and contexts. I was born in Düsseldorf, Germany in 1965 and grew up in the area of Nuremberg. Prior and during my studies in psychology, philosophy and theology, I worked as a caregiver in a senior facility and private homes. I completed my first Master’s degree in 1990, worked as a student counselor, then with women and children in shelters for battered women, later in a women’s cultural center. I was longing to connect counseling mostly verbal work with hands-on and touch. I studied feminist Swedish-Esalen Massage and other body work methods. In 1998, I completed a World Federation of OT accredited training in occupational therapy (OT) and moved to Israel. There I worked with adults, seniors and children in community settings both in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. In 2003, I started both the internationally accredited Feldenkrais training with Eilat Almagor and Anat Krevin and a distance Advanced Master’s program in occupational therapy with the San Jose State University and completed both in 2007.
For my Feldenkrais training, I conducted a case study with a 97-year-old woman and presented her improvement in functional mobility and her overall body and mind wellness with series of Awareness through Movement lessons.
In my occupational therapy thesis, I researched how to make occupational therapy services better accessible for aging German Jewish Holocaust survivors, people, who often refused to receive help out of fear that they would lose control. I felt that the findings from that work are applicable to other possibly not only aging trauma survivors.
In 2006, my life brought me to the USA and the Greater Washington Metropolitan Area. I continued to work with clients who are experiencing crises and physical challenges in their lives. Thanks to being team member of the National Rehabilitation Network (NRH), I added to my skill set the work with stroke and traumatic brain injury survivors. Together with two colleagues, we founded the first NRH stroke support group for the Mitchellville area in Prince George’s county in 2012. I am also an adjunct faculty member at Howard University in Washington DC enjoying to teach occupational therapy graduate students how to become skillful, open minded and welcoming professionals working people of all ages, physical and cognitive abilities and social, ethnic, cultural and gender identities in the diverse context of our Greater Washington Metropolitan area. My recent article discusses my vision for GLBT healthcare. I have been presenting workshops and lectures about the Feldenkrais work in occupational therapy contexts both at local and international conferences since 2007 and I am always delighted is to teach public Feldenkrais classes and workshops in Prince Georges county.
With the opening of The Movement Clinic in 2015, I am able to offer customized services to my clients in a quiet, inviting and safe environment. I deeply enjoy witnessing every single client being able to move, perform and enjoy life so much more.
To keep my own life and the sanity of my family at balance, we like to recharge in nature, hiking, biking, swimming, kayaking or simply being. My garden is my personal gym and playground for many of my Feldenkrais lessons as is the kitchen. But I can also just sit, read, write, listen to music and play my viola.
I am fluent in German and English, I speak Hebrew quit well and have a limited working knowledge in Spanish and Arabic.
