Intro: NOVA and the Body & Mind

The past five years of my life have been driven toward recognizing and addressing a deep-seated need for relief from stress caused by the business of Northern Virginia. I am one of those rare natives to the area and I have to admit that I have had the opportunities at my feet for the highest levels of success one could ask for. The area is defined by accomplishment, hard work and political savvy. But, sequestered in the corner is a lacking that neglects the heart and soul. I've had many conversations with natives, tourists, foreign nationals and people from all walks of life and experience. We debate about the lack of community, the traffic, real estate prices, taxes, allergy season, lack of public spaces conducive to socializing, the bar scene, humidity, and last but not least the political atmosphere.  However, the complaints only fuel that negative hue that hangs over many heads. Through distancing myself from Northern Virginia to study massage therapy in Central America, I began to realize how the external world REALLY effects the internal environment of the human being; down to the bone, through muscles, into cell memory and conditioning connective tissue to constrict at the slightest stressor making a person miserable, fatigued and with aches and pains the doctor cannot treat to satisfaction. This was much more complex than I imagined when I first began to scratch the surface...