Zorica S.
I initially came to Matthew for my chronic neck and shoulder pain. A year before meeting Matthew, I had spent several weeks doing conventional physical therapy for my neck pain, never really seeing significant relief. Through manual therapy, Matthew was able to relieve tension and pain in these areas. Beyond that, he created a space opening in my body that allowed energy to cycle through my body. Matthew not only has a deep understanding of anatomy but he also has a profound and highly intuitive body literacy. He understands the mind-body connection and how our emotions, personalities and vicissitudes of life affect our bodies.
I have spent years in a high stress job which contributed to the chronic tension in my body and shallow breathing. With Matthew’s help, I was able to focus on deep breathing as a way to calm and still my overactive mind. Through Matthew’s work, I realized that the true meaning of health is wholeness - it’s the unity of mind, body and spirit. It’s a concept that the conventional medical model abandons which I witnessed firsthand through my past efforts to heal my chronic pain.
Several months before meeting Matthew, I had started having a series of dreams pedaling back to my childhood experiences. Matthew helped me realized that this was a calling of my inner voice to go inside and look at was was there. Matthew’s bodywork became the gateway to my journey of going inward and looking at unprocessed emotions, stuck emotions, and certainly some delusions of what I believed my life to be. In one session with Matthew, the suppressed emotion, anger came up on it’s own. I was able to feel it and release it. Initially I felt reluctant to embrace the journey of going inward because I didn’t want to face looking at the pain of past trauma and grief. But it was the only way to heal. I learned to sit quietly with what was arising and to feel my suppressed emotions, letting them move through my body and then releasing them. I began to journal my feelings and the content brought up in my dreams. In doing so, I was able to understand myself better and understand what my soul was asking of me. This process has allowed me to take steps to heal my emotional trauma and be comfortable with facing difficult emotions. As I worked through my emotions, I was able to also release tension in my body. I added a yoga practice to further support my healing and found that it had saved me in the most wonderful and surprising ways. Yoga allows me to not only connect to deeper parts of myself, but it also enables me to deeply connect to the people in my life. Meditation has enabled me to become calmer and more centered, not only during my practice, but also during times of stress. I’m now able to more quickly return to that calm baseline during challenging times. This has made a profound and positive impact in my daily life.
With Matthew’s guidance, I became aware of how much my overdeveloped thinking brain disconnected me from feeling and leading with my heart. He helped me feel from my heart again which has resulted in a more heart-centered awareness and existence. My compassion grew deeper. My connection to people grew deeper. I feel sanguine and more at peace about my life, my work and my relationships.
I realized that the success that I was experiencing was a result of Matthew skillfully integrating his knowledge of various manual therapies, spirituality, mythology and science to help facilitate lasting change in my wellbeing. I have such deep gratitude for his work and his guidance in helping me transform my difficult shadows into light, one layer at a time. His work is a gift. He is a gift.