Today we’d like to introduce you to Crystal Maxey.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I began exploring this the idea of holistic and somatic healing in 1996 when a close friend, who was studying Vibrational Healing Massage at the World School of Massage in San Francisco, was regularly practicing on me. During my sessions with her, I experienced many deep emotional healing breakthroughs.
Vibrational healing massage is a combination of energy healing, inner child work, and bodywork techniques that facilitate the freeing up of stagnant emotional energies. The sessions sparked a deep curiosity in me about our human experience and how to heal through alternative methods.
I decided to enroll with the intention to work on my own healing, but soon discovered I loved the field of holistic health. Shortly after, I began my career as a somatic wellness practitioner. It was very serendipitous.
It was in my early 20’s during my training at the World School in 1991 when I had the desire to go to India and coincidentally my yoga and breathwork teacher announced a travel opportunity there, so I decided to embark on a spiritual pilgrimage.
Traveling in India helped me to appreciate and understand much about life. I had many magical and unexpected experiences while traveling there. India also led me to discover Vippasana. When I returned home. I headed straight to the North Fork Vippasana Center for their 10-day course, then returned two weeks later for another course. I believe these initial courses firmly grounded my desire to be a somatic wellness practitioner. It truly gave me a deep understanding of the body-mind relationship and energy in the body and helped me take my body-mind bodywork practice to a deeper level.
The technique of Vippasana parallels somatic experiencing and in those courses, I was able to let go of energy of physical back pain I’d been healing from for over two years. It was a very profound direct experience of how we can heal ourselves through awareness and presence. Previously, I was told by a physician that I had maxed out on improving the injury, but after completing my training and time at Vippasana, I was 80% better.
I was amazed by the improvement both physical and emotional, as well as the spiritual openings I experienced. I enrolled in further somatic training with a course called Somatic Emotional Clearing for Bodyworkers. It was perfect timing to meet and study with one of my favorite teachers, Bruce Berger, a true yogi and healer who has become a lifelong mentor. Bruce is the author of Esoteric Anatomy and one of the founders of the Heartwood Institute. Alongside somatic emotional clearing, he introduced me to Polarity Therapy and the importance of choosing vibrant living foods. Studying with Bruce, I learned about cleansing and how changing our diet can change our emotional state and the vibration of our energy field.
As my practice moved forward, I could see I needed further understanding of the emotional side of somatics and in my 30’s I completed my 2 year training in somatic psychotherapy through the Hakomi Institute. This training shifted the flow of my work and gave me a much deeper understanding of emotional energy and the relationship between the mind and the body. These days my somatic wellness sessions are a combination of Vibrational Massage, Hakomi Method, Bio-dynamic Cranial Sacral and Re-Birthing Breathwork. These modalities each helped me personally and continue to benefit my clients.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Starting a business as a single mom for was for a sure a challenge. We can only be in one place at a time. Being in private practice, I was on duty as the practitioner, book keeper, marketing person, web content writer, continuing education attendee, networking person, etc. As a mom combined with small business owner at times, I thought I could definitely use a stunt double. The other task that stands out as being a challenge, was public speaking. The business networking groups I was part of encouraged speaking to small rooms of other business owners about my business. This was a great way to get the word out. As a former introvert, this was a big challenge for me and caused a great deal of anxiety. However, in time I overcame my fears. Starting a business has built in to it many opportunities to try new things and grow as a person.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
What is Somatic Wellness ? I would say that at the core, this work is about self love. You can breath and regulate your nervous system and massage your muscles til the cows come home. You can talk forever about that bad experience… but until we develop a deep sense of belonging to own self, our own heart, the wheels are just spinning. Many clients have come in over the years, saying I have been talking about these problems for years, I’m ready to put it down, I want to try something new, to be more embodied.
My aim is to provide a place where people can do this, that Santa Cruz Somatic Bodywork and Yoga provides an emotionally nourishing place to deeply explore self healing. I provide an opportunity for people to understand themselves at the deepest level, to discover feeling safe and comfortable in their bodies and to unravel and release the discomforts, physical, emotional and energetic.
Something special I bring to my clients is that my work is informed by my professional experience as well as my own healing process. I understand what my clients are going through and what the process of healing and self discovery looks like from their side. We all deserve to be able to really live and not just survive.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
As a kid I was interested in art, healing and jokes. I remember massaging my aunt whenever she came to visit, she had been in an accident and was in a lot of pain. I remember feeling very concerned and spending a lot of time rubbing her back and neck. Other times, I would sit for hours and draw or paint. My other favorite hobby was reading. For a while I had this idea that I would try to read the entire public library near our house. I actually started taking books out from the top shelf on the left side of the room with this idea that I could just keep getting the next 10 books out until I had read them all, shelf by shelf, left to right. This idea lasted about 3 visits, then I went back to taking out my usual favorites, the joke books and the Ramona Quimby collection.
Pricing:
- Somatic Emotional Wellness $175 / 90 min.
- Bio-Dynamic Cranial sacral $155 / 75 min.
- Packages available, see website!
- Community Wellness Rate Available- See Website!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.santscruzsomaticmassage.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crystal-maxey-85954738/
