Hi, I am Suzanne.
To my work I bring an extensive clinical background, technical skill, intuitive insight and a deep embodied wisdom that only comes from the lived experience of implementing this in my life.
Often times, I am the person you find when you’ve tried everyone and everything else and the issue is still not resolved. I’ve started to struggle to find the words to define what I am. Essentially, I am a knowledgeable conduit and coach who can step you through how to access your innate posture and movement blueprint and facilitate body transformation.
Many of us have been led to believe that our body issues are permanent, part of ageing or due to injury or repetitive load and being worn out. If this is true, literally none of the client stories you read on my website would be possible.
So often, this is not the case. Even where there are permanent changes, these are often not the cause of the ongoing pain and dysfunction and improvement and even resolution is possible. When we are working with the body, change is always possible, it is just a question of how much and how long it takes. Most of my clients experience a significant change in the first days, weeks and months and then gradual, progressive change occurring over months and years.
I am passionate about empowering others with the knowledge and skills to bring about their own healing. Nothing brings me more joy than to see someone experience a transformational shift in their body, of their own doing. That moment when you discover your own power and realise what is possible. That is what drives me. That you too can have a body that works well and is free of pain and limitation. That you can become your own Empowered Body Master.
For almost two decades now, I’ve worked in injury rehabilitation, helping people to recover from injuries and chronic body problems. When I finshed high school I enrolled in a Bachelor of Science because I really did love Science and learning about the world around me and how everything worked. Buried in lectures, test tubes and experiments I soon discovered that I was completely miserable and that this was not the path for me. A critical element was missing for me - people!
Studying Occupational Therapy for me was like coming home, it felt so right. So I did, and after graduating with honours, I started my career in Injury Management in Western Australia. My role involved helping workers who had sustained an injury at work, to recover and return to work. It was here I would learn how very flawed the medical system was in dealing with myofascial injuries. I have been into every kind of workplace you can imagine. In my career I travelled all over Australia and the world and sadly nothing much was different. A lot of good intentions, but not always results. I spent a huge amount of my time just helping people navigate the "system" to get to the help they needed and even then, it often was the case that after a significant injury, they would be unable to return to their former work. For many, this would be a devastating blow to their sense of identity, self worth and to the financial security of their family. When I eventually had the opportunity to step into a corporate role in Mining, I thought I could make more of an impact, by being able to better guide and support workers through their injury management journey. Creating systems within an organisation which would better support all involved and make sure they got to the best possible care. But having achieved all of that, the realisation came that the best possible care fell grossly short of what was needed. One which saw the injury in isolation from the rest of the body, which did not address the underlying root cause of the issue or treat the person as a whole being.
I have also experienced first-hand a body that did not work well. A body with pain, poor flexibility, frequent injury, a body which always felt tired and sore. I spent thousands upon thousands over many years on treatments, therapies, classes, with no answers, all while pursuing an amateur athletic career. In the end I gave up, it just got too hard and I accepted that “this is just how my body is”. I was so out of touch with my body (though I didn’t realise at the time) and I had zero confidence in it.
It wasn't until around 2010 when an Occupational Therapist introduced me to Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilisation (DNS). Everything changed when I found DNS. Three little letters which changed my life, and have since changed countless others.
DNS is a method created by Pavel Kolar, head of the Prague School of Rehabilitation which was founded upon the brilliance of many very gifted and hardworking neurologists and therapists before him. DNS is based on the understanding that the human body is controlled by the brain through innate movement (motor) patterns. It is a rehabilitation and performance enhancement approach which utilises the innate capacity of the brain and nervous system to return to the optimal blueprint you were born with, that is encoded in your DNA. In practice, it is an exercise-based approach which can be applied to almost any person, in any situation and it can help, a lot.
My personal journey with DNS provided a permanent cure for all of my chronic musculoskeletal problems. It corrected my posture, improved my breathing and respiration, strengthened my “core”, improved my balance, flexibility and has given me a body free of pain which allows me to do anything I want. My body is stable, flexible and strong and I can trust it. When something comes up, I notice right away and I can shift it using the exercises which are now part of my self-care tool kit. It is available to me 24/7, without a therapist, at no cost, in the comfort of my own home.
Shifting my long-held dysfunctional movement patterns and developing a new awareness and connection with my body had another unexpected and wonderful effect, it facilitated my spiritual awakening. It allowed me to shed all the things were not 'me' and to come more in alignment with my true inner being, opening me up to a whole new way of seeing and feeling myself and the world. I see this in my clients too, how the body stores years and generations of trauma, stuck emotions and heaviness. And that no matter how much work you do in the mind, until you get fully in your body and begin to feel what is there, it will keep you stuck. When the instructions from the brain change, and the myofascial tissues shift, so too does the energy, releasing all that is ready to go and leaving people feeling lighter and better in themselves, drawing them closer to the truth of who they are.
You can have this too.
For me this meant that I could no longer be a part of the "system", and so in 2021, I walked away from my profession, and I no longer practice Occupational Therapy. I am grateful for my education and the years of skills and experience I have garnered, but I could no longer work in a broken system. One which fails the people it ought help, miserably. One which constrains practitioners to the point where they can barely recognise who they are. One which stomps out any sense of seeing clients as whole, sovereign, innately capable beings. One which sees pharmaceutical drugs and surgery as suitable frontline treatments for myofascial pain and disorders. One which stops practitioners from bringing all that they are and all their gifts, to their healing work.
It is my very passion and purpose to help people understand why their body does what it does, and how they can change it, for themselves. I am the coach, the teacher, the intuitive body translator, who can help you find that innate capacity within yourself, to be your own healer, your own therapist, to find the connection and source within you. It is all their waiting for you, inviting you to re-imagine what is possible for you. If you have found your way here, and this speaks to your heart and soul, then I encourage you to take these brave new steps, to start this journey which will lead you to a place of connection, ease, alignment, strength and peace. If you've tried everything and are still seeking answers, then you are in the right place (these tend to be the people that find me). This journey will take openness, tenacity and courage, a willingness to go to those uncomfortable places within yourself and re-write the story of your body. Open yourself to the possibility that your body can be radically different.
If my work resonates with you and you are ready to commit to body mastery, I would love to help you on that journey <3
Fractured Lumbar Spine
When I found Suz, I was at my lowest point. I had been in a car accident, fractured my spine and had it surgically fused in four places. I was in so much pain and honestly, I was a mess. What I came to realise through my healing journey was that my body had been screaming at me, probably for years. I hadn’t been listening - now it had my attention...
Jeff
Chronic Shoulder Injury
I cannot express my gratitude enough for the incredible care and expertise provided by Suz in helping me to heal from a shoulder injury. I had been diagnosed with a SLAP lesion in my left shoulder with humeral subluxation and told the only option was surgery and that my shoulder would never be quite right, even after that. At this point I was unable to use my arm to do pretty much anything and completely unable to lie on my side...
Liane
Chronic Hip & Lower Back Pain
Suz's work was the doorway through which my life changed forever. A major unlocking occurred on the very first session with Suz. After a lifetime of attempting different therapies and enormous personal work to process emotions, it was clear that I still held it all in my physical body. Suz not only found these highly guarded places that no one else had, she allowed me a safe space to release it. WOW! ...
Rebecca