My specialties include:
- Healing chronic/persistent pain, especially mystery pain (not just managing - see Learn/Resources for more about my approach)
- Nervous system regulation and integration: building capacity to relax, calm, and ground, and better be able to handle stress
- Pain/Symptom Reprocessing Therapy: combining pain science, nervous system education and brain retraining with bodywork
- Neck, back, jaw, spine and shoulder issues
- Injury, accident, trauma, and surgery recovery (release protective holding to help restore full, pain-free range of motion)
All genders, stripes, colors, bodies, identities, orientations and backgrounds are welcome here.
I love supporting folks who are on a path of self-exploration and personal unfolding into deeper relationship with their body and nervous system. The body is the greatest teacher I know.
- Healing chronic/persistent pain, especially mystery pain (not just managing - see Learn/Resources for more about my approach)
Hi, I'm Alex (aka Alexa, she/her)
My own healing journey with chronic pain, tension, anxiety, and heightened sensitivity first brought me to mindfullness and bodywork over 20 years ago, and I've been doing personal growth work, mentorship, coaching, conscious movement, and massage therapy since.
I've come through 30+ years of sometimes debilitating pain and symptoms, ranging from migraines and tension headaches, plantar fasciitis, Irritable Bowel Syndrom, back spasms, neck pain, hip pain, shoulder pain, carpal tunnel/wrist pain, foot pain/neuralgia, leg pain that prevented me from walking/hiking/dancing/yoga (all my favorite ways of exercising), TMJ and night clenching, tinnitus, crazy sensitive teeth, as well as anxiety and depression.
I no longer struggle with any of these.
I understand what it's like to feel debilitated, hopeless, broken, excruciatingly uncomfortable and in pain. I also understand that healing is layered and holistic. I am not here to fix or save anyone, but I hope my experience can serve and guide along the path.
The nervous system is the primary lens and guide for my work. Learning about the nervous system helped me realize I wasn't broken, my body was just stuck in an "on" sympathetic (fight/flight/fawn) and sometimes freeze/overwhelm state, which led to systemic sensitization (to pain and many other things) - all my inner guard dogs were on constant high alert.
My nervous system was just doing its job (a little too well) to protect me. My healing work became showing my body that it was safe enough to relax, and stop hurting when there was nothing actually injured or damaged.
I discovered craniosacral therapy largely out of my own need and deep cravings for gentleness, quitetude and nervous system healing, though I didn't know how to define that at the time. It was the only thing that brought me a sense of greater ease and didn't feel like it was stirring more things up.
I'd been a deep-tissue massage junkie for years, but I'd often feel just as bad or worse after. It hurt "so good" and felt so important, but at some point I realized I could feel my body tightening up and guarding to protect itself from the intensity of the pressure.
Turns out, we don't unwind intensity with intensity. You don't give a freaked out cat a deep tissue massage to help it relax. You sit with it, you offer touch gently, so that it feels safe enough to relax on its own. The nervous system is our protector, and only lets loose when it feels safe enough.
Pain Reprocessing Therapy was the piece that finally connected the nervous system and mind-body dots of my healing journey so that I could get out of all my persistent pain patterns for good. Not to say I no longer ever experience pain, but now I understand what that signal from my body means (and doesn't mean) and how to respond in a way that feels calm, informed and empowered. Check out my Learn/Resources page for more.
I started my current bodywork practice in 2019, resourced from 15+ years of trainings, personal and professional work. I am a Certified Massage Therapist, CACMT #81617, focusing the core of my studies in Craniosacral Therapy and nervous system-informed techniques. I'm also a Certified Holistic Heath Counselor, trained in Pain Reprocessing Therapy and Anusara Yoga. I have a long history practicing meditation/mindfulness, ritual, consciousness and parts work, embodiment practices, and nervous system regulation. View my educational and training background here.
How Your Nervous System Creates Symptoms
My practice is mind-body, informed by current clinical pain neuroscience, psychology, and polyvagal theory, as well as Pain Reprocessing Therapy.
Some key foundational principles:
- Your nervous system sets the "lens" for your body, mind, and life—how you breathe, how you move, whether you perceive the world as safe or threatening, your resilience to stress, or a feeling like it's all too much. The state of your nervous system is impacted by psychological factors (like how you learned to think and operate as a child, to the current balance of stress/relaxation in your life) and physical factors (what else is happening in your body, posture, etc).
- Pain protects us and its function is to promotes healing (ouch, that hurts, give me a break!) - the body sends signals to the brain, which determines whether to set off an alarm bell (anything from pain, tension, fatigue, dizziness, etc).
- Persistent pain overprotects us and prevents recovery: our nervous system learns to be internally hypervigilant, increasing pain-sensing and seeking, and lowering the threshold for feeling pain). Pain is often fed or becomes a cycle reinforced by mental/emotional stress, anxiety, pressure, intensity, frustration, and/or avoidance—all which also communicate "something is wrong" to the brain and nervous system.
- Thus, many factors influence pain: stress, diet and nutrition, relaxation, activity levels, sleep, relationships, finances, etc.
- There are many ways to reduce pain and slowly recover and retrain the pain system back to normal, protective settings.
Craniosacral therapy is one effective modality for reducing pain and retraining the pain system back to healthy levels by offering a corrective experience, restoring the nervous system's capacity to regulate. Our bodies know how to relax and heal, we just need to give them the right support, inputs, and environment. Pain is part of life, persistent pain does not have to be.
Check out my blog articles for lots more.
- Your nervous system sets the "lens" for your body, mind, and life—how you breathe, how you move, whether you perceive the world as safe or threatening, your resilience to stress, or a feeling like it's all too much. The state of your nervous system is impacted by psychological factors (like how you learned to think and operate as a child, to the current balance of stress/relaxation in your life) and physical factors (what else is happening in your body, posture, etc).
Living Stillness Meditation Retreat
Wednesday, October 28, (4pm) – Sunday, November 1, 2026 (2pm)
Land of Medicine Buddha,
a magnificent 108-acre redwood refuge in Soquel, CA (near Santa Cruz)
Mindfulness Teaching: Adam Moskowitz
Gentle Movement & Bodywork: Alex Mart
- Silent sitting & walking meditation (prioritizing self-care is at the heart of this retreat - resting on your back or using a chair/props in the space is welcomed)
- Gentle movement
- Journaling, group reflection, and Q/A
- Optional 1-1 meetings
- Dharma talks
- Delicious vegetarian meals
- Sauna & cold pool
- Hiking trails and a tranquil, forested setting
We invite you to gather in a beautiful, communal setting, as we care for our bodies, minds, and hearts within the shared container of retreat. Whatever is true for you—whatever is unfolding in your life and inner world—come as you are.
This retreat is open to new and experienced practitioners of meditation and mindfulness.
