Small Delights: (Some of) My Favorite Health Practitioners
I am always looking to feel better. Even when I DO feel better.
My antenna is always up for good helpers (yes, there are bad helpers out there).
Today, I wanted to share some of the people I turn to when I'm in external or internal pain, and to tell you why I think they're so special.
(This is a very incomplete list. Just a start with more to come, in time).
Here we go...
And just a heads-up that most of these are NYC-centric, but there are a TON of online offerings from all of them!
George at Rainforest Relaxation Center
Years ago, I couldn't turn my neck. I thought it would resolve on its own, but when, after a couple of weeks, I was still in pain, my sister-in-law Jocelyne Stern told me to go get a massage from George. She said he worked with all the ashtanga yoga practitioners.
So I went.
And holy George! He resolved the pain. But beyond that, he validated my pain in a way no one else had. A simple "You're really dealing with a lot" was validation I didn't know i needed. His words seemed to increase the benefits of the massage.
Whenever I'm injured, I head over to George, who helps me out. Of course, the pain doesn't always go away immediately–often, it doesn't, but a couple of days later, I'm usually pain-free.
It's not just that George is a master wizard with deep intuition and a profound understanding of the body; it's George's essence, and his being, that feels automatically relaxing.
He's just got this way about him. His voice, and his energy is the relaxation you feel when you're face down with your head in that donut. Just hearing his voice makes you feel better.
I trust him.
Rainforest Relaxation Center in Brooklyn is the most unassuming relaxation center you've ever been. But what it lacks in swank, it far makes up for in pain relief.
Have I mentioned that it's actually affordable? It is.
If you go, tell him I sent you, and that I'll see him soon.
One day in the dog park, I was talking with a woman in the neighborhood who works as a therapist.
I mentioned that I was thinking about doing EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). In the way all native New Yorkers present their opinions as facts, she said, "Don't see anyone else but Pat Gallagher. She's the best. You probably won't get an appointment for months, but take it."
I tucked that info into the creases of my brain.
Months later, in a therapy session, I mentioned that I was thinking of doing EMDR, and my therapist said, "There's only one person in New York I'd want you to work with. Her name is Pat Gallagher, and she's across the hall."
Wild, right!?
So, I made an appointment (for months later). She'd been hyped up so much, I worried I wouldn't like her. I sat on her couch as she asked me questions and explained the method to me. She spoke in the rare soothing register of someone who lived far outside NYC.
As the session wore on, I grew increasingly comfortable, and by the end of the session, I not only wanted to work with her, I wanted to be friends.
We worked for 8 sessions (it was all that I could afford) but it was a success. I felt so much less wobbly in the world and much more safe in my brain.
She's very expensive, but damn is she worth it.
If you go, tell her I sent you.
I used to have terrible TMJ symptoms. My jaw hurt all the time. (ANXIETY IS SO MUCH FUN!) My brother (on this list) sent me to his friend Abdi Assadi.
I liked Abdi right away. We fell into an easy jokey banter while also talking about why I was there. My panic disorder came up and he showed me how to press my feet into the ground when I felt like I was floating away.
Then, we got down to work.
Once I was face up on the table, he told me to clench my jaw, and as I did, he lightly pressed in an acupuncture needle. I felt a sort of popping release, and a momentarily uncomfortable sensation in my face.
I worried that the sensation signaled something bad, but it subsided quickly.
After placing all the needles in their respective places, he told me to try and relax. As he walked out, he mentioned that he usually shuts the door all the way, but he was going to leave mine slightly ajar because of my panic attacks. This won me over.
I didn't ask him to do this. He was simply that thoughtful.
Flash forward eight or so months later. I'm on the phone with a friend and she asked me if acupuncture helped me at all.
Because I couldn't recall any magical moment of realizing I was no longer in pain, I reflexively said no, it hadn't.
"So you still have TMJ pain?" In that moment I realized that NO, ACTUALLY, I DID NOT.
In fact, I hadn't had any TMJ pain since I saw Abdi. (Decades later, I still don't)
So, did acupuncture work?
I rescinded my reflexive response and told her yes, yes it did. Very much.
Abdi has a book that I just bought and am very excited to dig into. It's called The Healer's Handbook: A Guide for the Beginning Practitioner (you don't need to be a practitioner to read it).
If you go, tell him I sent you.
I do not love conflict. My anxiety is heightened when I feel bumped out of alignment with a friend.
When I'm upset with someone and we're in conversation about it, I do well when the other person is open and capable of holding themselves accountable for their actions.
This is what I aim to do when I've inadvertently hurt someone.
I do not do well when my conversation partner becomes defensive, gaslights me, and denies or dismisses my experience. That's when my anxiety takes over, and I shut down.
When this happens, I can remain shut down for hours, even days.
It's long been a goal of mine to get better at facing my fear of conflict head-on.
Enter, Genny Rumancik, founder of the EQ School, whose offerings range from online workshops to one-on-one coaching.
She is someone I follow on Instagram, and I save almost all of her posts, and when she announced she was holding a Relationship Management Workshop, I signed up fast.
The class was purposefully small; there were only 4 students. We were all there for different reasons, at various stages of life, relationships and careers.
We learned so much in 4 sessions, and while it was fewer weeks than I had remembered it being (I thought it was 5 or 6), we have lifetime access (I think/I hope?) to the content, and to the Zoom sessions.
Genny is another person I automatically wanted to befriend. She's whip-smart, charming, funny, and open-hearted in a non "woo-woo" way.
She's also deeply curious, invested in learning, and knows so much, I wanted to download her brain.
I wish I lived closer to her, and I wish I lived closer to the other students, who I miss a lot.
Do yourself a favor and sign up for one of her workshops, if you can afford it. She often has very steep discounts (for instance this quick course is steeply discounted from $229 to $29!)
I've known Eddie for a really long time. Basically, my entire life.
Okay, okay...he's my brother.
I'm cheating here by including him because I don't really practice yoga, and he's a yoga practitioner. But whenever I do yoga at home, it's always his videos I follow.
His website is excellent–there's a TON of content. He also has a great meditation app called The Breathing App that I use all the time.
But it's the chanting that I love most. It's magic and healing.
Whenever I do it, I feel like I'm floating. It's powerful, and I'd do it every day if I had more discipline.
He also has a stunning temple, which is a sanctuary in the middle of hectic downtown manhattan) where he teaches ashtanga yoga and offers an assortment of cool classes, among many other things.
If nothing else, he makes the best merch of anyone I know. Especially the tee shirts.
And if he wasn't enough of an over-achiever, his most recent book is One Simple Thing, and it's annoyingly good.
If you take a class, tell him I sent you, but use my last name, otherwise he won't know who you're talking about (I joke, I joke).
That's it for now.
What about you? Who are some of YOUR favorite practitioners?
Until next week I remain…
Amanda
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