This year has absolutely flown by! It has been my busiest year in business and one of great personal and professional growth. At the start of the year I had taken shifts at a spa because November and December were so sleepy in my private practice at Queen of Cups. I do not enjoy spa work and not only did I not feel fulfilled, my body was in constant pain. Simultaneously I started learning about manifestation and how our daily actions can catapult us into joy when they are aligned with our goals. I put it into action and reaped immediate results with my family, my career, my friends, and more. The following is a 2022 gratitude dump.

My very first validation of manifestation came in the form of a dream job. I had been working in my private practice and crushing my body at the spa when I connected with The Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders. My professional background in Manual Lymphatic Drainage and personal background with caring for my Grampa in his final months made me a perfect fit and I was on cloud 9 to accept the position as Oncology Massage Therapist. I’m still seeking the perfect work/life balance, but my role at The Center and with Queen of Cups could not have blended together any better.

The Center was what lit a fire under me to finally fulfill my dream of becoming a Certified Lymphedema Therapist. This was something I had wanted since 2012 as a fresh bodyworker still in school, totally taken with the mystery of the lymphatic system. The training was 9 days in Dallas, 9 hours a day, and I committed myself fully. I didn’t allow myself any distractions, no coffee, music, tv, etc., and it really illuminated my strength as an adult learner.

Because of this training I experienced an incredible up-leveling of skills and insights, which opened doors for new kinds of clients. I’ve seen clients for several kinds of surgery recovery including, liposuction, tummy tuck, mastectomy, lumpectomy, and reconstruction. Surgery recovery modalities that I offer include Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD), fascia release, scar release, and cupping and helps with swelling, scarring, and fibrosis.

The training has also allowed me to become a source of accurate information for my oncology clients who often receive very minimal education around potential Lymphedema occurrence following surgery and/or radiation. I have watched MLD firsthand grow into a trending modality that has become something partially still shrouded in mystery, partially swirled in with misinformation driven by social media, and partially practiced and preached safely and correctly. My clients that receive treatment, education and results from me are incredibly grateful and that gratitude pours out of them. This is maybe my favorite part of my career.

In 2020 I trained in facial reflexology. This was my quarantine hobby and I not only committed to learning the foundations of an epic face massage, but the biological and aesthetic benefits as well. Face massage and the modalities I use within a session have completely changed the way I view beauty care. Our skin is living and breathing, our faces take on the whole world and reflect it back out. It is an honor to work with women who support their beauty through deep nourishment. This year I have really changed and honed how I move through these sessions and I know I have not plateaued, there is more evolution yet.

I’ve seen several women through pregnancy for prenatal massage this year and have met three of those babes since massaging them in the womb! I will never get over how cool it is to massage a pregnant belly and meet the little one earth-side a few months later.

I have done 6 pop-up events, one with my mom by my side which was very special for both of us. I’ve done maybe 50 tarot readings this year and the one phrase I hear most often has been, “That was very validating.”

My studio has gone from a barren room to a cozy and inspired space. I know that Queen of Cups will yet again have to move in a couple years, but it feels good to bring life into my little rooms.

In my personal life, this is the first year I have started to feel at home in Texas. My partner and I bought our home and are deep in nesting mode, we created a heartfelt, fancy-free circle of friends who love and play hard, and we are both flourishing professionally.

I could go on about the nuances of how I feel bolstered and bettered by the practice of manifestation, but I’m writing this on the solstice when the night has stretched farthest into the day, and I’ve stretched into the night. Mostly I just want to say thank-you, I am so grateful for you. For my clients and my cheerleaders who connect the right clients with me. In 2021 I stopped actively taking male clients and this was incredibly scary. I received a lot of opinions on this, some supportive and a few downright nasty. I took a Fool’s leap and it has rewarded me with an incredible, inspiring network of women. Because of the nature of one-on-one services my clients rarely meet each other, but there is a circle of women around me that only I can see, and you are all connected because of it. What a blessing.

In numerology and tarot 2022 has been the year of The Lovers, a card that represents the beauty and wonder that we are able to see in the world and in others. This particular beauty is not just external, but that which is internal and reflected back at us. It is the kind that makes you feel warm and divine, not one that motivates envy or competition. I have seen so much beauty this year in so many forms (my clients on the table with a rainbow across their arm, a path filled with wisteria, New Orleans in the rain, the Atlantic Ocean, Vermont in October, a good haircut) and I plan on letting those experiences help shape the way I continue to view the world. But this year allowed me to look a little deeper at this card. I’ve also done a lot of up-leveling in my personal life, a lot of growing up and expanding my self-awareness. Just like my 9 days in Dallas, getting up early and studying late into the nights, it’s not easy to shed ourselves of our inner ugliness. It takes uncomfortable realizations. Today, The Lover’s card means more to me than just the goodness that we are able to see in ourselves and the world around us, it also asks us what we can sacrifice in order to see/feel more beauty, goodness, and love.

Gratitude is really the perfect practice to take stock of what matters and what can be sacrificed, and the end of the year is the perfect time to do that. I hope you all have wonderful festivities into the New Year. Again, thank you so, so much for your trust and support throughout the year, and your overwhelming show of support through the holidays this year. What a welcome contrast to how I ended 2021.