em garland, bodyworker and doula
There is such beauty permeating the human body, whether you are an athlete, a musician, a person with or without a disability, pregnant or elderly or just born. Our bodily histories inform the ways we experience suffering, how we express ourselves through movement, how we birth our babies. I have always been fascinated by the perceptual life of the body. I love to be with people in moments of physical discovery. I am interested in helping all of my clients to feel a greater range of sensations, to meet both pain and pleasure with openness. As a Structural Integrator and as a doula, I walk with you through change, witnessing and supporting.
I have been a Structural Integrator since 2005, when I received my certification at the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration in Boulder, CO. My Structural Integration practice has changed my life and I am perpetually grateful for the lessons I receive doing this work. Over the years I have pursued detailed continuing education in Structural Integration and SI Movement, biomechanics, visceral manipulation, and trauma. I am also informed by my practices of meditation and T’ai-chi chüan (under Grandmaster Yu Cheng Hsiang) and by a lifelong love of dance.
The first births I attended were those of pregnant Structural Integration clients, who called me to their labors as a bodyworker. I was electrified by the beauty of birth, and instantly fell in love with doulaing. In 2012 I began learning in earnest about how to support birthing people. I trained in London with Michel Odent and Liliana Lammers, and through DONA with Debra Pascali-Bonaro. In 2013 I made a pilgrimage to Tennessee, where I was certified in neonatal resuscitation and attended the Midwifery Assistant workshop with Ina May Gaskin and the wonderful midwives of The Farm. In 2014 I studied Hypnobirthing with Marie Mongan and Spinning Babies with Gail Tulley. Over the years I’ve enjoyed putting these forms into practice in helping people prepare for birth, and I’ve seen how they can make a big difference. In 2020 I was honored to join the Manhattan Birth mentor program, under Tanya Wills. I have studied LGBTQ+ Family Planning with Ray Rachlin, Racism and Healthcare Disparities with Sacha James, Cesarean and NICU Support with Jenny Langbehn. I’ve recently done an abortion doula training through BADT, and offer that work free of charge. I am also trained as an Integrative Lactation and Feeding Specialist, and have a passion for helping people feed their babies. I am queer (bisexual and married to a wonderful cis-het man) and gender-fluid (they/them). I aspire to uplift people of all genders and sexualities in their reproductive journeys, and I bow to the diversity of identity and expression in the folks I serve.
We are often told (as “hysterical” uterus owners in particular) that our feeling and our expression is too much. The childbearing year is a time of enormous, sometimes extreme feeling. Embodying birth’s joy, excitement, fear, grief, rage, yearning, tenderness… is our birthright. My intention in doula work (as it is in bodywork) is to stand with you in vulnerability and shine a light on your power.