Who I Am and What I Do

I have a hard time saying who I am and what I do for many reasons, primarily because I hate being pegged! I’m a multidimensional person. I’m skilled at meeting a client or person where they are in order to facilitate movement forward in a peaceful and loving way. My sun sign is Libra. . . and in the spirit of pegging myself so you don’t have to, I do resonate with Libran energy quite thorougly. . . always wanting to find balance but on a never ending swing between opposing positions to weigh it all out. I have a gift of seeing and honoring situations from all sides impartially. That serves me well as a bodymindspirit therapist who frequently works with couples and entire families. I’m also quite gifted at seeing your authentic self and holding space for you to find YOU under the layers of dirt you have acquired in this human experience. Clients often leave our time together feeling more connected to their true, glorious nature in a more embodied way.

My name is Emie Kay. Emie means “whole and universal.” Kay means “pure, keeper of the keys.” It is absolutely my heart to bring the pure Presence and message of the Universal keys that lead to wholeness, freedom and Life. I consistently do my inner work to stay as clear as possible in my bodymindspirit to bring the energy of Unconditional Love and Healing Light to every person I interact with.

Every practitioner brings their history into their work. Bodywork is the most recent addition to my healing practice. My focus and expertise prior to body work was in the healing context of mind and spiritual formation and development in institutional Christian organizations for 20+ years. I worked with youth, men and women both in the States and abroad, one on one, and in small and large group settings. I began in a very conservative, exclusive, religious culture. Between personal communication with Divine Spirit, travel, parenting, my own healing from trauma, and deep friendships with people of a multitude of faith backgrounds, it became more and more difficult for me to hold such exclusive beliefs. Through a painful process of the deconstruction of paradigms, programs, and my belief systems in order to find Life and Freedom, I have gathered and implemented Universal keys of Unconditional Love and forgiveness, unity of divinity and humanity, and unity of masculine energy and feminine energy within my bodymindspirit to live a soulful, Spirit filled, embodied experience in this lifetime.

So what do I do?

It might be explained best by who refers clients my direction.

I have a chiropractor and acupuncturist frequently send clients with body pain my way. CranioSacral and Esalen Massage therapy helps the central nervous system to down regulate a revved up system. This greatly helps the body enter into its innate ability to heal and self correct. CST and massage also softens fascia, muscles and tension patterns in the entire body to relieve and support healing and reorganization of these pain patterns. I have worked with several clients with fibromyalgia, migraines, chronic tension of neck and shoulders, sciatica problems, and lower back pain. In most cases, my clients experience a good level of pain reduction and in some cases complete resolution and integration. Some of the more complex body pain issues, I will refer to my mentor and other experienced CST and Esalen massage practitioners I deeply trust. Eric Moya, Aurore Sibley, Rob Wilks, and Karen Axelrod are a few of the practitioners you might want to check out for more complex body pain presentations.

I partner with a couple trusted LMFT’s in my area. We believe that verbal processing and finding tools to implement in a connected, empowered, self aware way of living is vital. But often, until the emotional and tension patterns in the body are honored and integrated as well, the mind will keep looping the same issues. We are bodymindspirit connected beings. If you bring flow and movement to your body, you will feel greater flow and movement in your mind and spirit, etc. This was ABSOLUTELY true in my own healing journey. I initially started working with a CST practitioner after a severe car accident. I could not find relief in several pain spots in my neck, back, and hamstrings. As my practitioner worked with my pain spots, my emotional and spiritual issues stored and looping in my bodymindspirit began releasing and resolving as well. I had done years of talk therapy and spiritual work largely without lasting life change. I thought the issues were just my burden to bear in this human experience. What I didn’t realize is that I was living with stored trauma in my bodymindspirit since childhood. And the older I got, the more my body was bearing the weight of the PTSD in my nervous system and entire physical being. There are several wonderful books addressing this topic. “The Body Keeps the Score” by Bessel Van Der Kolk. “Waking the Tiger” and “Healing Trauma” by Peter Levine. “The Relaxation Response” by Herbert Benson. “Reclaiming Your Body” by Suzanne Scurlock-Durana. “Understanding the Messages of Your Body” by Jean-Pierre Barral.

Often clients referred by my LMFT friends will come with body pain and emotional pain to be held and honored as we work together to listen to inner wisdom and become aware of the connections between the emotional and mental pain that connects with body pain. Awareness is one of the biggest steps to healing. I have deep passion to continue working with clients with PTSD acquired through a variety of traumatic situations. Car accidents, sexual, physical and spiritual abuse, neglect, abandonment, divorce, miscarriage, death of a loved one, and addiction are just a few of the traumatic situations I’ve been honored to hold space for the healing process to continue through bodywork in conjunction with an LMFT. Several of my clients are finding some light at the end of long tunnels of despair, depression, suicidal tendencies, high anxiety and panic attacks, etc. If you live in CA, I highly recommend Debra Kambourian and Thomas Castro for LMFT work as well as finding a skilled and compassionate body worker who honors your inner wisdom, your personal process, and belief system.

My third partnership is with Spiritual Directors in Fresno, Todd Minturn and Lynn Baker. Todd is working in contemplative circles, often with disillusioned Christians to facilitate healing and inner work in connecting with Divine Spirit and authentic self for wholeness and freedom. Quarterly, I join him in his retreats, offering introductory CST and occasionally co-teaching on topics such as unity of divinity and humanity, and unity of masculinity and femininity within each human.

The clients that see me from this connection are generally working to find resolution and integration of body, mind and spiritual tensions and barriers. This work is in-depth and often feels miraculous and expedited. Connections and healing can tend toward life changing aligning to higher self, Divine Spirit, and the soulful, Spirit filled, embodied experience I was talking about earlier. Individuals who have been committed to a rich spiritual and mental life but struggle hitting the same issues over and over often find fairly quick resolution and integration of the issues once the body is given the opportunity to release the barriers and tensions connected.

Another connection I have is through the charter school my kids attend and that I teach a mindfulness class for 6th – 12th grade students for the last 6 years. I also teach mindfulness workshops for parents each semester. Some of my clients are high anxiety kids who need help down regulating their central nervous system. CST is a wonderful way to help. I also work with a few kids on the spectrum. Though I would not say I am thoroughly qualified to work with this population of wonderful humans, my 19 years of parenting and homeschooling 4 kids, two of whom struggle with high anxiety tendencies and three who struggle with dyslexia ranging from mild to severe, my years of youth work experience, and six years of teaching mindfulness to my beautiful students gives me the heart and ability to help as much as I can and then refer on to my colleague Aurore Sibley and others with more years and focus with this age and population.

I have a clear vision to be a healer of men, women, and children.  I have loads of words to say about this. . . for another post. Suffice it to say for now, my work is to create safe space for men and women to heal for the highest good of all humanity. I have found that it is often important for some of the healing journey to be experienced with a trusted practitioner of the opposite sex. At this point, several of my consistent clients are men. I work with many couples and families as well. It’s also been fun at my Carmel office to have couples come and one partner work with my colleague, Eric Moya, while the other is working with me.

Every session is different. Every client experiences our work together very uniquely. I cannot say how your bodymindspirit will enter into the process of bodywork, how deeply you may want, need or be able to go, or how much resolution you may find with specific pain or tension patterns. With some clients we chat about the weather and work on the body pain. With others there is sacred silence and a deep sinking into rest and repair mode where the bodymindspirit starts reorganizing. Some clients engage fully in body awareness, emotional release and spiritual reconnection at deep levels. And some clients fall asleep and allow their body to rest in safety. It’s an adventure every time. There is no wrong way to experience bodywork. I come with an open heart and honor to hold space for your bodymindspirit journey.

I highly recommend giving bodywork at least 3 sessions before you decide if it’s beneficial to your healing. I deeply believe in finding practitioners you feel you can trust and connect with. Healthy and pure connection and compassion is an essential element in the healing process. I also believe in finding your healing team. As I’ve said before, I work with a CST practitioner, Esalen practitioner, LMFT, yoga instructor, Qi Gong Master, Sound Therapy practitioner, and acupuncturist as well as frequent days in nature, journaling, long coffee dates with dear friends and other things to maintain self care, clarity and fullness. There is not just one practitioner, doctor or theory that will be your end all be all answer.

That’s bodywork. I am also available to help plan and/or facilitate personal day or weekend retreats that can include bodywork sessions, time in nature, simple mindfulness training, etc. I have been taking personal monthly retreats of 24 to 48 hours alone for the last 9 years. It has been my salvation as a homeschooling mama of four. The last 2 years have been consistent 48 hour recenter and bodywork days at Carmel. It is thrilling to offer services to help you plan and utilize time away to recenter, heal, and refresh in the very space I’ve been able to find so much alignment and healing myself!

My best friend, Erin Leake and I are also starting our quarterly Detox and Nourish Retreats in which clients will be able to experience safe community, conversation, collaboration, silence, bodywork, movement, stillness, nature, nourishing food and topics concerning body, mind and spirit care. We are excited to get these underway. With my 20+ years of formal ministry and Erin’s 15+ years of formal ministry experience, we have led more retreats and work groups abroad than we can count. With our vision for small, intimate, safe space to help facilitate easy to implement detox and nourish practices, we could not be more excited or more ready to share our love and heart for these bodymindspirit experiential topics.

And for fun, when I’m not busy starting something new, or maintaining the things I love, I love manifesting my best life, receiving bodywork, reading, writing, hiking, kayaking, adventures, travel, music, good food I don’t have to cook, long conversations over coffee, and silence in nature.

Feel free to contact me with any authentic questions that come in an honoring, heart felt way.
Love and peace to all of you.