About
About Sarah
Sarah West (she/her) is a Shiatsu Certified Practitioner, registered in the state of Vermont, with a background in Massage Therapy, culminating 11 years of experience as a bodywork therapist. She centers her practice around empowerment with deep reverence for the medicine that is foundational to her vocation. Ever-curious about the body as it reflects patterns of nature, she studies Classical Chinese Medicine, Classical Chinese Herbal Medicine and Hunyuan-style Qi Gong and Taijiquan, with profound gratitude to her teachers.
Sarah’s practice received a powerful evolutionary shift in 2020 with the simultaneous onset of the pandemic and diagnosis of Stage 2 Ovarian Cancer. It was her own sensitivity and practice of body awareness that prompted the early discovery of a form of cancer that is particularly difficult to detect. While undergoing several months of chemotherapy, she found that her Qi Gong practice and experimentation with self-bodywork (along with herbal medicine) made the biggest impact on dealing with the intense pain and other symptoms associated with cancer treatment.
Now that she has successfully completed treatment and recovery, she is giving back to her community by sharing
tools and wisdom she has acquired through the experience and continues to explore. And thanks to the side-effect of pandemic culture, her ability to facilitate self-healing crosses the threshold of physical space, as she can now join you virtually in the comfort of your own home or preferred setting if in-person is not right for you or too far away.
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Sarah has practiced Shiatsu and Massage Therapy (or, more broadly, Bodywork Therapy) in southern Vermont and Chicago, Illinois. A graduate and former Assistant Director of the Shiatsu School of Vermont, she was an Assistant Instructor for
3 years during her course of study and later taught workshops for the public and for Massage Therapists in Vermont.
She currently studies Classical Chinese Herbal Medicine with Sharon Weizenbaum and receives the benefit of ongoing mentorship from Michael DeAgro, both of whom have led her to discover and further inquire the "classics" - the ancient, fundamental principles and texts of Chinese Medicine - roots that were severed upon Westernization of the medicine.
(A blog on this important issue is to come.)
What is Guided Self-Bodywork?
The term "bodywork" refers to a broad range of practices involving therapeutic or relaxing touch. "Guided self-bodywork" is a facilitated process through which a person administers bodywork to oneself. With the rise of individualism and expertise, the culture of today gives power to an authority. There is certainly value in a service provider's expertise, but without the willingness or ability to access information from within, that external power can only go so far to meet a person's unique needs - and sometimes it actually causes harm. Thus, Guided Self-Bodywork is in service to empowerment and the reclamation of one's own body. Its use can be beneficial on its own or in conjunction with other therapies.
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Drawing from over a decade of experience as a bodywork therapist, practicing Shiatsu (a form of Asian Bodywork Therapy from Japan) and Massage Therapy, Sarah has designed an interactive process for engaging with one's own body to "hear" what it needs and to offer it support. The process includes goal or intention setting, grounding and creating space for the practice, guided self-assessment, facilitated use of techniques to support the body, re-assessment and closing reflections. Each session is unique to the receiver's needs in the moment, with active listening and sensitivity as the guiding principle.
Commitment to Accessibility
When it comes to health care and healing, much like other resources that some may take for granted, the question that comes to mind is who gets access? For many, it doesn't come so easily. In fact, if you do not fit into the dominant culture, barriers are more likely to present. As a white, cis-gendered, able-bodied individual, the role of practitioner comes with certain power and privileges and inherent blind spots. My commitment is to keep self-educating, participating in dismantling systems of oppression both internally and in my environments, and to continue showing up for the communities in which I wish to serve. My intention to share this medicine is grounded in the belief that each person is worthy of life, not just to be alive but to enjoy quality of life. That quality has been denied to so many people for generations. Reparations are past due. Our human relations and internal welfare will only thrive when we walk the long road of recovery.
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For those who lack access to care, sessions by donation are available. For those who wish to support others in receiving
this care, you may donate a session, used exclusively for folks who lack access. While I offer this as a step toward remediation, I understand that intersectionality has both benefits and drawbacks. I am aware of inherent power dynamics, which is something for each individual to consider, and I do not deny them but rather name them and do my best to use what power I have to uplift and empower those with whom I work. For anyone interested in having a conversation to explore whether my role and this work may be a good fit, please contact me and we can discuss.
Sliding Scale Info
I love this sliding scale infographic! Many thanks to Alexis J. Cunningfolk at www.wortsandcunning.com for designing and sharing.
When deciding how much to pay on the sliding scale, please consider the three levels described above.
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Find the bottle that best depicts your experience. If yours is a full bottle, then your payment would be the full price or near it. If your bottle is half full (or half empty), then your payment should fall somewhere in the middle of the scale. If the nearly empty bottle best describes your circumstance - or if you identify as BIPOC and would like to receive my services as a form a reparations - then I wish for you to pay little to nothing.
If you are not sure or feel that this method does not work for you, please contact me and we can decide together.
I don't turn anyone away for lack of funds.