One-on-One Sessions

If you live near Birmingham, Alabama, all of my services, Massage, Focusing, and Spiritual Direction, are available to you in person.  You may also schedule Focusing and Spiritual Direction sessions by Zoom.

If you live at a distance, I invite you to contact me about working online for either Inner Relationship Focusing or Spiritual Direction.  If you find my body-centered approach to inner work of interest, you might consider working with a massage therapist in your area to build your ability to sense into the body, to experience a calm and balanced energy, and to notice what it feels like to hold an attitude toward oneself of warmth, acceptance and curiosity.

MASSAGE

After an estimated 20,000 massages over the past 28 years, I see and feel things I couldn’t at the start of my practice.  I see patterns of tension that create strain, misalignment and discomfort in the body.  I feel unconscious holding that with a little guidance can be relaxed.  I sense how difficult it is on a given day to set aside mental upset and let the body offer solace.  All those massages have taught me to “listen” deeply in order to respond with a creative array of touch, movement, and technique that speak to the issues at hand.

I’ll always ask you to share with me your hopes for your session, and perhaps you will tell me about an area of your body that’s uncomfortable and needs attention.  Or you might tell me that you’re tired and need rest and silence.  We’ll start with your initial assessment, because at the moment, that’s all we know.  As the massage proceeds, you’ll sense more, and so will I, and we may shift our focus a bit in response.  I welcome your input, and yet don’t require it.  I know that sometimes the most powerful renewal comes from relinquishing control and being given the space to quietly observe, receive, and reconnect with one’s depth.

I practice three primary styles of massage.  Most clients have a favorite they return to again and again, some like to alternate.

  • This is what most people have in mind when scheduling a massage. By varying my pressure, pace, and techniques, this massage can be oriented toward overall health and wellbeing, relaxation, pain relief, or postural alignment. Received on a table, unclothed to one’s comfort level, this massage uses oils and lotion to enable the long, gliding strokes so soothing a part of Swedish massage and, where needed, the stronger pressure of deep tissue techniques.

  • Thai massage is an ancient healing practice that has seen a tremendous revival in the past 50 years. My own fascination with this massage arose out of the spiritual practice of mindfulness and lovingkindness towards all beings that are embedded within it. As practitioner, I look for what helps you let go, what offers you freedom and ease. At its best, Thai massage leaves both the giver and the receiver with a deep sense of physical and spiritual well-being.

    Thai massage is received fully clothed on a thick mat on the floor. Oils and lotions are rarely used as the techniques involved do not glide over skin. Instead, Thai massage works through assisted yoga postures and compression along energy pathways called sen.

    You may worry about whether or not you’re flexible enough to do “yoga postures”. Trust that this massage is tailored to you. With every movement and compression, I’m assessing what’s best for you and what will be both therapeutic and relaxing.

  • This very gentle form of massage releases tension deep in the body to relieve pain and support the body’s natural capacity for self-correction and healing. Some people seek this work for assistance with a particular health issue, while others use it more generally to bolster their immune system and experience an overall sense of well-being. Many of my clients request craniosacral therapy for what feels to them like a experience of supported meditation. The light touch offers just enough stimulation to keep from falling asleep, and carefully placed verbal guidance invites deepening awareness and presence. This can lead to a profound experience of wholeness and of one’s interconnectedness with all life.

    As a Craniosacral therapist, I’m trained to feel a subtle rhythm thought to be generated by the production and absorption of cerebrospinal fluid within the structures of the brain. When there are no tensions or adhesions in the surrounding tissue, this rhythmic pulse happily expresses itself in predictable ways throughout the body. When tension exists, craniosacral therapists feel disruptions to this rhythm, and work gently, using a touch about equivalent to the weight of a nickel, to restore balanced rhythmic expression.

    Why so gentle? There are stretch and pressure sensors within these tissues that automatically tighten with even just a little deeper pressure. A light touch simultaneously keeps from activating those sensors and stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system into progressively deeper relaxation.

    Craniosacral Therapy is received fully clothed, on a massage table.

Through my aging process, Kate has listened to me, adjusted our sessions to my body’s needs, written letters to doctors, and put into words things I had trouble expressing.  She listens and teaches me to listen to the language of my body and spirit.  In the process, I move to places in my mind, body and spirit that I could not reach alone.

- SDL Pelham, AL -

Before my Craniosacral/Focusing session with Kate yesterday I was experiencing a high level of pain in my neck and head, and in my feet from my arthritic condition.  Last night, after our session, my pain level dropped significantly, and I woke this morning pain free!  This helps me to see a thought pattern I have that has been limiting me.  I used to say, “I’m frequently in pain at night and in the morning.”  Now I feel I can replace that thought with a new one.  I can say, “sometimes I’m in pain at night and in the morning; but it doesn’t have to be that way …”

- JS Birmingham, AL -

I first came to Kate Tremblay on the recommendation of a fellow runner.  I had injured my achilles tendon and was looking for a healing solution, but also help in understanding how this happened. Kate helped me recover from my achilles injury (as well as later injuries) through massage therapy, stretching and getting my mind into a calm and tranquil state - no easy task. She also gave me a better understanding of my postural alignment and how to move toward my optimal balance. I have been a regular client of Kate’s for over six years and she has had a tremendous impact on my physical recovery and wellness, and has also given me the confidence that I can improve and better manage the state of my mind and body.

- HB Birmingham, AL -

SPIRITUAL DIRECTION

People come to Spiritual Direction for a variety of reasons, but above all to experience an authentic connection to the spiritual dimension in their lives.  This may be a person who has a well-established faith tradition, a person who is seeking one, or a person who simply wishes to invite their own spiritual intuition more front and center in their lives.

While at times we may meet more frequently, I generally meet with clients (“Directees”) for Spiritual Direction once a month, with time for reading, practice, contemplation and integration between sessions.

As a Spiritual Director, there are indeed ways I will offer “Direction” that I take quite seriously.  What I will not presume to direct, is you, your spiritual development, or your way of living a life that honors your truth.

  • I will Direct us toward understanding, welcoming, and orienting around your particular temperament, interests, and gifts.

  • I will gently Direct us toward the golden thread of truth that you want woven through your life. I’ll listen as you attempt to identify and get to know it, and I’ll remember it, hold us close to it, and invite connection with the higher power or a larger meaning that brought you to Spiritual Direction in the first place.

  • I will sometimes Direct us toward silence or a form of prayer that resonates with you.

  • I will sometimes Direct us toward sensing into the body’s feel of being spiritually connected and of being spiritually separated.

  • When things seem stuck or confusing, I will Direct us toward curiosity and wonder.

  • I will Direct myself more toward listening than speaking, and always toward respect for your agency in this inner journey.

  • I will Direct us toward the ultimate Spiritual Director, the highest truth, which goes by many names, including God, or no name at all.

For me, the most important thing is that I have access to a meaningful contemplative practice.  I value that aspect of my spiritual journey, but I just can’t do Centering Prayer or meditation on my own.  With Kate’s help, I can access the sacred within me, and I cherish that experience.

- LB, Georgia -

In my presbyterian heritage, my experience of faith was from the neck up.  Through many life changes, faith is now a whole body experience.   I see that any kind of prayer is embodied prayer.  For me, Focusing is embodied prayer.

- JS Birmingham, AL -

Spiritual Direction with Kate Tremblay has given me a new way to think about my relationship with God. After my sessions with Kate, I come away renewed with a better understanding of myself and where I can encounter God. For me, finding God in nature has always been easy, but something new and delightful is finding God within me.  It’s like a journey back home to a safe place void of “shoulds” and “oughts”. The freedom in experiencing God within my authentic self and unique experience has been transformative. Kate and I participated in a few different spiritual direction practices until I found one that resonated with me and fit my personality.  Kate is a wonderful listener and a kind guide on this journey.

- LC, Birmingham, AL -

INNER RELATIONSHIP FOCUSING

Focusing is a way of listening and using body awareness in order to get clarity about something.  Many people hear about Focusing and think it will teach them to be less distracted and better able to concentrate.  That is indeed one meaning of the word “focusing”, but it’s not the meaning associated with this practice.  The word “focusing” in this context means bringing something blurry and fuzzy into clarity, like you might do when adjusting a pair of binoculars.

The body reveals information in a blurry, fuzzy sort of way, because it does not communicate through words.  Focusing teaches us to tune in to the sensation-oriented language of the body and listen with an open mind and with gentle curiosity until we can express what we are sensing in words. Insights and revelations that come from within are exciting and empowering.  They make us eager to learn more about how to attend the body in this way.

Most people begin Focusing by being guided through the process by a Focusing Professional like myself.  This way you can simply experience what the process is like without having to know much about it yourself.  Later, you might like to take classes to develop more skill and learn to guide yourself through a Focusing Process anytime you sense the need, or to enter into Focusing Partnership with another who has learned some of the same basic skills.

Focusing can be used for different intentions, depending on what the Focuser is hoping to achieve. My own training is in Inner Relationship Focusing which lends itself particularly well to the following applications:

FOCUSING FOR DAILY LIFE

Maybe you feel you’ve come to a stuck place with a creative project, a decision, or a challenge you’re facing.  Or maybe you’d like to break a long-standing habit or instill a new one.  Focusing can help you go beyond your usual ways of thinking and responding, and find fresh insight, and gain new perspectives. Taking time to pause, and feel into the body, and gain access to what you don’t already know can unleash pent up energy and get you moving again.

FOCUSING FOR EMOTIONAL HEALING

Sometimes what’s going on inside is more painful than needing new insight. When something hurts inside, Inner Relationship Focusing teaches us not to step into the pain, but to stay just a bit outside so we can offer it our empathy.  We learn to feel how it is for the parts of us inside that may be experiencing different kinds of pain, or may be in conflict with one another.  We keep these parts company, get to know them, and offer them our warmth, compassion, and acceptance.  This is truly the heart of Inner Relationship Focusing.

FOCUSING AS WISDOM PRACTICE

On a deeper level, Inner Relationship Focusing gently awakens within us ways of seeing and being that might feel spiritually impossible to most of us.  We become more capable of being a warm and compassionate presence, of listening with openness and acceptance, able to see from multiple perspectives at once, and to sense the interconnectedness of all life.  As Wisdom Practice, Focusing helps us connect to and awaken our own spiritual intuition, and to bring that dimension of experience more prominently into our lives.

Focusing helps me get to whatever my growing point is, where there’s some kind of struggle inside.  And addressing it helps me get to a new place that still incorporates who I was before, but in an expanding way.  It’s freeing.”

- MST, Alabaster, AL -

Focusing with Kate is a gentle process that gives me the chance to live life with a deeper level of self awareness and self-compassion.  When I’m Focusing with Kate as my guide, I feel like my existence in the world is noticed, valued, and cherished.  I matter.  I’m somebody … and somebody extraordinary and sacred.

- JB Hamburg, Germany -

I’ve lived a long time being afraid that there wasn’t anybody in there, inside me.  And making a shiny pretty world around me to live in because I was really afraid of what was inside of me.  I’m still afraid, but not as afraid because we’ve experienced together the richness inside me and I know now that it’s there.

- MS, Birmingham, AL -

What I’m learning from Focusing is this: I can talk all around a subject and tell you all kinds of things about it, but to just let IT tell me what it is, is the harder part.   But now I know I can let the feeling in my body speak to me.  I can listen.  And I get something different than what my mind has to say.

- SC, Birmingham, AL -

I think this work affirms that if I listen and tune in that I really know what I need.  The answers aren’t out there, they’re in here.  If I trust my intuition and my inner knowing, or my higher self, it will lead me in the right direction.  I won’t go astray.

- MT, Birmingham, AL -

AN INTEGRATED APPROACH

There’s no question that Massage, Focusing and Spiritual Direction all support each other, and my clients and I often combine them to great effect.  If you are new to working with me, I suggest we stay with one modality at a time to begin.  You will develop skills in receiving, I will become more familiar with your body, your energy, and your inner work, and then we can explore combining.

If you live locally, an ideal way of combining modalities is to book two sessions back to back, first a massage to help you become centered, present, and more attuned to your own body, and then to offer you a session of Focusing or Spiritual Direction. That said, sometimes combining looks more like taking 10 minutes within a massage to be with something painful or tense in a Focusing-oriented way.  Or pausing within a Focusing session to sense into the support of that within you which guides and sustains you.

If you live at a distance, I would encourage you to think of working with a massage therapist where you live while seeing me for Focusing and/or Spiritual Direction as an Integrated Approach all your own.  Maybe you could arrange them on the same day, but if not, these modalities do not need to happen at the same time in order to work inside you in an integrated and beneficial way.

Bringing Focusing into massage allows massage to not be a passive process.  Instead of it being something someone is doing for or to you, adding Focusing helps massage to become a dialogue with one’s body.

- AP, Birmingham, AL -