(805) 441-8155

Myofascial Release Masseuse and Somatic Coach

Michelle Ritter-Taylor Ph.D

A fall from a cliff led me to my work today as an Somatic Coach and Myofascial Release (MFR) therapist. I was not the one to fall, however; it was my 16-year-old son who sustained life-altering injuries, including the breaking in half of his sacrum and two sections of his pelvis. As his mother and a witness to the fall, his trauma was also my trauma. Likewise, his healing journey was also my healing journey.  

Myofascial release changed both of our lives. It proved to be such a significant treatment for chronic pain that he was able to reduce his pain medication and begin his life again. Today, his injuries have almost completely healed, and as testament to his resilience, he is now soaring off into an amazing life.

His recovery journey, however, is what changed me. Truthfully, I’ve lived a life of transitions and change: lots of moving, lots of school, lots of making new friends and then leaving them, career changes, and so on.

Although my myofascial release journey began after my son’s fall, my transformation, as a result of the body work, changed me from the inside out. The work set loose deeply buried emotions in me. Once these emotions were free, I could never go back to who I had been. In my journey to finding my joy and lightness, I went to massage school so I could do MFR.

I also started working with a life coach. The experience re-ignited a desire I’d had 25 years ago to become a life coach myself, before it was really even a thing.

But that desire didn’t come to fruition back then. Instead, my schooling led me to earn a PhD in Sport Performance Psychology. Becoming an integrative life coach is like going back to my roots. I now utilize the skills I learned in graduate school as well as the skills that I have learned in my journey and as I became a practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). I am on the road to becoming a Master Practitioner.

My life has come full circle: my thrill and joy in life is helping other women (and men) see change and transition as opportunities to become who they want to be, to embody the qualities that light them up, and find joy in the process.therap