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|  Tammy Jo O'Neal, LMT, CTP
Tammy Jo is a 1990 graduate of the Massage Institute of Memphis and is a member of the Tennessee Chapter of the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA). Tammy Jo is a licensed massage therapist in the State of Tennessee (LMT) and a Certified Trager® Practitioner (CTP). She holds certificates in Massage Therapy, Bodywork, Prenatal & Postpartum Maternity Massage and the Trager Approch, a pshyco-physical integration (mind/body connection). The AMTA, founded in 1943, is the largest and oldest national organization representing the massage therapy profession. Membership in the AMTA is limited to only those massage therapists who have demonstrated a level of skill and expertise through testing or education. All AMTA therapists must agree to abide by the AMTA Code of Ethics. As a member of the USTA, United States Trager Association, Tammy Jo must agree to follow the USTA code of ethics as well.
Tammy Jo, a native of Nashville, TN, attended Memphis State University in 1982-1985 as a Music Education Major. She became active in the performing arts scene in Memphis, and has served as a volunteer with Project:Motion modern dance company since 1994, she also performed in a Butoh inspired piece directed by Tom Kirby in the spring concert of 1998. Studying contact improvisation with Crosby McCloy, she co-created a concert entitled "To the Wind, an Evening of Movement Theatre" in 1999. She has performed as a stilt walker in the Hans Christian Andersen's children's fairy tale, "The Wild Swans" adapted by Jerre Dye in 1999 with Voices of the South and appeared in "Alice in Wonderland" directed by Jon Mannis at the Circuit Playhouse in 2000. Tammy Jo has worked in conjunction with Holbourn Integrated Therapy in assisting company members of the New Ballet Ensemble and Playhouse on the Square with their therapeutic rehabilitation needs.
Presently, TJ is proud to be a league sponsor of the Memphis Roller Derby, as well as being a travel team trainer, working
to keep the skaters at their optimal best! We are currently finding
benefits from using the Kinesio® Taping Method
(http://www.kinesiotaping.com/research-studies.php) as it brings
increased circulation and pain relief from strain and injury.
A founding member of the Midtown Food Co-op (2001 - 2004) she still advocates for local and organic farming as a means to support our local economy, land use and fair trade collectives. Having the accessibility to a holistic foods diet is very important to Tammy Jo. Nutrition and natural healing is a focus in her life. Diet, clean alkaline water, both western and eastern herbs and nutritional supplements serve as a way to manage her health issues and rebuild vitality to TJ's life.
We are what we eat, after all.
Most recently, while being a long time Cooper Young resident, Tammy Jo has accepted to head the Health & Wellness committee of the Cooper Young Community Farmer's Market. If you or someone you know would like to participate in sharing your knowledge and skills in the Healing Arts field, please contact me for an application to present yourself or organization at a Saturday farmer's market held in the parking lot of the First Congregational Church at Cooper and Walker ave.
Tammy Jo also attributes her maintenance of optimal health to receiving Acupuncture once a week. In her words, "I have been so fortunate that the owner of Acupuncture & Healing Arts Medical Group, Judi Harrick, RN, LAc, PhD referred me to an associate there, Marlene Bair, MAOM, LAc. Marlene is one of the most talented, knowledgeable, intuitive, and spirited people I have ever come to know in my life. Her acupuncture treatments are not only physically healing, but emotional and humanitarian issues are discussed in almost each session we have together. I feel as if I have grown so incredibly much over the past three years from seeing Marlene, I must say, she is who has awakened the belief in myself that has returned me to my profession of Therapeutic Bodywork and Massage."
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| April, 2011
As the winter has waned down to an ever changing weather pattern of growth, I have been asked to participate in a trauma treatment team of councilors and therapists at an eating disorders center in Cordova, TN.
I have the great honor to be working with a group of amazing ladies at the Transformation Center www.transformationmemphis.com and I feel myself opening and growing by leaps and bounds....
It is so incredibly joyous to watch as these brave and courageous young ladies open their hearts and their minds with the intention to heal their painful pasts and present challenging situations. In a group of other encouraged and supportive new friends, we are all looking deeply into our pain and misunderstandings of who we are, and asking the questions of "how do we really feel?" and "how would we like to feel?".
Some of us can become so totally disconnected with who we are that we choose to shut off our perceptions of feeling, period. We are all finding that the Trager Approach is a gentle, non-threatening therapy that helps us reconnect to what it feels like to be in this body and to enjoy it a little more. Trust has been the key to re-discovering this relationship with ourselves.
I am purposely speaking in plural, because I am learning just as much as the participants, as well as the other team leaders, are learning from this amazing work of Dr. Trager's®. Even when someone has a distinctive dislike of being touched or completely shut off from their perceptions, the Mentastic self awareness exercises seem to sneak in and open up our abilities to feel and find the desire to explore feeling. Our shells are cracking and we are springing forth happier, more confident and playful souls because of this work.. the posibilities are endless and hopeful to say the least.
I look forward to stumbling onto the next pathway leading towards "..the vast ocean of pleasantness.."
| | March 2010
I am currently in the final stages of my fieldwork and well on my way to becoming a certified Trager Practitioner! I received my first recommendation tutorial from Bobbie Nehman of Austin, TX and I am ever so inspired with each opportunity I experience to share this work. It is truly a way of life..
I am still offering practice sessions for my level III fieldwork, so please feel free to contact me if you are interested in being a part of this discovery along with me.
Dec. 2010It's official! I am now Certified in the Trager Approach!! Yeah! It has been a long road that is just now beginning to go somewhere.. and the beauty of this is that there is not virtual ending to this path. The unlimited directions one can go with the mind in exploration mode is vast. Our minds are capable of ANYTHING!
Exploring what we are experiencing inside our bodies is a wonderful tool that feeds the mind information. When we take the time to truly connect and take inventory, if you will, of how something feels.. for example, I am sitting here typing on my computer. I am noticing this bit of discomfort in my neck that is pulling on the left side of my upper shoulder. This makes me want to turn my head a little and adjust the angle of where I am holding it.
I have this bad habit of leaning forward. It doesn't matter if I am standing or sitting, I will catch myself by noticing the strain in my low back that leads all the way up to my head.
When I begin to lean back and bring my head over my hips or feet so my bones can support the weight of my head, then the muscles have an opportunity to relax from straining to support that heavy scull, weighing in at about a 16lb bowling ball! geeez.
This simple awareness leads my attention to the other areas of me that are uncomfortable to that I continue to adjust. If there is time to take a break, I could stand for a moment and feel my feet as I position my head directly over my ankles. Nice and solid. I feel balanced. I walk to the water cooler to get a drink and stay hydrated, and while doing so, I begin to roll my stiff shoulder and look for ways to speak to that soreness in the upper trapezius, like rolling the upper arm in a backward motion, feeling my shoulder blade pop and crackle as it moves along the back of my ribs.
I begin to swing my arm a little as I walk back to my desk and play with the weight of my hand as it hangs out from the top of my shoulder, helping to lengthen my neck a little.
WOW! This feels a little better! In fact, it has made quite a difference with just this little bit of attention to how I am holding myself. I am more aware of how I am sitting to write and feeling my "sits" bones on the chair. This helps me to keep my head directly over my spine like it was sitting on top of a telephone pole. Nice a sturdy, no muscle strain.
So now, I can concentrate more on what it is I want to say or do, and enjoy it even more. WONDERFUL!! This is Mentastics® at it's simplest.. the possibilities are unlimited....
Jan. 2009
I have just returned from Austin, TX, studying level II training in the Trager Approach
with Bill Scholl and Katheryn Hansman-Spice. It was an amazing week
long "retreat" for me. A long awaited one at that. There were 10
students, two teachers, 5 assistants, one host and two dogs learning,
playing, exploring and growing for six days in a nurturing home in south
Austin! I am part of a Trager "family" that I can let my guard down
with, confide in, learn from, and feel it's okay to "not be good" at
newly introduced material. That's what the field work is for..developing
the skills needed to allow this work, to work!
One of my biggest
challenges that week was not to be too hard on myself or "try to get it
right". To try is to creates effort in the body and the mind gets in
your way of true discovery. Milton use to say "to try is to fail".
The
more you let go, lighten up and soften your eyes, the more you can see
and feel subtle changes happening within the body's tissues. Holding
patterns began to un-ravel and release, space begins to open and muscles
elongate and relax. You can began to connect the feet to the top of the
head, the legs with the shoulders, the neck with the hips. It's all a
wave that generates energy as it relaxes our grip on our bodies,
creating such a joyful freedom. Slowly, when you realize you haven't
felt this good in a such a long, long time...recall the feeling. "what
was it like? how did I feel? Ah, yes..THAT feeling. It was like...hmmm."
How nice.
My
teacher, Bill, could see by the 4th day of class how differently I was
moving in my body. He noticed the freedom and gracefulness that was
returning to me. The biggest lessons I returned with were these.
You have to experience soft to share soft.
You have to be light to bring lightness.
To not be clever is to be authentic.
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