People often ask me how I got into osteopathy or for how long I have been in practice. I have been pondering these questions lately, as one does from time to time, though it does make me seem somewhat ‘older’ than I really want to be.
Recently I made a video with my colleagues from Sydney Osteopathic Medicine about how we all got into osteopathic practice. It was fun to sit and tape our stories. See my blog ‘Video killed the radio star’…..It made me think about starting up both of my clinics at Bondi Junction and in Sydney CBD; so here is a bit more of my story:
While working in the area of prenatal care and teaching anatomy and healthcare to trainee childbirth educators, I was introduced to a wonderful acupuncturist and practitioner of traditional medicine, Elyane Brightlight, who had moved from the Village Healing and Growth Centre, a large group practice in Paddington, to her own smaller clinic in Bondi Junction. I was, at this time practicing from a home based clinic in Kensington, from rooms in North Sydney and working out of the Sydney Dance Company studios at the Wharf in Hickson Road in The Rocks. The temptation to have one base in Bondi Junction, which I considered to be the heart of the east and the heartland of Osteopathy here in Sydney, was one that became a delightful reality very quickly.
So I moved into the Good Spring Centre at Bondi Junction with the colorful and talented Elyane and began a long and fruitful professional relationship with a wonderful colleague who continues to inspire me today, so many years down the track….. and my osteopathic practice at Bondi Junction was born.
We worked together for about six years at this clinic in Hollywood Avenue before I purchased my first clinic and together, we moved up to the eagles eyrie of Harley Place Health just along the road on the corner of Hollywood and Oxford…. I still today love giving out that descriptor…. overlooking the magic of the Junction, across to the city skyline and down through to Double Bay, our ever changing Slessorian harbour and beyond to the hills of the north shore. On a fine afternoon you can see the glistening dome of the Bahai temple at Mona Vale from our clinic. This is a view that, to this day, I do not tire of.
We have collaborated on many different aspects of clinical practice over the years and taught from our respective expertise in the area of prenatal care and childbirth along with other areas of clinical knowledge. Years later some of my work was published in a small book for consumers by Wellbeing magazine and Elyane went on to publish her first book in this area called ‘Natural Childcare’.
In addition to working in the very exciting and life-changing area of childbirth, I also developed my Bondi Junction practice in the area of dance and performance injuries. Working in the arts and being involved on the edges of the creative arena has been an inspiring experience and has presented me with some wonderful opportunities to make my small contribution to the creative process, both as an osteopath and then diversifying into other areas within the arts. This has provided me with many extremely fulfilling and enlivening experiences and people many of whom today I am fortunate to continue to have in my life. Twenty years down the track I am as inspired and in awe of the creative process of the human body-mind and its capabilities as I was all those years ago when I first was introduced to the osteopathic concept.