We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mariah Woody. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mariah below.
Mariah , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about the best boss, mentor, or leader you’ve ever worked with.
I’ve been blessed enough to have several. I don’t classify the best boss by them only doing everything right, but also learning a lot from their vulnerabilities and watching them go through their current lessons, and helping me through mine. The one that inspires me the most is the last boss I had before I became self employed. I know he is influential and the “best boss” because now that I own my own practice, he is the one I think about with understanding of “Ahhh, now I know why he did it that way.” or me choosing to do something different seeing the outcome of those decisions.
I watched him navigate struggles with a changing business, making financial decisions, be a therapist, and an owner at the same time. Whether he got it right or not doesn’t matter- his intentionality with his team and occasional transparency mattered to me. What shaped me was watching decisions be made that taught me respect and understanding for leadership, holding space to guide and mentor his team in therapy, and guide his team sometimes with personal vulnerability.
As a boss, he watched me struggle like a parent would. If a problem got too big, he never judged me. He counseled me through the immediate “oh crap! I really messed up! Help!” of the job, to helping me understand all perspectives, to supporting me to come into myself as a person more deeply. He made sure to hold “game changer” continuing ed. He would impromptu consult on sessions that I learned more from in 15 minutes than I did in a day class. Just interacting with him taught me so much. Through that, he blessed me with a team that supported me and all my enthusastic endeavors. Because of his leadership, therapists at his clinic can thrive in their various directions, still under his influence. Also because of him, I was able to branch out to do my something I am called to do, with his support.
Mariah , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am a Craniosacral Therapist– I facilitate the body’s way to optimize it’s own mobility and function. I blend various techniques (visceral manipulation, neuro-meningeal manipulation, fascial work, etc.) from a Craniosacral Therapy (CST) perspective. This means I use light touch to feel the different layers of tissue of the body (organ, ligament, fascia, muscle, nerve, dura, bone, etc.) and it’s relationship with other structures to help it release. The body’s tissues “talk” and I “listen” through my hands- because the body wants to be heard and is trying to release something so it can do what it’s trying to do optimally! The patient’s body is in charge. Let’s use a metaphor- if you’re watering the garden with the hose and the water goes out- where do you think the source is? We have some guesses, but you won’t TRULY know until you can see/feel to what is going on. Is the water turned off? Is there a kink in the hose? Is there a hole? You can try to pull on it, but in all of those cases, it won’t help. If it’s a kink in the hose- how? Is it caught? Twisted? How will you get it untwisted? This is what we help the body do- because the body knows how it wants to do it. My goal is to connect people back to what “therapy” is like. It’s different, and really is a great bridge to more allopathic care. I think it’s considered “alternative” right now, and I think that is starting to change with the more research is coming out.
I graduated with a degree in Occupational Therapy. I started off working in inpatient rehab working with stroke survivors, debility patients, hip/knee replacement patients, etc. After a little over a year, I took my first Craniosacral Therapy class and thought it was wack. It really got me out of my comfort zone on palpating tissue was like. It wasn’t until day 3 out of the 4 day class that I started to realize that I felt a subtle movement in the fascia or the cranial rhythm. It was MIND BLOWING and fascinating. So I went back to work, and practiced my new skills. I would have patients randomly say “My arm feels so much better.” “I have sensation back in my fingers.” “I can sleep for the first time in days.” “I’m in so much less pain now.” And while my response was “That’s great! I’m so glad.” in my head, I was thinking “Imagine if I REALLY knew what was happening here.”
Then the desire to take more and more classes came, and to get more advanced and specialized. I eventually turned a part time pediatrics job to full time, and remained passionate about neurological cases, reflexes, vision, infants, etc. and loved it. As I continued to get more advanced with CST and seeing the results it was giving, I wanted to do it all the time. I saw my patients start to progress much faster through their traditional therapies programs, and knew this was a missing link. People still needed their traditional therapies (in the place I was working), but they saw results much faster.
Eventually, all I wanted to do was CST. I opened my own practice, which is flourishing with patients who are excited about what their body can do, amazed by CST, and able to employ those than are passionate about CST as well. My practice is designed to create a safe environment for people to bring their emotions, excitements, tension no matter the age, and feel truly supported and facilitated with what the body is trying to do. My hope is to grow the team, support more families together, and continue to mentor/teach to grow the profession and support as many people as we can. People see incredible results from this work, because the patient’s body is in charge. It’s unwinding in the way that IT wants to. Through that, people are able to feel better emotionally, physically, spiritually, etc.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
1. Following my heart. The rest followed. When you are truly in alignment with your hearts desire, I fully believe the rest comes. The networking, the referrals, the money, the desire to learn- it all happens because you are engaging with your true desire. Don’t know what it is? Do the work. Not business work- PERSONAL work. Whatever that is for you- counseling, energy work, spiritual work. Really healing and clearing the limited aspects that are deep seeded. This allows freedom to be AUTHENTICALLY YOU. There is no finish line for this- during this process you get to be authentically you. Then you are authentically representing your brand/product/service that you believe in.
2. Offering a service that was needed 3. Having results 4. Networking with people to develop a collaborative relationship. For example- providers and patients are seeing the results in others, and now they get to know ME which is part of the “brand”. They see someone who trusts the work and who strives for similar goals and care. This requires being authentic to you, your brand, and authentic in your relationships.
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
Let’s define success. What is it for you? Work-life balance? Financial gains? A team of certain number of people? Being skilled? Being published? Getting positive results all the time? Reaching a certain number of people? I would define what that is for you. And where does that come from? Identify the reason that EXCITES you, even if you don’t think it’s possible (and then realize it is). If the reason is of a belief from fear, scarcity, competitiveness, lack, etc- I would encourage you to do some work to find the origin of that, and liberate yourself from it. I think you’ll settle into what success looks like for you easily and joyfully.
From a CST perspective, it’s my job to stay neutral with outcomes and flow with it. A client might have an intention- and we work off that. The body is the lead here. Success to me is that I facilitated that person’s journey the best I could. It also helps to follow the body the more specialized you are. The more specific you are, the faster you see results. Frequently being neutral and having specific palpation skills, this leads to positive outcomes (less pain, more connection to self, releasing past traumas, more mobility, more vitality, etc.). So yes, of course I want to see positive outcomes!! It feels exciting! And also recognizing that the person is on a journey of self healing- it may take longer or shorter than we anticipated. And accepting that.
In a more tangible perspective from the business success, it looks like having an abundant and supportive referral network (I do this best because of them), being financially growing (and being in the black), growing my team when we all are working well together, collaborating with other professionals well, and networking!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.unwindingtherapies.com
- Instagram: @UnwindingTherapies
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unwindingtherapiesllc
Image Credits
Emily Rigg Photography