"My work is deep, but not too deep. I LOVE giving massage."

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TESTIMONIALS

Irene Poole, CZB, NCTMB

Deep Tissue Massage
Zero Balancing


Education & Training

B.A. (History), Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, 1987
Diploma, Muscular Therapy Institute (MTI), Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1996
Certificate, Benjamin Advanced Training (MTI), Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1996
Member, American Massage Therapy Association since 1995
Nationally Certified in Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork since 1996
Certified Zero Balancing Practitioner since November, 2008

Contact

2 Mill Street, Suite #5 (Star Mill Building, Downtown)
Middlebury, VT 05753
Phone: ( 802 )388-8010
Email: ipzbvt at hotmail dot com

About me and my work ...

The goal of my work is quite simply to help people feel better in their bodies.  My training was initially in “muscular therapy” with an emphasis on deep tissue massage and injury work.  In recent years I have expanded my practice to include work that unifies the body’s physical structure with its energetic body.  Zero Balancing (ZB) incorporates Eastern concepts of energy and healing with Western standards, such as critical evaluation and skeletal alignment.  ZB balances the energy in the body’s densest tissues (including bone), creating clearer, stronger fields of energy in the body/mind. 

I consider my work much more than just massage. I have been a life-long athlete and have specialized in working with people recovering from injuries, from sports and from life. My interest earlier in my career as a bodyworker was injury evaluation and treatment: after finishing massage school I completed and became certified in the Benjamin Advanced Training in Injury Evaluation in Treatment in 1996. Since then I have taken hundreds of hours of additional courses in Myofascial Release, Touch for Health, and Zero Balancing.

Because of my increased interest in recent years in integrating the body’s energy with its structure -- as well as a long-standing curiosity about eastern healing principles as well as eastern philosophy -- I began the study of Zero Balancing (ZB) in 2007, and completed my certification in November, 2008.    ZB is a hands-on technique that gently realigns the energy body with the physical structure. It was developed by Fritz Frederick Smith, M.D. in the 1970s, and continues to attract students world-wide. Much more information is available on the ZB website: www.zerobalancing.com.

The physician who encouraged me to get my first massage, thereby unknowingly launching me on my future career-path, and from whom I first experienced truly holistic health care, has this to say about ZB:

“Zero Balancing promotes quieting and centering of the body/mind, much as meditation might do for the skilled meditator. With the blending of Eastern wisdom with Western science, this process not only helps to relieve physical and mental pain, but also helps to improve the effectiveness, quality and joy of daily life.” -- Glenn Rothfeld, M.D., M.Ac.

The study of ZB (which is a life-long practice) is bringing my own journey to achieve balanced physical and mental health full-circle. I look forward in the coming years to deepening my practice and introducing my clients to this powerful work.

Since moving to Vermont in 1997, I have gone from working at the SomaWork Wellness Center to starting the Middlebury Holistic Health Center (in 1999), and finally to settling into a private practice in 2007. I offer my clients the option of deep-tissue massage (which often includes injury work) or Zero Balancing, and sometimes both. I consider the ultimate goal of my work as balancing, healing and integrating body-mind-spirit.

Fee: $70/hour

Length of treatment: up to you, usually at least an hour, but shorter and longer sessions are common.

Last Revised 24 October 2009
© 2008 Ingrid H. Shafer