Introspective Embodiment Coaching – starting in October 2025 with Devan Ridsdale

Many of our patients and clients already know Devan Ridsdale as their registered massage therapist and craniosacral therapist. You just have to spend a few minutes with Devan to realize there is a “specialness” about her.  (Is this even a word?  If not, it should be!)  We are very excited about her new program that she is bringing to ABHC this fall, called Introspective Embodiment Coaching, beginning October 3 and running every second Friday afternoon/early evening.  This service is offered as a way to help our clients at the clinic begin to understand their nervous system and how the state of yours can determine how well you heal and the quality of life you experience.

 

Who is this service for?

This service is offered as a way to help our clients and patients at the clinic begin to understand their nervous system and how the state of yours can determine how well you heal and the quality of life you experience. This service is for those of us who:

  • experience symptoms of chronic pain or stress
  • suffer from recurring injury
  • have difficulty experiencing embodiment
  • struggle with health related illness
  • or mental health – even mild symptoms
  • have lingering symptoms of physical, emotional, relational, developmental or shock traumas
  • have tried everything but are getting little to no results
  • have tried nothing but this seems like a great place to begin
  • are looking to explore a more holistic way of treating or understanding your chronic pain
  • are open to the idea of a mind/body connection and that our experiences may have the ability to affect our tissues
  • are okay with long term treatment plans because this route isn’t always a quick fix
  • are without community and want to explore a deeper connection within themselves

What will we learn in these sessions

In these sessions we will learn about:

  • what it means to be dysregulated in our nervous system
  • how chronic dysregulation can cause illness or pain (emotional or physical) and how it can prevent treatment from being effective
  • how to begin recognizing when you become dysregulated and how it uniquely affects your body
  • how and why you may have disconnected from your body
  • what nervous system regulation is and what that looks or feels like for you
  • how our ancestry and past traumas (physical, emotional, developmental, shock, relational ) can show up as many different body/mind symptoms (MS, Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Autoimmune, etc.)

 

How do we do this?

Together.

Step by step we move deeper into the layers of tissue that may hold answers.

We will:

  • begin to check in on places you’ve neglected or numbed
  • explore emotions that may be held in your tissues
  • begin to implement sustainable practices that will help improve your unique symptoms
  • get curious, inquire, and explore
  • work towards improving relations with ourselves and others
  • tap into the innate wisdom that your body holds some techniques may include movement and/or touch

We may find:

  • your symptoms become more manageable
  • your resting muscle tension decreases
  • your injuries/organs/tissues begin to heal
  • you decrease your systemic inflammation
  • your energy levels increase
  • your sleep and digestion improve
  • you have more capacity for relationships and friendships
  • you develop heightened awareness of your internal state allowing you to notice the signs of stress within your body by listening to its subtle cues before you hit overwhelm
  • you prevent or come back from burn out by learning to guard your resources
  • you find the culprit of your chronic stress if it’s evaded you
  • you manage your stress better
  • self care practices are more effective and sustainable
  • a deeper connection or relationship with yourself and those around you
  • you experience life with more vitality
  • your internal battery stays charged longer
  • you’re calmer and more at ease
  • you reclaim your joy

At the very least, you’ll gain some knowledge about your operating system that could help move you in the right direction for an improved quality of life.

This isn’t therapy – we have an incredible therapist for that – but rather a unique way to begin to touch in to your body and understand it in a different light with a deeply holistic approach to your care.

 

Now what do I do?

Devan suggests talking to her first. Ask questions to make sure this is right for you.

Book a Complimentary Meet and Greet appointment by clicking the link.

‘Meet & Greets’ are available for all services offered in the clinic and is available for this service, too.  Please feel free to book one if you are considering coaching but have curiosities or questions first. This is an appropriate service for adults, generally recommended for those 25+ yrs old, but Devan is willing to do complimentary Meet and Greets for those 18-25 if you feel this is right for you and fall within the younger age window.

Space for your private session is reserved at the clinic every second Friday afternoon from 1:30p – 6:00p. If you already know this is right for you, please go ahead and book yourself in for your 60 minute session by clicking HERE.

 

More about Devan

Devan has been working in clinics since 2009 as a touch therapist offering massage and craniosacral. In 2021, after seeking help for the distress she was experiencing around the Kamloops residential school discovery, she had an experience that shifted her perspective on how and why tissues become difficult to treat. Unbeknownst to her at the time it would forever change the way she approached her clients’ clinical treatments and, surprisingly, her own ancestral and childhood trauma healing.

Having come out the other side from a dark past and successfully transforming her wounds with the help of a skilled team she decided she needed to learn this craft. She dove head first into becoming trauma informed and began her in depth understanding of the adverse childhood experiences, poly vagal theory, window of tolerance, attachment theory, ancestral trauma and the cutting edge neuroscience that’s come out on the body/mind connection.

She took this new found knowledge and blended it with her coaching, massage, craniosacral, and somato-emotional release training to create Introspective Embodiment Coaching.  

Devan accepts adults, babies & children, maternity, people with health conditions or impairments and persons with disabilities for massage clients.  If you would like to meet her, please feel welcome to book a complimentary Meet & Greet massage appointment.