For two years, I lived inside the walls of Walter Reed Hospital. My spouse, a soldier, had suffered a traumatic brain injury while serving overseas. Those were years filled with courage, heartbreak, and healing. I watched him relearn how to walk, to talk, and to navigate the most basic rhythms of daily life.
In the middle of all that pain, something extraordinary happened: he found his voice again through music. Even when words failed him, his heart remembered the melody. And as I listened, surrounded by other soldiers and their own battles, I began to see the language of trauma in new ways; the small ticks, the subtle patterns, the body’s quiet attempts to protect itself.
The doctors and therapists there were incredible. I absorbed everything I could; how touch, tone, and safety could help someone reconnect to their body. That experience changed the entire trajectory of my life. It taught me that healing is never just physical; it’s emotional, spiritual, and profoundly human.
That is where the Body Artisan spirit was born. From the rawness of trauma. From love. From learning to listen when the body speaks what words cannot.
*This video is from a beautiful moment we had during music therapy. It always brings a lot of emotions to the surface for me, but it has also become an incredible teaching tool. See what you can notice in his rhythms and movements. His body was often unconsciously living the trauma it had experienced.