About Martha

For much of my life, I lived disconnected from my body. As a child and young adult, dissociation became the way I survived trauma. It was an incredible adaptation and one that allowed me to keep moving forward when feeling everything was simply too much. Over time, that survival strategy left me vulnerable to acuumulating heavy emotional burdens.

My body carried what I couldn't.

For years I lived with chronic pain that moved throughout my body. One day it was my neck, another my back, hips, shoulders, or jaw. The pain randomly intesified and shifted constantly, but it never truly left. Doctors found nothing physically wrong. After one episode at work, my employer rushed me to the emergency room believing I was having a heart attack. The only recommendation I received was a spirometer. The doctor simply told me I should be able to breathe better, handed me the device, and sent me home to practice.

That was it.

Alongside the pain, made worse by years of unconsciously holding my breath, I lived with narcolepsy and depended on stimulant medications simply to get through the day. I didn't yet understand that my body wasn't working against me. It was doing everything it could to protect me.

Everything changed during a yoga class.

As I moved through the practice, something began to break open. An overwhelming wave of emotion rose through me, and by the end of class I was sobbing. My whole body felt as though it was burning from the inside out, as if years of holding, protecting, and surviving were finally rising to the surface.

After class, I spoke with my teacher. She said very matter-of-factly, "I don't usually see energy, but while you were practicing, I could see what looked like smoke rising from your body."

I didn't know what to make of her words. I only knew that something profound was happening. I felt completely overcome, lost, and unable to make sense of what my body was experiencing.

She looked at me matter of factly and said, "You need to see Kathleen Barratt. She'll help you understand what's happening. She will read your chakras and through the breath help you release what you're ready to let go of."

That conversation changed the course of my life.

Working with Kathleen and discovering Restorative Breathwork® opened a doorway I never knew existed.

Through breath, I slowly found my way back into my body. I learned I could heal. That pain, chronic anxiety, and chaos did not have to define my life.

For perhaps the first time in my life, I experienced what it felt like to be held in unconditional love and true safety. That experience changed everything.

Kathleen saw me. She mentored me and supported me in accepting my gifts as a sensitive and intuitive soul who had unknowingly absorbed the pain and negativity around me. She helped me understand that those burdens could be released as my nervous system found safety and my body let go of what it had been carrying for so many years.

My spiritual journey unfolded and deepened through breath and energy under Kathleen's guidance and through the wisdom of the teachers she introduced me to, including Mietek Wirkus and Mary Elizabeth Marlow.

Over time, the chronic pain that had followed me for years diminished as my nervous system settled and my emotions became more regulated. My relationship with narcolepsy changed so profoundly that I was eventually able to live without the stimulant medications I had once believed I would always need. Most importantly, I no longer felt disconnected from myself.

My own healing journey is the foundation of everything I offer today.

I don't see symptoms as something to fight against. I see them as messages from a wise body that has done its very best to protect us. My role is not to fix or heal anyone. It is to create a safe, compassionate space where people can reconnect with their body’s innate intelligence, remember who they truly are, and discover that healing is possible.