Brigitte Hart is a power house. I had the pleasure of getting to know Brigitte before she shared this story with me. We bonded physically, emotionally, and spiritually through the very powerful act of Thai Massage. But, I wanted to know more about how she came to Ohana Wellness and how she came to be in bodywork. Much like the other practitioners at Ohana, Brigitte is a jack(ie) of all trades—she is talented, gregarious, and a true power house physically and emotionally.
Her journey to massage and bodywork was long, winding, and at times difficult. But, like all great healers, they get there through the journey of their own healing. Brigitte is no exception to that rule. A bright girl, with a mouth like a sailor (only when appropriate!), a tender heart, and that California surfer-bro attitude you never thought you’d meet in the affluent neighborhoods of Bethesda, she is a down-home chick in the truest sense of the word. You’d never guess she grew up in a rural setting of Ohio in a fairly traditional household, but here she is, being who she is as she is and always allowing her clients to do the same.
When I asked her to share with me her defining moment of when she knew she wanted to do therapeutic bodywork, she was able to point very candidly about her experience in college with ADHD and being on meds. The meds allowed her to focus, to excel, and finally start to unlock all the potential of her brain, turning a mediocre student into a great one. But, she was suffering from incessant headaches, laid up in the dark, eyes closed, pounding behind her eyes until she could barely breathe.
She met a trigger point therapist through a mutual friend, agreed to help him drum up some business and also act as one of his “bodies,” for him to build up his practice. She quickly told him what she was dealing with: the 5-days a week headaches, ever-present, that were impeding on her young life in more ways than one. He gave her a pain map and said, “color the areas where you feel the pain.” Brigitte says to me in that moment, when she sat with the pain map in front of her, the light-bulb didn’t go off, but, the sun came out. She finally started to reflect on what she was contributing to trigger these mind-bending headaches. Within a few weeks she was retraining herself how to sleep and how to sit at her computer. This sparked a thirst that remains to this day for the knowledge to learn more about the mechanics of our bodies and the influence of the mind-body connection.
She moved to Florida because she was “tired of being cold,” got licensed, worked at a chiropractor’s office, worked at a resort in Disney World, then worked at a Farmer’s Market giving massages. She then made the move to the DMV and when she started to seriously consider transferring her license here, Ohana Wellness was the only place she applied to.
I asked her, why?
She begins to tell me that Ohana Wellness just kept popping up in her search. She was encouraged by the fact that the word “wellness” was part of the name, it felt, in a world where this work can be clinical, sterile, and about the negative (like pain management), it was refreshing for her to see an institution lead with being well. She quickly saw the way they seemed to practice what they preach and that it was an environment where she could continue to nurture that thirst for knowledge and continuous learning. It’s what made (and continues to make) Ohana Wellness so unique and special to Brigitte.
Brigitte is unapologetically herself, though fluid in her personality. She’s able to be the best girlfriend who you can be real with and the silent healer who knows how to undo the tensions in the tenderest of areas. To me, she embodies the “and” statement. She is tough AND tender. She is experienced AND still learning. She is strong AND gentle. And she will always be the first person to tell you how much she is still learning and how that is what keeps her showing up, day in and day out.
Brigitte has an incredible gift of receiving her clients in any shape or form that you decide to show up – because that is how she moves through her life, with true authenticity. She reminds me that you’re allowed to have fun while you heal, that she herself has lived and healed through many traumas, has learned how to let go of her pain, and that she learned that things don’t have to be so dang heavy.
And, because, we ended our conversation on the most authentic statement that embodies Brigitte, she reminded that at the end of the day: relaxing shouldn’t be so damn hard.
Schedule time with Brigitte HERE.
