Integrative Bodywork Ireland, founded by Erica Bhavani and Susan Keogh, is an offering of hands-on, practical and immersive practitioner trainings in massage/bodywork that bridges knowledge from a multidisciplinary and multicultural landscape of healing practices.
Integrative bodywork is both an art and a science It is a comprehensive system that works with the body in ways that:
• encourage the natural self-healing mechanisms of the body.
• focuses on listening and hearing the needs of the body, and responding appropriately.
• cultivates our own inner practices of awareness and presence, so we can touch appropriately.
• supports others not only in their physical body, but in their entire being.
Our offerings weave together knowledge from Thai yoga massage, myofascial and somatic therapy, principles of physiotherapy and osteopathy, evolving research from neuroscience, along with other systems of Eastern, spiritual and indigenous energy and healing medicine and practices.
As we consider the body and Being as a whole, we know that multiple approaches offer different perspectives to help us understand what it is we are touching beneath our hands when doing bodywork. We use western knowledge to give us practical and physical understanding, while more ancient traditions and spiritual practices help us learn beyond the limits of our rational mind, including the reverence in the miracle and incomprehensible complexity of our existence and being.
“It is impossible to touch the body without accessing the whole person.”
We kindly offer and invite a teaching of bodywork by thus attuning to our actual experiencing of the body’s intelligence, and the magic that can happen when we let the theory and belief systems step out of the way. With a strong focus on quality of touch, listening, sensitivity and presence, we teach how to stay embodied, how to listen and how to feel and communicate with the being you are touching, through hands and heart.
This type of bodywork supports us to inhabit our natural selves and inspires creativity and innovation in our practice. Practitioners at all levels will gain valuable tools and perspectives they can put to immediate use. The inspiration for the trainings is rooted in the depth of what we have received in our own journeys as professional practitioners, with over 30 years of experience combined, and a deep passion to share.
Upcoming workshops and trainings
Please check here for the full schedule and below for our 2024 e-flyer:
Meet the facilitators
Erica Bhavani
Erica has been practicing yoga, spirituality and healing modalities for over 12 years. Having explored other forms of bodywork already, she found a real connection and faith upon discovering Thai Yoga Massage and hasn’t looked back since. She received her practitioner certificate through the Sunshine Network in 2015 and runs her private practice in Lisbon, Portugal since 2017. She continues to study regularly with a variety of teachers, and assisting her regular teachers in their own trainings.
Her studies have branched out into osteopathy and shamanism, including how nature, the elements and energy all play a part in who we are. Erica believes in our ability to heal ourselves, and shares these modalities as a complement and support to help her clients and students along their own personal journeys.
Susan Keogh
Susan is a licensed physiotherapist, myo-fascial therapist, movement educator, Pilates and yoga instructor and life-long student of meditation and the eastern healing arts. She received her professional training in UCD school of physiotherapy, graduating with a Bachelor of Physiotherapy degree and currently delving deep into the study of visceral osteopathy.
Susan offers bespoke workshops to introduce people to working with the body in a fluid and dynamic way, inspired by the depth of what she has experienced receiving bodywork herself and her own direct experience and clients responses in over 30 years working in the therapeutic field.
Follow Susan through her website at fluidbody.ie
Nigel Hanlon
Nigel Hanlon has been practicing Thai yoga massage for over six years since 2017. He has done over 10 International trainings in Thai Yoga and Osteo-thai massage, as well as studies in myofacial systems and subtle energy on the body. Nigel shares his passion for bodywork and healing through a big open heart and welcoming nature.