**"You Never Feel She's Just Booking You In For Her Own Ends"**

*Lynn G, Newark — client since 2004 (in person and online)

Fitness instructor | Treatment: sports massage, myofascial release, Yoga Tune Up, Roll Model Therapy Balls, breathwork*

TESTIMONIAL

"I first went to Susannah for a sports massage around 22years ago. As a fitness instructor, I had a variety of muscle and joint problems — ranging from niggly to serious — caused by teaching exercise, general overuse, or sometimes misuse!

She is extremely professional and knowledgeable, having invested in her own development over the years and progressively gaining additional qualifications and areas of expertise. Having started with body massage work, she moved into Yoga Tune Up and teaching, and is now qualified in myofascial release, working with therapy balls and offering workshops for people to explore self-care and long-term injury avoidance.

Susannah has a wonderful knack of finding resources, approaches and other people to help you help yourself reduce the risk of recurring problems. Her overall aim is prevention and guidance. I've always admired her willingness to refer to others if appropriate — you never feel she is just booking you in for another appointment for her own ends!

She always takes time to fully understand and investigate the symptoms and issues before treating and/or recommending action. Her ability to pinpoint and focus in on the problem, and draw from her wealth of knowledge to treat it appropriately — be that massage, muscle release, exercise or breathwork — is commendable and always effective. Though be warned: never superficial, always getting to the root of the problem, even if that does mean some discomfort!

Finally, Susannah is truly a warm, caring and considerate professional. She has a lively, bubbly personality, tons of energy and a real passion for what she does. You know you are in safe hands, and you know she will do her utmost to help you resolve or manage your pain and discomfort.

I would have no hesitation in recommending Susannah to you for treatment."

*— Lynn G, September 2018*

TEACHER'S NOTE

Lynn was a fitness instructor who has been coming to me since around 2004 — which means she's seen my practice evolve through almost every stage. That long-term view makes her perspective particularly meaningful, because she's not describing a single treatment but a sustained therapeutic relationship across two decades.

What Lynn touches on here is something I feel strongly about: the difference between managing symptoms and actually getting to the root of a problem. For someone like Lynn, who puts her body through a lot professionally, that distinction matters enormously. Surface-level work might provide short-term relief, but it won't change the patterns that keep creating the problem in the first place.

Over the years I introduced Lynn to Yoga Tune Up and the Roll Model Therapy Balls Method — which she first explored in workshops around 2015 — giving her practical self-care tools she could use independently between sessions. This sits at the heart of how I work: I want clients to leave with more understanding of their own body, not just less pain in the short term.

Since this testimonial was written my practice has evolved further, with a much stronger focus on the nervous system and increrasing capacity in a dysregulated world helping my clinets deal with their Hig stress states to help them down regulate and increasing capacity for Breathwork and diaphragm release — which Lynn also mentions — are now central to almost everything I do, whether that's in person in Newark or working online. Chronic tension in the breathing musculature is one of the most overlooked contributors to persistent muscle and joint problems, particularly in active people who are used to pushing through discomfort. Addressing that layer, alongside the structural work, is often what makes results stick.

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**"She Listens to Your History and Focuses on What Will Give You Most Benefit"**

*Paul C, Doncaster — client since c.2008*

*Ironman Athlete, Coach & Business Owner | Treatment: sports massage, deep tissue, myofascial release, breathwork, Yoga Tune Up*

TESTIMONIAL

"I have used Susannah's massage therapy for over ten years. Initially it was for sports massage and deep tissue work on my legs, to help recover from marathon training. Later, her myofascial release work was fantastic on my head, neck and shoulders — and helping me become more aware of how my breathing affects my nervous system and stress response was sometimes the only way to ease the build-up of tension resulting from running my business.

Thankfully, it's now just back to my legs and back for run and cycling recovery for Ironman training and competition.

I like the specificity of Susannah's therapy, and that she has a wide variety of treatment styles and tools to draw upon. She listens to your history and focuses on what will give you most benefit, rather than simply going through a standard routine.

She has personalised some great self-massage strategies using Yoga Tune Up balls, which are much more specific and effective than a foam roller — and so much more portable. So I recover quicker and can train harder."

*— Paul, 49, Ironman Athlete, Coach and Business Owner, August 2018*

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## 4. TEACHER'S NOTE

Paul's testimonial captures something I see regularly in high-performing clients: the body doesn't distinguish between physical and mental load. Paul was training hard and running a business simultaneously — two very different demands that were landing in the same nervous system and the same tissue.

What's particularly interesting about Paul's story is the arc. He came to me initially for straightforward sports massage and leg recovery — the classic athlete brief. But over time it became clear that the tension accumulating in his head, neck and shoulders wasn't coming from training at all. It was the business stress expressing itself physically, and the only way to shift it was to work at the level of the nervous system: breathwork, myofascial release around the thorax and neck, and building Paul's own awareness of how his breathing patterns were affecting his stress response.

That awareness is something Paul now carries independently. Once you understand the relationship between breath, nervous system state and physical tension, you have a tool you can use anywhere — which is exactly the kind of self-sufficiency I aim for with every client.

The Yoga Tune Up ball work I introduced gave Paul targeted, portable recovery tools specific to his training demands — far more precise than a foam roller for the areas that matter most in run and cycling training. The fact that he's now back to focusing purely on performance recovery for Ironman is a good sign: the underlying stress patterns have settled, and the body is doing what it's built to do.

Paul travels from Doncaster, and sessions are also available online for clients who aren't local to Newark.

Paul is an Ironman athlete and business owner who has trained with Susannah for over ten years. Read how myofascial release, breathwork and Yoga Tune Up therapy balls transformed his recovery — and his stress levels.