I seem to not be able to offer help, and my inteventions hopefully are not seen not as interference, but with gratitude.
We all need to experience life. In the formal education setting, especially when geared into ‘professions’, medical and through the male eyes, there are often huge inner chasms to be breached. Hence I work ‘on the left hand side of the page’. As a woman, as a mother and a sage femme.
Whether it is as a recipient of care (‘patient’/client) or an advanced practitioner of whatever modality, we all need to drop the guise of coping and undo what has driven us to where we are seeking help.
I have had huge shifts in my life since starting with Heather’s selfing course and continuing to learn and be guided by Heather. I have been able to prioritise my own care and needs better and feel alive again. My health issues are improving instead of adding to the list and am rejuvenated about life again. My interests are in helping those that are wanting real change. The people that have been searching for answers but being met with confusion and not much change.
I have been nursing since I was 18, also completing a Masters in Childhood Development and Primary Teaching and since becoming a mum I have done training as a postpartum doula and in Matrescence support. Being dyslexic, with ADHD has guided me to further questions and awareness about well being for woman and families. Meeting Heather transformed it all.
I had felt lost in the systems and alternative options also. I am beyond grateful to Heather for all she has questioned, searched for, practiced and put together. I’ve never felt fully aligned with my endeavours until now. From my own experiences and what I’ve seen through practicing Heather’s Gentling Ways, peoples mind’s and body’s are able to find a gentle space to become unstuck. The techniques help the body flow and heal. Georgie – Qld
I have a life history in seeking true well being. I was brought up in an evangelical church and willingly assented to a devoted Christian patriarchal faith until age 27. Since then (now over 40) I have let it go and painstakingly continue to weed out the remains. These days my mantra is to go where life thrives & trust in my own wisdom. I have been able to combine food, movement and bodywork to bring healing to my own anxiety, abdominal pain, constipation, back pain, chronic fatigue and mild uterine prolapse. And to find a life where I earn my living doing a vocation rather than just a job. I have spent the past ten years learning who I am and would have become in the absence of spiritual coercion and fear.
This journey began in 2017 when I was trying to make a living doing food preparation. I was floundering. I’d recently burned out after moving cities for a job I disliked. Having quit…I was attempting to reinvent my life. Or just find myself.
Finding Heather’s Gentling Way was a step in the right direction. It began with Heather asking me to offer my catering services in exchange for learning. I did not yet know that I could heal with my hands. It was an unexpected discovery, for one who had expected to move into talk therapy. Heather is my aunt. I am very thankful for the wisdom and technical healing skills I learned from her. Heather did not ask for years of institutionalisation, or the right pieces of paper – as my psych degree demanded.
She believes in the wisdom gained through living. I will be forever grateful for her command to just do the work. Don’t play the not-good-enough-game. I was desperate enough and confident enough in my lineage, that I did start. Also, for the sense of rightness, contentment and presence I experienced when working on someone. This was unlike anything I’d experienced before. I still had to cook and clean on the side for a while. But my practice has grown.
By chance, I discovered ConTact C.A.R.E., a remarkable modality for addressing just about anything. At its basic core, we work with pressure. We find and release the trapped trauma signature (felt as pressure, density, stagnation) from bone, in order to bring the body back into proper alignment and function. I use these modalities together or separately, depending on the purpose for which individuals come to my clinic. – Keren, NZ
After experiencing a pregnancy loss and finding myself deeply depleted, I was guided to Heather’s Gentling Way — a practice that offered my body the restoration it so desperately needed. I didn’t just study the work; I lived it. Heather’s healing hands helped bring me back into alignment, and through that embodied experience, I felt the call to learn this gentle, hands-on approach myself. Now as a mother, I carry this work into my family life — using it to support my children’s natural rhythm, development, and well being.
With over 20 years as an educator, school leader, and university lecturer, my lifelong passion has been childhood development. Heather’s Gentling Way allows me to merge my educational expertise with my skills in Reiki and energy healing, supporting both children and parents in returning to a more grounded, centred, and soul-aligned state. – Natalie, NSW
I am a resilient educator, and holistic healer with a deep passion for supporting others through personal transformation, communication, and care. Born to hearing parents and diagnosed with severe-profound bilateral hearing loss before age two, I’ve spent my life navigating the world through alternative ways of communication—visual cues, gestures, and eventually Auslan, which I chose to learn at age 16.
My journey has been shaped by profound personal challenges, including early medical trauma, the loss of close family members, and the complexities of motherhood. These experiences taught me strength, empathy, and the value of persistence. I have always found ways to adapt and grow, even in the face of adversity. I became a qualified Teacher of the Deaf after earning a Bachelor of Primary Teaching in 1998 and a Master’s in Special Education in 2002. I’ve supported children with disabilities as both a teacher and a respite worker, while also raising two sons—one of whom has hearing loss and the other born prematurely following a high-risk pregnancy. In 2018, I began a new chapter in healing, completing Reiki levels I, II, and Master level by 2019.
After relocating to the Northern Rivers in search of nature, balance, and space to homeschool my children, I faced significant health setbacks, including severe anxiety, tinnitus, and balance issues. That journey led me to seek deeper healing, and through the guidance of Heather Bruce and her workshops, I began to reconnect with my body and sense of purpose. Today, I combine all these life experiences—education, healing, communication, and resilience—to support others as an Auslan tutor, support worker, and body-based healing practitioner. I am deeply committed to helping people feel seen, heard, and supported—especially those who have struggled to find their voice or path. —Anna, NSW
EVERYONE TRANSFORMS
Especially/ including me as we go through this journey of master/apprentice, colleagues, soul sisters, Light workers together