Mia lives and breaths bodywork

Raised in New Zealand on a dry stock farm in Waikato, New Zealand, Mia began her bodywork journey at the age of 12 when she began taking Ballet. Ballet inspired her to learn as much as she could about the body and work hard as possible for good posture and functional strength. She ended up spending thousands of hours practicing movement skills until she could execute them with ease and grace. Dance seemed to carry a seed of the healing arts within it, and so they too became a strong passion of hers. She had learnt how to give herself meditations and massage as part of her preparation for daily class, and soon started to work with eager fellow dancers. She ended up getting so interested in the art of massage, she decided to get formal training from the Swedish Institute in New York. There she learnt Swedish Massage, Medical Massage, Shiatsu, and underwent intense studies in anatomy and physiology. 

Throughout her dance studies, she practiced yoga, pilates and Floor Barre. The combination provided Mia with flexibility, core strength, and long exquisite lines, all of which gave her maximum control of her instrument, (her Body!) allowing her to dance with maximum artistry and vitality. She was fortunate to be able to study with renowned disciples of these modalities, including David Life (yoga) Zena Rommett (the founder of Floor Barre) Lesley Powell, Lisa Ortega, and Romana (all incredibly knowledgable pilates instructors). After 20 years of intense studies in these disciplines, Mia decided to become certified in each one of them, so that she could pass on the benefits. She is grateful to have such a strong foundation to teach from.

At the age of 30 Mia wished to build her body to insure long healthy dance career. She found a world-class teacher, Lyn Silbert (world champion power-lifter) who taught her intricate internal setups that allow maximum power to be harnessed through perfect form with free weights. When Lyn passed away, she transitioned into bodybuilding and trained with Lyn’s friend and training partner, Eddie Hogget. She also trained with Shane Lyman and now has Jody Westby Hanalei as her coach. With the expertise of these incredibly talented people, Mia has developed her body to an elite level athlete. 

Mia has earned certifications from major Structural Integration (“Rolfing”) schools (1999). She is certified in Pilates (2002), and in Floor Barre (2007). Mia holds a diploma from the Swedish Massage Institute (NYC, 1995), and the Honolulu School of Massage (Hawaii, 1994), a National Massage License (USA, 1995), and a Massage Therapy License for Hawaii. Mia also holds a Bachelor’s degree in both Cellular and Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from the University of Auckland in New Zealand (1990).