A story I never expected to tell: my 77 year old dad slept on his left shoulder again

There are moments in my work when the professional and the personal unexpectedly meet. This one moment came out of left field and instantly rose above everything else, becoming the highlight of my year.

My dad is 77. Two years ago, he fell and had multiple fractures in his shoulder. He went through multiple surgeries to rebuild it. The ex-military guy that he is, he went through agonizing pain without a wince. The physical trauma was one thing, but the ongoing pain, fragility, and fear of using it again created a whole different challenge. He hadn’t slept on his left side since the injury. Even in the day to day he’s been guarding that shoulder every single day.

And to be honest? I never thought he’d be interested in my work. As a Feldenkrais practitioner, I’ve helped hundreds of people move with ease, reduce chronic pain, and regain abilities they thought they’d lost, often through the simplest, most surprising shifts, working with the whole body and nervous system.

But in my family, like in many, “alternative” approaches weren’t always taken seriously. So when he asked, on his own, for a few sessions with me, I was pleasantly surprised.

We went slowly. Gently. Respectfully. I treated him the way I treat all my clients, but there was a tenderness in me knowing this was my dad. This man whose hands washed and dressed me as a child, on whose shoulders I perched on top of to get a clear video of many a street fairs and carnivals, is now allowing me to help him rebuild something in him.

What surprised me most was what he did in between sessions. This is a man who has never been particularly fond of “exercises,” yet he began making time, every single morning, sometimes multiple times a day, to lie down and explore his favorite lesson from my shoulder masterclass. He was diligent, curious, and committed in a way I truly didn’t expect. Sometimes I’d be looking for him and my kids or my husband would whisper, “Dad’s got earplugs in his ears. He’s doing the stuff you taught him!!!!!”

At his second session, he mentioned it almost casually:
“I slept on my left shoulder last night.”

I had to pause to take that in.
I knew exactly what that meant.
For him, it meant comfort, hope, and a piece of his life returned.

Helping clients is deeply meaningful. Helping my father rediscover trust in his own body? That’s something I’ll cherish for a long time.
Whole body, nervous system healing matters. Not just because it reduces pain, but because it gives people back parts of themselves they thought were gone for good.

And sometimes, if we’re lucky, it gives us moments of healing within our families, too.

It’s never too late to try something new and be surprised by what’s possible.

One of the biggest lessons from my dad’s experience is this…

It’s never too late…
to shift your perspective,
to try a different approach,
to explore something you’ve never done before in service of your own healing.

My dad could easily have stayed with what was familiar. After all he’d been through, it would have made perfect sense to decide his shoulder was simply “the way it is now” or keep pushing for more medical interventions to ‘fix’ him. But he found it within himself to be curious again. And in doing so, he surprised both of us.

Healing often asks us to step beyond what we’ve always done, to experiment, to listen differently, to trust that our bodies are capable of more than the stories we’ve told about them.

Even after years of pain, your body can learn..
..even after surgery, your movement can evolve..
..and even when progress feels impossible, gentle exploration can reopen doors that seemed permanently shut.

Because healing doesn’t follow a straight line and it certainly doesn’t follow a deadline.

It follows possibility.

And possibility expands the moment we’re willing to try something new.

If this story speaks to you, and you’re curious about what might be possible in your own healing, I’d be honored to support you. Reach out to me with this contact form and I’ll connect with you at my earliest.