By Matt Robinson
Contributing Writer
PLYMOUTH – These days, everyone is seeking ways to enhance their health and well-being.
And while millions of people grab at the latest powder, pill, or puncture to keep them feeling healthy, many of the secrets to feeling good are within us.
For the past 25 years, Anne-Marie Harnett of Harnett Healing in Plymouth has been helping people of all ages (especially older folks) find ways to deal with physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges effectively.
Early introduction to holistic medicine
Introduced to acupuncture as a young child when she would accompany her mother for treatments, Anne-Marie was always open to a wide range of modalities and strategies.
“I grew up in a family where holistic medicine was part of our repertoire,” she recalled. “I would sit in the waiting room and look at the different charts on the walls while [Mom] was in her appointments.”
As her mother was fortunate enough to have an expert massage therapist among her large circle of close friends, Harnett was also privileged to learn the benefits of this type of treatment early on.
“I had my first massage at age 16,” the 52-year-old Zumba fan and swing dancer said. “The experience impacted me deeply!”
As she was an ice hockey player (in fact, the first female player in the town of Brookline), Harnett is also grateful that her mother introduced her to chiropractic when she was still in elementary school.
“My tailbone got knocked out of place a couple of times,” she explained, “and that’s really important to have corrected at that moment and not later.”
Wide range of modalities
While few of us had the access or parental insight to engage such health-supporting treatments when we were young, Harnett has discovered (and in fact devised) a wide range of modalities that allow her to help many people repair and restrengthen, even much later in life.
“People want to feel good and are willing to open to new experiences,” she observed. “Especially as their body changes and they’ve experienced the limitations of Western medicine, they start seeking other professions, modalities, and points of view that can help them manage things like physical pain, worry, depression, or other limitations.”
As she has enjoyed such profound benefits from the healing treatments she has received throughout her life, Harnett knew early on that she wanted to help share these benefits with others to help improve their lives. Though she had originally considered a traditional medical school, Harnett eventually had her professional dreams turn to the realm of naturopathic medicine. After garnering a degree in cellular and molecular biology at Tulane University in her mother’s home state of Louisiana, Harnett went to massage school in Colorado.
“Originally, it was a ‘year off’ thing after college,” she mused, “but then I ended up falling in love with hands-on bodywork and the thrill of helping people to feel better.”
Since then, Harnett has been an eternal student, learning and mastering a wide range of modalities, including cranio-sacral and polarity therapy, cupping, and trigger-point release, continuing to add and combine new systems in order to give each client the best and most effective care they can get.
“All of the modalities that I offer are ones that have made the biggest difference in my life,” Harnett affirmed.
Energy system teaching
As she is one of the few people in the world who is certified to teach it, Harnett is especially dedicated to the energy work system known as RYSE (Realizing Your Sublime Energies).
“RYSE is a series of classes that teach you about your energy system…and how to fix it yourself,” she explained. By looking at the root causes of apparent issues, RYSE helps practitioners learn how to “move through the world in a more protected and calm way.”
Harnett teaches RYSE at her studio and online and loves watching her students transform before her (and their own) eyes.
“RYSE completely changed my life,” she maintained, “and gave me tools that I use in some fashion every day. It’s my favorite thing to teach and watch people go through their own journey of transformation and more deeply understand themselves!”
For those who might be more comfortable with talk therapy, Harnett champions Internal Family Systems (IFS).
“IFS helps you untangle long-held patterns of worry or fear,” Harnett asserts, noting that these patterns are often rooted in earlier experiences, “and bring compassion and healing to those places.”
As IFS is a talk-based therapy, Harnett offers sessions by phone for people who may not be able to make it to Plymouth on a regular basis.
“It teaches you about the different aspects of yourself,” she summarizes, “and how to heal yourself through more nuanced and internal relationships with yourself.”
Facilitating self-healing
Whether she is using her hands to work out a muscle knot or using gua sha scrapers and other tools to loosen tight tendons or supporting a client from far away, Harnett is most satisfied when she is able to help her clients heal themselves.
“I walk clients through how to facilitate their own healing,” she advises, “which is incredibly empowering. This work also creates deep insights into our patterns and why we react the way we do to life and people in [various] circumstances.”
In an effort to combine some of the many systems she has learned and mastered, Harnett created her own modality called HALO.
“HALO stands for Heal Align Love Open,” she explained. “It’s an advanced energetic technique to help heal on the deepest cellular level.”
From anxiety to vitality, she said HALO has helped many reconfigure their inner selves so their outer selves can appear (and be) stronger and more prepared for whatever challenges life may bring.
“We all need techniques to help balance and calm our systems,” Harnett observed,” and this is one of those techniques that can be easily used every day and create sustained benefits.”
Techniques for older clients
When asked which techniques have proven among the most effective for older clients, Harnett names cranial therapy and lymphatic drainage first.
“Cranial therapy [is] so relaxing and it also helps bring increased nutrition to the brain and nervous system,” she reasoned, “and lymphatic drainage is such an important way to flush the body in a gentle manner that helps keep our immune system functioning at its highest and best.”
However, she adds, energy-based systems like RYSE and HALO are also important for older people so they can maintain their energy and life spark even in challenging circumstances.
“We can have tools in our back pocket that we can use anywhere and anytime to help manage stress or anxiety or overwhelm,” she suggested.
No matter which modalities Harnett and her clients agree upon, her goal is always the same.
“I want to make it so that all of my clients are living their best lives and have the aging process be as gentle as possible,” she pledged. “All of the modalities I offer help to strengthen the body, calm the emotions, and balance the mind so that people can feel their best and do more of the things that they love.”
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