My Story

Erik Emanuel Fenz

I was born on September 7, 1960 in Boulder Colorado. I spent my formative childhood years living in Europe where I developed an early interest in the healing arts from my eccentric Austrian grandmother who used to treat her rheumatism by rolling around in stinging nettles. She made many healing remedies from “magic” plants and flowers that grew near her medieval castle in the mountains of South Tyrol Italy.

During long walks in the surrounding forests we would often sit on a bench alongside an ancient trail and she would read stories to me by Hermann Hesse, Rainier Maria Rilke and others. These tales, particularly Siddhartha, inspired in me an interest in spirituality that eventually led me to travels in Thailand, Bali and northern India.

These journeys and others I took with friends and family became a means of coming into relationship with others and myself that was far removed from my “conditioned”, sheltered upper-middle class upbringing. It brought me an intimate sense of connection and awareness of the world that has given me the ability to relate to a wide range of people and bring a rich sense of humanity to my bodywork practice.

I am the oldest of five siblings. I have two sisters and two brothers who live in Europe the United States and Israel. My mother Karin, a retired nurse, is from the old whaling town of Sandefjord Norway. Her father Otto was a whaler who sailed around the South Pole and often spent years at a time at sea. My father Emanuel was a European history professor born and raised in Florence Italy. His father Johann was a minister and the founding director of a Seventh Day Adventist College and book-publishing firm.

Before becoming a bodyworker I owned a small business in Mill Valley, California and worked part time as a professional exhibition skydiver for the Miller High Life Skydiving Team. I also worked for a time as a commercial helicopter pilot and once circumnavigated the United States using a hand held GPS and by reading road signs.

After surviving a near fatal helicopter accident by “flying” to the bottom of an alligator inhabited lake, I spent a couple years recovering in a Zen Community near San Francisco and at the Esalen Institute along the coast of Big Sur California. There I discovered the transformative power of bodywork and the desire to live a more meaningful life by helping others come into a deeper, more personal relationship with earth, spirit, self and other

I have worked with thousands of individuals from all walks of life including many world-class athletes, students of yoga and meditation, professional dancers, artists, actors, writers, business people, Physicians, musicians, Roshis, Rabbis, Rinpoches, and many other “ordinary” people who value long-lasting, transformative bodywork.

Erik is a Certified Advanced Rolfer, Biodynamic Craniosacral therapist and master energy worker. He has over 3000 hours training in Deep Tissue Therapy, Neuro-muscular release, Esalen massage, Polarity Therapy and Somatic Emotional Clearing. He trained at the Heartwood Institute, Esalen Institute, and Rolf Institute and completed the 3-year Franklyn Sills Biodynamic Craniosacral training in Boulder, Colorado. Erik is a long-time practitioner of Zen meditation, yoga and Jingui chi gung. He has been jumping out of airplanes for over 30 years, offering a unique perspective on “heightened states of calm awareness” and the phenomenon of fear.

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