MY PROFESSIONAL STORY 

Hello! My name is Erin Passarello and I've always enjoyed being outside, being active and have always considered myself an intuitive and sensitive person. My journey started in 2010 with pursuing a more holistic approach to physical therapy where I began treating patients with chronic pain utilizing Myofascial Release and CranioSacral Therapy. From there I transitioned to inpatient care then to sports medicine still utilizing my background in MFR and CST. 

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In 2013, I broke my wrist in a mountain biking accident. Out of work, I chose to pursue a dance class -something I'd never done before but had always been interested in. I met someone who taught healing dance and was introduced to belly dance (not something I would have picked at the time) and felt much more grounded, vibrant, and centered in my body. I continued to take belly dance classes and workshops while still working as a PT. 

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I continued to study CranioSacral Therapy through the Upledger Institute and became certified in the Techniques level in 2015. I started my own practice in 2016 in Hendersonville, NC and eventually had offices in Asheville and Brevard, NC at different points in the evolution of my business.

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I began to teach belly dance classes around 2018, blessed by my first teacher to start my own classes. I realized I wanted to do more than just PT and CST, so I expanded my business to include teaching belly dance, stretching classes, and leading mountain bike rides. Still working as a PT, I incorporated  certain dance movements with my patients to help improve function and movement.

 

I began to experience burn out especially during 2020 and transitioned to doing traditional physical therapy as an employee and continuing leading bike rides and teaching classes within my own business after the height of the pandemic. I took on a handful of clients during the pandemic, and in 2023 felt the need to take a sabbatical with the intention of fully coming out of burn out. 

 

 Keep reading for more details. :) 

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MY PERSONAL STORY

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While I worked as a PT, my life continued to unfold as a spiritually gifted person deeply connected to the Earth and the more than human world. I went through a tedious and drawn out separation and divorce from 2011- 2013. My life had been turned upside-down: I'd grown up and married into the Roman Catholic Church which had always felt oppressive and perfectionistic, leaving no room for being human or authentic. Slowly, my nervous system began to calm as I detached from an unbalanced, abusive relationship and my spiritual life became something I found through nature by experiencing animals as messengers. I attended therapy regularly focusing on attachment theory and somatic experiencing for 4-5 years. I also spent one year receiving Koren Specific Technique and an additional year remote intuitive healing. I realized nature reflects back to me what I think and feel, and each animal has a wisdom or essence to teach us. I also tapped into my gift of being a clairvoyant and clairaudient person which had not been apparent during my childhood or early adulthood. I began to see into other dimensions which included my own spirit guides, the Faerie Realm, and the Elementals. It became apparent to me that I'm here in this incarnation for more than just being a physical therapist, but school and culture was always narrowly focused on academia and achievement, so I continued to pursue training and education within the natural world and found teachers/ mentors who resonated. 

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Through my work as a CranioSacral Therapist, I was introduced to a medicine woman from Ireland in 2015. Her training consisted of 26 years in the Navajo and Celtic traditions. I became extremely interested in taking workshops and classes about the elements as a consciousness and Earth's cycles. I spent one year participating in her teachings and attending a fire festival on the quarter and cross-quarter days. I finally felt like I was beginning to land into a deeper version of myself. I became more interested in books such as Nature Speak by Ted Andrews and began to follow the natural rhythm of the year and it's energies after completing the year of fire festivals and teachings in 2016. 

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I took a break from my own business in 2020 due to increased stress working in the healthcare field during a new pandemic and continued my PT job for stability. 

Through my business coach, I was introduced to my now good friend Lena with Earth Path Education. I was invited to teach belly dance at the annual Growing Goddess Rite of Passage Ceremony for girls and young women in Black Mountain, NC summer of 2020. I arrived having no idea what I was getting myself into regarding the ceremony- I thought I was just there to teach dance. One of the facilitators suggested I become initiated as this was something I had never experienced: being recognized, honored, and appreciated as an adult women by other adult women. I took part in nature based ceremonies that touched the depths of my soul I didn't even know existed- healing very old genetic and soul wounds. At the end of the week I felt like every ounce of pain and anxiety had been lifted. I felt landed and expanded into a deeper version of myself and like a whole new me. I felt the most deeply connected to the Earth I'd ever been. 

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I KNEW after this experience that I wanted to eventually help adult women reclaim their power by giving them what we've never had: permission to show up as a powerful creatrix of the Earth and be seen for who we truly are.

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I rode my new enthusiasm from the rite of passage ceremony into fall of 2020; I signed up to take a year+ long Rite of Passage Guide training for girls and women. I completed the course January of 2022 with interest in continuing my education. Well versed in ceremony, I created my own ritual on Samhain in 2022 and conceived the name for my healing practice: Earthen Body Earthen Soul Healing Center.  

 

May of 2024, I attend a Women's Initiation and Rite of Passage Guide training 10 day intensive to continue my training. (I highly recommend applying as it's being offered by donation this year. Click here.) 

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I currently live in Marshall, NC on 400 acres with my partner and beloved dog and cat. I'm slowly growing new roots and putting my offerings back out into the world. 

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Please check out the rest of my site!

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Credentials/ Memberships

• BS in Recreational Therapy (WCU 2006)

• MS in Physical Therapy (WCU 2009)

• NC PT License #12470   (2009)

• Certified CranioSacral Therapist (Techniques level, 2015)

• Certified Rite of Passage Guide (2022)

• In process: Certified Functional Nutrition Informed Professional 

• In process: Sacroiliac Joint Specialist Certification 

• Later this year: Certified Women's Health Specialist for pregnancy and postpartum

• Medallion Member of IAHP (International Association of Healthcare Practitioners)