Most of Sandra’s professional career has been as a bodyworker and a bodywork educator. After graduating with a BA in biology from Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York, she worked in various settings until she moved to Tucson, Arizona, and discovered massage therapy. She graduated from the Desert Institute of the Healing Arts in Tucson (now Cortiva Institute — Tucson) with certifi cation in massage therapy, 1991; in shiatsu, 1999; and in Thai massage, 2002. During this time she also built her private practice and taught at the Desert Institute.
For 12 years she instructed students, primarily in the areas of anatomy, physiology, kinesiology, pathology, and shiatsu techniques, and supervised massage and shiatsu student clinics. She was chair of the anatomy and physiology department for 5 years, during which time she developed curriculum and teaching training courses. For 5 years she served as chair of the Examination Committee for the National Certifi cation Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork.
She is author of The Practice of Shiatsu from Elsevier, and co-author, with Ann Mihina, of Natural Spa and Hydrotherapy from Pearson Prentice Hall . Sandra and her husband, David, own Tucson Touch Therapies, a bodywork treatment center in Tucson. In addition to seeing clients, Sandra creates and conducts continuing education workshops.