Practitioners

David Lesondak, CSI, CMT

Director, Health Alternatives of Sewickley
Contact: david@healthatsewickley.com

Portrait of David Lesondak

My interest in bodywork goes all the way back to childhood. My father, who was a riveter for the American Bridge division of US Steel, would come home sore and tired after a long day of work, and my mother would rub his back.  I would watch, fascinated.  She would use rubbing alcohol instead of oil. Dad always seemed better afterwards.

Something about that experience must have left its mark, because I've been associating massage with making people feel better ever since.  I remember working on my hospital roommate in 2nd grade (we were both getting our tonsils out), who was in tremendous pain after his surgery.  Then there was the dance troupe in high school whose knotted shoulders I was always working on at rehearsals.  It continued in my post high school education and first career in television production in Hollywood, Florida.

Massage in some form followed me into every job I had, including an advertising company whose CEO had all manner of chronic pain.  I found myself rubbing his shoulders and the achy joints in his hands quite often, and over the course of many months I saw for the first time the cumulative power of massage.  I was also living in Florida, a state that takes massage quite seriously, and for the first time, I began to do so as well.  

Perhaps being a massage therapist would be a good way to earn a living while I figured out what I wanted to do with my life.

I returned to Pittsburgh in 1990, became an early "graduate" of CCAC's massage therapy program, and was invited to teach a class in the basics.  I furthered my own education in the more clinical aspects by training with Earl Timberlake and Dr. Mark Cullen, both of Ohio. I worked in private practice in a few settings in Sewickley since 1992.

In 1999 I found the location that now houses Health Alternatives.  I  knew I'd found something special: a location that at once felt professional and cozy. Right in the middle of town, but removed enough from the main street to leave that world behind.  A location that was a healing environment.  That it was built by Dr. McCready and once housed his practice made it all the better.

In 2000 I was introduced to fascial bodywork and Structural Integration by a fellow practitioner and instantly realized two things.  First, my body desperately needed this kind of work, and second, I had to learn how to do this.

That began a long quest that culminated in 2003 with my 500-hour certification in KMI Structural Integration, instructed by Anatomy Trains auteur, Tom Myers.

When the opportunity arose to both assist Tom and join his faculty training program, I jumped at the chance.  I've been jumping ever since, having racked up over 200 hours of additional training, and assisting and co-teaching five Anatomy Trains classes.  I love the opportunity it affords to inspire others to excel and how it forces me to constantly refine what I do. The learning never ends…

This year is no different, as I begin advanced practitioner training and will also be attending the First International Fascia Research Congress at the Harvard School of Medicine.  And coming full circle with my early video training, I've produced a DVD documentary of a scientific investigation of the Anatomy Trains concept of interconnected myofascial meridians.

So, I have figured out what I want to do with my life.  It’s been right here in my hands the whole time.