Practitioners
MEET THE TEAM
At Centered Spirit, we help people with digestive & reproductive disorders, chronic pain, stress and everyday health with experts trained in:
Traditional Maya Medicine, Herbalism, Nutrition, Corrective exercise, Meditation,Yoga and more...
Alex Jackson
Emilie Jackson
Shawna Patton
Amy Zoe Schonhoff
Amy Lester
Alex Jackson, LMT, Co-Founder of Centered Spirit Cultural & Holistic Health Center and Founder of the Awareness is Healing® Method and Awareness is Healing® Institute, is a Traditional Maya Medicine practitioner, speaker and educator certified in Maya Abdominal Therapy. With more than 20 years in holistic practice, Alex helps his patients heal through simple, yet effective therapeutic techniques, empowering insights and greater personal awareness.
Alex believes healing is a holistic process powered by greater self-awareness and understanding of how the body functions and responds to stress due to unresolved emotions, past trauma and/or current lifestyle pressures.
From digestive and reproductive disorders to musculoskeletal pain and chronic anxiety/nervous system issues, he sees the abdomen as the doorway to resolving many challenging health conditions and achieving a more balanced centered spirit.
Alex specializes in traditional healing, prenatal & postpartum care, herbal medicine and somatic bodywork. He has spent decades traveling, studying, and apprenticing with internationally renowned traditional medicine practitioners and teachers of Maya and Mexican traditions in Central America, Mexico and New Mexico.
The founder of the Awareness is Healing Institute, which opened in 2017, Alex trains other holistic practitioners who are interested in helping their patients achieve greater well-being by addressing the underlying issues driving chronic and acute health conditions.
If you want to learn more about Alex and the techniques he uses, please call him at 816.225.9393 or email him at alex@centeredspirit.com.
Alex Jackson
Awareness is Healing Method®
Emilie Jackson
Health & Wellness Director
Tea Specialist
Kundalini Yoga Teacher
Originally from France, Emilie speaks English, Spanish and French fluently. She has also lived in five different countries including Portugal, England, and Mexico, where ancient healing traditions are still alive. After working in International Business and Marketing for more than 15 years, Emilie decided to pursue her dream of entrepreneurship. Together with her husband Alex, they opened the Cultural and Holistic Center in January 2017 where they now share their passion for health and wellness with the local community.
Emilie has a passion for cultures, traditions and rituals from around the world — especially tea rituals. She describes tea as being “as fascinating and complex as wine.” Visitors to the French Tea Room quickly find out that her enthusiasm for the Art of Tea is contagious. In a recent magazine article, Emilie talks about how her interest in tea began and describes the health benefits of tea rituals.
Emilie teaches classes about tea and herbs, as well as tea rituals around the world and their health benefits. She also oversees all the health and wellness classes held at Centered Spirit. If you are interested in being a speaker or holding a class at our Center, please contact Emilie at 816.225.9393 Ext. 2 or email her at emilie@centeredspirit.com. You can also visit emiliesfrenchteas.com.
Shawna Patton
Therapeutic. Fertility & Pregnancy Massage
Shawna’s career began in 2006 when she became fascinated with how the body functions and the concept of self-healing. She was intrigued by how the body held, coped, and released stress and/or pain. In 2014 she was pregnant with her first child. During the pregnancy she struggled with pubic symphysis pain and sciatic pain. Nothing seemed to help, and massage was a far cry from benefit at that point. The birth of her son not only changed who she was as a person but also where she wanted to go with her career or path. She knew there had to be a better way to support Pregnancy with Massage Therapy. Thus, Mama Bear Massage was created.
Since opening her practice, in 2017, she has expanded her knowledge and skills to not only specialize in Pregnancy Massage (with techniques to make it as comfortable as possible), but also in Fertility Massage. Our bodies change and shift many times during our lives. Her passion is to help women understand their bodies and learn how to meet their unique needs. She has created a Massage Therapy practice that focuses on you, the individual, and how you can continue to improve your level of comfort from home.
If you want to learn more about Shawna and the techniques she uses, please call her at 816.509.4008 or email:
shawnapatton@mamabearmassagekc.com. You can also visit mamabearmassagekc.com. You can also book your treatment online.
Amy Schonhoff
Mindfulness Education and Training
Amy Zoe Schonhoff (she/her/hers), is the founder of Mindfulness in the Heartland, a qualified teacher of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, a certified practitioner of Advanced Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness, and a trained Mindfulness Educator for K-12 through Mindful Schools.
Amy's mindfulness practice spans over twenty-five years of personal exploration. Based on her own journey, she has found the practices and principles of mindfulness to be the most instructive and transformative approach to embracing this experience of "being human." As a result, she is particularly inspired to teach the skills of mindfulness to individuals and communities actively working to integrate and heal from personal and intergenerational trauma.
Amy will tell you she is certain of a few things...we cannot genuinely experience the joys of life without also accepting its moments of sorrow; because they are two faces of the same coin. Likewise, fundamentally, we are all naturally creative, resourceful, and house the answers to our innermost needs. Mindfulness can bring us home to these truths, time and time again.
It is her intention to inspire people to walk through life with a sense of deep reverence, fully honoring their moment-to-moment experience, bravely leaning into life’s challenges, relinquishing attachments to what “should be” for the sake of what is, and ultimately, living with a greater sense of equanimity—filled with kindness, joy, and compassion for themselves and others.
Amy offers mindfulness classes, workshops, and community practice opportunities for adults, teens and families. She also offers mindfulness training and education for corporate and non-profit organizations.
To learn more about Amy, her professional practice, and offerings, please visit her website www.mindfulheartland.com. Inquiries can be emailed to amy@mindfulheartland.com or call 816.812.4655.
Amy Lester
Medical Esthetician, L.E.
Bloom Aesthetics is the culmination of 23 years of active service in the skincare industry, treating all skin challenges, and ethnicities. The founder, Amy Lester-Brahl, who began Bloom in 2018, started her journey as a young adult struggling with her own skin.
Amy enjoys curating skin treatments that are result driven, and in a calm and relaxing environment.
She offers everything from medical microneedling, for acne scarring and fine lines, to organic oil dermaplaning, before any event. She proudly offers the longest, most detailed facials in Kansas City, as she wants everyone to receive both a thorough, and relaxing experience.
At Bloom, where all faces, are welcome, Amy looks forward to giving you a results driven treatment, in a relaxing and calm environment.