ABOUT NEW BODY – NEW MIND

New Body – New Mind was founded by Teresa Sienkiewicz. Born and raised in Poland, Teresa studied bioengineering, music, and theater in college. She later received graduate degrees in theoretical physics, education, and music. In 1988, she moved to Boston, Massachusetts, to attend the New England Conservatory of Music. After graduating, Teresa performed as a musician and also began working at Harvard University as a researcher in mathematics education.

Even though Teresa was successful in both careers, she realized that neither science nor music fulfilled her need to help others in a tangible and meaningful way. In 1994 Teresa enrolled in the physical therapy program at Simmons Graduate School of Health Sciences in Boston and earned the degree of Masters of Science in Physical Therapy in 1997. That’s when her clinical journey began.

Teresa’s Story

“Since I was a child, I was driven by two desires. One was related to my intellectual curiosity and the need to understand the physical and emotional universe. The other force had to do with my creativity and need to connect with others. For this reason, I pursued two parallel education paths – the study of science, philosophy and psychology, and the study of music, theater and art.

As I matured, I realized that both my careers, although interesting and rewarding, lacked what I believed was necessary for my happiness. I felt a strong need to communicate and connect with others, which music and theater allowed me to do, but I also wanted to help people in a concrete and measurable way. I needed to find a profession that could fulfill both of these needs. After careful deliberation, I decided to become a physical therapist and enrolled in a graduate physical therapy program at Simmons College in Boston.

Physical therapy has proven to be an ideal career choice for me. On an emotional level, work with patients gives me tremendous satisfaction – there is nothing more rewarding than helping patients achieve optimal health and functioning. Clinical work is also very gratifying from an intellectual point of view. It requires constant learning, creativity and application of problem-solving skills. Lastly, it completes my professional journey – when working with patients, I draw on the diverse knowledge and experience I have gained in my previous careers.

My background in physics helps me to understand and analyze the mechanics of the body and its movement patterns. My experience as a musician (using my body as an instrument or “being one with an instrument”) and as an actor (using my body as a tool for physical expression) has given me an intuitive understanding of how patients “feel” or experience their own bodies. My work in education has taught me the importance of effective communication, problem solving, and facilitation of patient involvement in the treatment process. It is essential to me that my patients understand their condition and actively participate in their own recovery.

Over the years, I’ve worked in a variety of physical therapy settings, including outpatient physical therapy clinics, rehabilitation facilities, and inpatient hospitals. I’ve also gained extensive experience in various areas of rehabilitation from sports and orthopedics to pain management, spasticity management, and neurological rehabilitation. My true passion, however, has always been the development of creative, individualized treatment approaches for medically complex patients, or patients who don’t respond favorably to conventional physical therapy protocols (e.g., patients who suffer from myofascial pain, headaches, TMJ, fibromyalgia, and other chronic pain conditions). I have always been drawn to manual therapy and I have become an expert in integrative manual therapy techniques. In order to pursue my clinical interests, in 2001 I established a private practice, New Body Physical Therapy in Newton, Massachusetts.

While in private practice, I created a comfortable and safe office environment to help my patients feel at home. I resolved to allot enough time for each session in order to provide focused, individualized patient care of the same quality that I would like my own family members to receive. In addition to traditional physical therapy, my practice offered holistic, integrative, whole body treatments with an emphasis on mindfulness and body awareness training.

Early in my career, I was routinely incorporating meditation and relaxation training when working with patients. Later, I added hypnotherapy as either a stand-alone intervention or a complement to my physical medicine practice. I am certified in clinical hypnosis and have advanced training in hypnosis for pain (including headaches and TMJ pain), IBS and other GI dysfunctions, insomnia, stress/anxiety, fears and phobias, preparation for surgical procedures, infertility, weight loss and many other medical conditions. I also have a master certification in neurolinguistic programming (NLP). To reflect the unique style of my practice, in 2006, I changed its name to New Body – New Mind.

I truly enjoy my work as a physical therapist / manual therapy specialist and hypnotherapist – I cannot imagine anything more rewarding than helping patients return to a healthy, fulfilling life and reach their physical, emotional, and spiritual potential. I feel fortunate having worked with so many wonderful patients. I feel genuinely honored to have been a part of their journey and I am deeply grateful to them for being my teachers.”

The physical medicine component of Teresa’s practice has evolved as a specialty clinic focused exclusively on the treatment of headaches, orofacial pain (TMJ/TMD), tinnitus and associated neck disorders. Teresa maintains a close working relationship with physicians and dentists who specialize in the treatment of chronic pain conditions, including the clinical team at the Craniofacial Pain and Headache Center at TUFTS University School of Dental Medicine in Boston, of which she was a member for over 12 years and where to this day she is a guest lecturer.