About

Introduction to the Treaty Lands of the Burlington area. 

Hey friend,

I’m Steve Cagalj. I am a first-generation settler from Croatia, and I live and work on the traditional and current territories of the Haudenosaunee from the Six Nations of the Grand River, and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. 

Their respective treaty lands include Treaty 3-1792, Treaty 4-1793, Treaty 3 ¾- 1795, and the Haldimand Treaty of 1874, which runs six miles deep on either side of the Grand River, which are inherently and ancestrally inhabited by the original peoples of these lands.

My parents immigrated from Croatia to Kanata in 1973 with two suitcases, 2 small children and me in my mummy’s tummy. I speak English and Croatian. I also speak the languages of love, light, healing and wellness, and reciprocity in relationship. I am both a teacher and student, as we enter your healing and wellness journey together.

It wasn't until  I was 19, after I met my spiritual teacher, that I gained insight into my gifts as an intuitive energy worker. Helping others in their healing process through an empathetic and compassionate lens, is equally healing for me.   

As a dad, foster parent, massage therapist, reiki practitioner, intuitive energy worker, and fellow part of creation and community, I am committed to providing my clients (hopefully you) with a safe space, meeting you where you are at in terms of your wellness journey, without judgement. It is important for me to create a culturally safe space for intersectional identities, Black, Indigenous, people of color, including Two Spirit and LGBTQQIA+ folx.

I have over 20 years of experience and have given  over 15,000 treatments in both massage therapy, intuitive energy medicine, and Reiki. I have worked in a variety of settings including physicians’ offices, chiropractic clinics, in addition to owning my own clinic in Burlington along side a Doctor of Chinese Medicine. I also taught massage therapy courses in Brantford, Ontario. 

I've been very fortunate to have the background as a registered massage therapist. This work has provided me with the experience to fully assess a client through a muscular skeletal lens, in combination with energy work.  

An integrated and holistic approach to wellness:

Through this combination of western and eastern approaches, we work together to explore data points, or information which assist us in understanding our own body, mind, and spirit connection, which leads to the co-creation of strategies for restoring and maintaining physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing.. One of the first things we need to do to heal is to STOP.

To heal, we must get to the heart of the matter~

Self-discipline and a willingness to participate, are essential parts of the process. Your body has an innate wisdom to help heal itself. Often, our social conditioning, beliefs and energetic chords can prevent the self-healing process, because we learn how to keep ourselves safe through coping and survival mechanisms, based on life experiences, including trauma. Sometimes healing can and should feel uncomfortable. This is a natural part of the healing process. Your emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual state are always connected and cannot be separated. When they are unbalanced, we experience deficiencies. By listening to your inner sense of knowing and being, and by leaning into what you feel by challenging your possible tendencies of avoidance, or suppression, we can begin this core wellness work.  

I am still humbled by clients who often return a few years, or even a decade later, to tell me how I have changed their life for the better. My success is the success of my clients 

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With over 15,000 treatments over 20+ years, I have recognized the power of patterns, specifically regarding gaps in the healthcare system. Thus, each treatment is unique, as each person has a unique story. I use various energetic techniques and advanced massage technique to help you get to the Heart of the Matter, at your own pace. I use a metaphorical framework of The Body’s’ Bank, to assist and empower clients, and to help them understand my approach to treatments and their wellness.

Imagine your body is a bank account. “The Body’s Bank.”

Each day, you make conscious and unconscious decisions to make withdrawals and deposits. Both withdrawal and deposits, ultimately affect your spending (your words and actions) and your body’s bank account (your spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical wellness). 

Withdrawals 

How much do you withdraw from your account daily? What are your withdrawals?  What is within your power to change?

Perhaps it is balancing parenthood, career, family, friends, and more simply, adulting. Perhaps it is experiencing racism, violence or trauma in social situations, the home, or in the workplace. Withdrawals are the events, components and people in our lives which cost us. They withdraw from our body’s bank account. They take our money. And money equals power, doesn’t it? By getting to the heart of the matter, we can understand where the withdrawals/deficiencies stem from and continue to show up in our lives (as patterns) and begin to understand how these deficiencies affect your mind, body, and spirit. Ultimately, the goal is to balance your account, so you can create space for deposits. 

Deposits 

How much do you deposit into your account daily? What are your deposits? What does self-care and self-love look like for you? What is within your power to change? How do you increase your savings?

Perhaps your deposits include more sleep, better nutrition, meditation, prayer, song, dance, movement, exercise, the list can be extensive. 

If we can achieve small goals/success over long periods of time, we have a greater opportunity for success, and with success comes active participation. Participate in growing your account. Radical change and growth can happen! 

Begin the practice of making deposits into your own account daily, as routine. In our first session we discuss nutrition. We cannot underestimate the value of our gut health, and the body’s response to gut health. During my treatments, you will learn how to listen to what your body is telling you. It’s likely telling you to STOP. Stop spending so much! Save a little more, by making small deposits 

Helping others is my calling in life, and I am delighted to be offering my services here at the Good Magpie. I look forward to helping individuals, families, and through the ripple effect, community. 

The time is now, make the change you want to see in your life! You can do it!

Consider this: You want the change. Though, you’re unsure where to start.

A typical session begins and ends with conversation. Each session is unique and can include various forms of massage and facial techniques to accommodate the body. Then, we move on to various forms on energy work which might include, chakra balancing, Reiki, guided meditation visualization, and intuitive work. We can also discuss the approach that feels comfortable for you. 

At the end of the session, we reflect on and discuss what we felt, saw, heard. What resonated with you? When you experience an emotion, where do you feel it in your body? I might provide you with light homework to maintain the inertia of your healing and wellness.

One of the most beautiful outcomes in healing work, is the opportunity to leave a legacy for the people that we love, our partners, our children, our families, and our communities. Through my approach and your willingness to do the work, we can leave a legacy together! It’s time to lean into self-love and self-care. Embrace change and become your most authentic and beautiful self.

If you're interested in connecting with me, I'd be more than happy to be an allied partner on your journey to health. I look forward to meeting you soon!

~Peace love and much light to anyone who reads this. I hope your day is filled with light, love, abundance, and spirit~