Healing is not fixing.
It is remembering how to flow.
Healing is not fixing.
It is remembering how to flow.
As a musician who experienced and fully recovered from focal embouchure dystonia and other performance blocks, Ruth understands from the inside what it feels like to lose the abilities you rely on most. Her lived experience informs her work with deep compassion and precision.
She has spent nearly 30 years working with professional musicians, elite and international sports clubs, dancers, gymnasts, basketball players, skiers, track athletes, surgeons, and individuals from all walks of life — helping them resolve focal dystonia and performance-related blocks through leading-edge neuroplasticity and neurogenesis-based methods.
She supports people with all forms of focal dystonia — including blepharospasm, oromandibular dystonia, cervical dystonia, spasmodic dysphonia, laryngeal dystonia, lower limb and runner’s dystonia, truncal dystonia, embouchure dystonia, musician’s hand dystonia, writer’s cramp, the yips, and other task-specific dystonias — helping them return to softness in the muscles, fluidity of movement, and trust in their bodies.
Her work blends neuroplasticity, interoceptive training, nervous system regulation, and learning to enter into flow at will. It is gentle, grounded in science, and deeply human.
Her clients include gold medallists, Grammy Award winners, and Olympic athletes and teams.
RUTH'S MISSION
Ruth’s mission is to offer clarity where there has been confusion, hope where there has been fear, and a path forward where people have been told there is none.
A Different Way of Understanding Dystonia
Ruth’s work is grounded in a simple but powerful understanding:
The nervous system is not malfunctioning — it is adapting.
And what has been learned can be unlearned.
Through neuroplasticity and neurogenesis-based methods, Ruth helps people retrain the neurological patterns behind focal dystonia and gradually restore natural movement, freedom, and flow.
Why I Do This Work
As a musician, I developed focal embouchure dystonia and other performance blocks that took away the thing I loved most. One day, the movements I had trusted for years simply weren’t there anymore. I felt terrified, ashamed, confused, and completely alone. No one could explain what was happening inside my body, and every attempt to “fix” it made things worse.
Experience shaped my life's work.
The turning point came when I stopped fighting my symptoms and began listening to what my nervous system was trying to protect. That shift changed everything. Step by step, I rebuilt my movement, my confidence, and my relationship with my instrument. I returned to freedom and fluidity — not by forcing my body, but by understanding it.
HER APPROACH
Her approach is grounded in a simple truth.
The nervous system is not malfunctioning — it is adapting. And what has been learned can be unlearned.
Ruth works with two deeply related frameworks — both rooted in nervous system science, both focused on helping people find their way back to natural movement, freedom, and flow.
The Focal Dystonia Method
A proven, neurobiologically grounded approach to focal dystonia in all its forms — supporting people with cervical dystonia, blepharospasm, musician’s dystonia, embouchure dystonia, spasmodic dysphonia, writer’s cramp, the yips, and all other task-specific dystonias. Working with the nervous system — not against it — to gradually restore natural movement and trust in the body.
Free to Perform
A somatic framework for the full spectrum of performance blocks — for musicians, athletes, performers, and anyone whose nervous system has learned to protect rather than perform. Offering practical, repeatable steps into the state of Flow — not occasionally, but reliably.
Background & Credentials
Ruth S. L. Chiles is a somatic performance therapist, author, and educator with nearly 30 years of clinical experience. She is the creator of the Focal Dystonia Method and the Free to Perform framework.
- Creator of the Focal Dystonia Method — the only neurobiologically grounded therapeutic approach specifically developed for focal dystonia
- Creator of the Free to Perform framework for performance blocks and flow state access
- Author of two published books: The Focal Dystonia Cure and Free to Perform
- MSc Psychology (in progress), University of Surrey — research focus: identity resilience and wellbeing in professional musicians
- BSc (Hons) Applied Science with Life Sciences, University of Manchester
- Brainspotting Consultant — trained in Brainspotting since 2018
- Certified Naturopath, FENACO
- Group and Individual Therapy, Family Constellations — Constellations Mexico, Bert Hellinger Institute
- Kundalini Yoga Teacher — IKYTA (International Kundalini Yoga Teachers Association)
- Psilocybin Harm Reduction certification (in progress) — Therapsil
- Endorsed by Grammy Award-winning musician Victor Wooten
- Currently working with Olympic athletes and teams
- Work spans professional musicians, elite sports organisations, dancers, gymnasts, surgeons, and individuals from all walks of life
Her work is gentle, grounded in science, and deeply human.
What Clients Say
“I had been struggling with Focal Dystonia for a very long time before I met Ruth Chiles. Her unique approach is exactly what I needed. Yes! There is hope for us all.”
Victor Wooten
“This journey home, so beautifully and skilfully facilitated by Ruth, has the potential to heal and transform the lives and careers of so many performers and unlock creative potential in ways we have not seen before.”
Christian Uitzinger
“If you have focal dystonia and have come looking for help, look no further — you have come to the right place. I’ve personally suffered from focal dystonia for over 15 years. I’ve sought out help many times before. That search stopped the moment I found Ruth. I have absolutely no doubt that she can help any focal dystonia sufferer. Ruth, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.”
Gonçalo de Oliveira Crespo
Guitar and Music School Owner