A Note on Style

I believe that this work is at once as delightfully complex as human biology and existence, and as profoundly simple as the power of human touch.

My goal is for you to feel empowered and to ensure that you get what you want and need out of each session. I want us to stay connected, foster relationship, and work together to expand the bounds of what feels possible and good in your body and being.

I seek to work with presence, specificity, engagement, intention, communication, and consent.

My work tends to flow between a variety of styles and techniques depending on what is desired, supportive, and effective. It is my intention that each session emerges out of a collaboration between the client and practitioner.

In any given session we might draw on fascial release, deep tissue, sports massage, trigger point release, relaxation massage, postural and movement analysis, Muscle Energy Techniques, cupping, and other modalities, inspirations, and influences. See below for my take on these various modalities.

My deepest thanks to my many teachers and to the forebears of these many massage and bodywork traditions. May my work do justice to yours, and to each person who graces my table.

Modalities Explained

(Myo)Fascial Release:

Creating space across the whole body system by bringing fluidity, release, and new feeling to stuck tissues in the body's continuous fascial system. 

This work is slow and can be intense (and/or intensely enjoyable), and can provide a widespread sense of renewal, expansion, and ease of movement.

Deep Tissue:

A mode of work with its intention set towards the deeper tissues and spaces of the body. This work utilizes just the right amount of pressure, which may or may not be heavy or intense.

Sports Massage:

This approach is likely to feel more energetic than many others. We are getting tissues moving, blood flowing, and probably aren't being too gingerly about it. This is both for people who might identify as athletes, and those that might not.

Trigger Point Release:

Trigger points are localized areas primarily in muscle tissue locked in involuntary contracture. They are exquisitely tender, often create unwanted sensations in distant areas, and can provide profound relief upon their release.

Relaxation Massage:

Also known as Swedish Massage, these often long, flowing, rhythmic  techniques and caring tone are what comes to mind for many people when they think of massage. This style focuses on stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system. In this "rest and digest" state of being tension is released and mood shifts.

Postural and Movement Analysis:

How the body is held and how it moves provide lots of information. In these assessments we maintain deep gratitude for the ways in which our bodies are serving us and meeting the needs that we ask of them, while also keeping a soft eye toward change and renewed possibility. We are also careful to investigate where our desires to change are coming from. Are they truly our and based in our desire to feel better in ourselves, or are they coming from outside standards and expectations that may not be serving us.

Muscle Energy Techniques:

Utilizing a set of tricks that engage muscles' sensory organs and physiology, we can help the body feel and remember that reduced tension and renewed resting length are possible. These techniques require some active participation from the client, which is a critical component to their effectiveness.

Cupping:

In a world of techniques that employ downward and oblique pressures, cupping allows us to create suction, or negative pressure. This is useful for reducing stagnation and pulling layers apart that might do better with some individuation. Cupping can feel strange at first, at times unremarkable, and often lovely. It has the potential to bring renewed space and ease of movement to the body system.

Other Modalities, Inspirations, and Influences:

Including varying levels of exposure to, experience with, and education in craniosacral therapy, somatics, Feldenkrais Method, and Structural Integration.