What can I expect in a session?

If you'd like to ask questions in person, please schedule a free 15-minute check-in conversation, where you can ask questions and find out more!

When you arrive at Family Tree Clinic, you’ll ring a buzzer on the front door to enter.  A front-desk greeter will be there to guide you to the Integrative Care Wing.  Cedar Room is the office closest to the window; if the door is open, you may come in!  If the door is closed, I may be wrapping up a session or preparing the space for you. 

There are many different options for seating; there is some complimentary tea in the drawers under the teakettle, and mugs for you to use.  Bathrooms are located just past the big yellow staircase in the front lobby area.  Once I’m ready, I’ll come find you.

There are two chairs in Cedar Room; we’ll use these to check in breifly before and after your session.

Sessions are usually done on a massage table.  Clients may choose from a variety of options to customize their experience.  Clients may choose to remove layers of clothing for an oil-on-skin massage.  In this case, I use sheets on the massage table to cover personal areas while I am working.  Clients may also choose to wear lightweight comfortable clothing during their session.  There are many techniques that I can use that will work with either option.  What’s most important is that you feel comfortable.

My massage practice focuses on communicating with the body through a variety of bodywork techniques, including:

  • Fascia unwinding through deep steady pressure, supported movement and assisted stretching.
  • A range of different-intensity touch:  from subtle holding and micro-movements to deep muscle tissue release, outlining and describing specific muscles to release and relax.  I communicate with clients during each sessions to find the correct amount of pressure and speed.
  • Quiet, slow, and more subtle forms of touch that communicate with the body with gentleness and calm;
  • Verbal suggestions that engage imagination in the healing process;  Or wordless sessions that allow clients to have their own internal experience.
  • Gentle rocking or shaking to integrate and encourage the body to release patterns of holding and tension.
  • I sometimes use my own breath and subtle sounds to communicate to the body’s tissues, and may encourage the client to use their own breath, and perhaps sound, to deepen their experience and release tension.  These can be especially useful tools for opening areas of stagnation or holding patterns, and focusing awareness.  Breath is a vital part of giving our body the fuel it needs to regenerate, increasing the blood flow and providing a way out for the tension and toxins that are released.

Somatic Massage provides awareness of one’s own body through touch and movement. Individualized Sessions help clients identify and release patterns of stress, tension, and trauma.

Customized sessions meet each person where they are, and gently guides them into deeper relationship with their body.

I am experienced in working with:

  • Clients who have never received a massage before; to clients who are receive bodywork regularly.
  • Pregnant and postpartum clients.
  • Clients who have injuries, pre- or post-surgery, past body-traumas, and other experiences that require greater sensitivity and care.  I use slow and subtle techniques, consent-centered touch, and communication before, during, and after sessions to customize sessions with each clients’ needs.
  • Clients of many gender identities, ages, and cultures.
  • Trans-folx and non-gender-conforming folk

My practice uses embodied touch and movement to communicate with specific types of tissue and fluids, including:

Fascia

The connective tissue that wraps every muscle, organ, bone, and ligament. Repatterning the fascia is an important element in releasing long-held tension, and opening to new ways of being in your body.

Muscular System

Working out knots and areas of stress, identifying specific muscles holding tension, and tracing the transfer of stress to different muscle-groups.

Skeletal System

Deep, direct touch that outlines the shape of your “container”, releasing points of tension along areas of muscle-attatchment, and lighter touch facilitating awareness of one’s bone-structure through subtle guided movements.

Joints, Ligaments, and Tendons

Improving mobility and identifying holding patterns through techniques such as compression, light gentle shaking, and assisted stretching.

Lymphatic System and Other Internal Fluids

Aiding drainage, circulation, and flow through movement and specific massage techniques.

Breath, Lungs, Diaphragm and Voice

Learning to express ourselves with an embodied voice is a valuable asset. Conscious use of vocalization and breath can aid the body in the process of transformation and release.

Whole-body Integration

Giving the body space, time, and attention to itself as a whole, as an important element in digesting and absorbing your experiences.  Moving at the “Speed of Sensing”, your experience is priority.  I provide intentional space for you to gain a stronger sense of your own body, connecting to your ability to “listen” to messages from your body through touch and movement.

Release of Trauma in the Body

I am experienced in trauma holding and healing. During Somatic Massage sessions, you may experience nervous system reactions such as yawning, shaking, laughing, or crying. This is the body’s way of releasing emotions and trauma we may have experienced or inherited, that are stored consciously or unconsciously in our bodies. It is a natural part of the healing process.

Benefits of Somatic Massage may include:

  • Learning new habits and patterns, for ways to be in your body
  • Overall integration
  • Orienting to changes in your body; before and after major physically significant events
  • Addressing long-term issues
  • Release of emotions and trauma stored in the body’s tissues
  • Relief of stress, tension
  • Improving overall mobility and ease in one’s body