My Journey into Massage

I’m addicted to learning! It fills me up and sets my heart on fire. I didn’t know just how much I loved to learn all things body-related until an injury sent me for my first massage!

I was a 3rd-year dance major in college when I really started to feel the effects of the pounding of long days of classes and rehearsals on my body. I basically lived at a level of soreness that I just thought was normal. I didn’t stop, I kept going and I never entertained the idea of self-care. Self-care??? What was that? Dancers don’t stop, we just go, we suck it up and power through! Because that is what we are conditioned to do. It’s too easy to replace us so we have to tape our feet, pop some ibuprofen, wipe away the tears and head back out on stage. It’s just the way it is. Or so I thought.

Then one day my body told me “that’s enough.” I had ignored the signs and signals for too long. Now my body was going to make me listen.

I was in my modern dance class when I hit the floor in a ball of pain and weakness. My left hip completely gave out on me and I couldn’t move. I remember class stopping and my teacher coming over to me. I was a sobbing puddle of pain. I crawled myself off the dance floor to the side of the room while someone ran to get me ice. After class, my instructor talked to me and advised me to go see a massage therapist. She knew this therapist personally and also knew she was experienced with dancers. I remember saying to her “I don’t know if I can afford it.” And she responded, “I don’t know that you can’t.” That message hit me hard. I really heard her words and realized that this was not something to just brush off and suck up. I had a choice to make… take care of my body and get help or be injured and out from dancing for who knows how long. It was that bad. So I took a breath, scraped together my pennies and had my first appointment.

In that very first appointment, I was amazed that she seemed to magically know exactly where I was hurting. As she worked on me, my body began to relax and I could feel the healing begin. I was able to return to dancing after the first session, being cautious and going easy. By the second session I was back full-force, no problems at all. I remember saying to myself, “One day I am going to do this. I am going to help people heal.”

But dance was still my first passion. So I pursued my performing career in New York City. I was blessed with a fabulous career dancing, performing and traveling. Then something started pulling me towards massage work. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I wanted to learn more about the body and start to pursue a new path. I did some research and found that one of the top schools in the country for massage therapy was right there in New York City. Hmmmm… maybe my path was presenting itself?

One night during a performance this wave came over me and I just knew… I knew that when this show closed I was registering for massage school. So that’s what I did. The show closed and off I went to the Swedish Institute in New York City to attend their open house. Immediately I knew it was the right path for me. The training was intense and hard and I was immersed in all things muscles and body-related. And I loved every second of it! The classwork, the studying and especially the hands-on training. Upon graduation, I worked as a massage therapist in New York City and then we moved to Las Vegas in 2002, where I continue to practice massage work.

Because of my history as a dancer and dance teacher, much of my work became geared towards helping dancers. As my work evolved and my training continued, I quickly became the “go-to” teacher for injury prevention, recovery and self-care for dancers.

My recent training In Voila Method of Structural Integration has been a beautiful add-on to my massage experience. This method guides me to communicate directly with my clients’ bodies to pinpoint how I can direct my work. Use of the Voila Method of Structural Integration connects my work to each client uniquely so that every session is geared specifically towards the individual. My sessions now include the use of Voila as a means to help my clients to the best of my ability. My goal is to communicate effectively with each individual and bring them one step closer to healing. The body is amazing and I love being a part of its beautiful healing process.