I attended the Therapeutic Connections School of Massage in Spokane.  Before the COVID pandemic, I had decided to attend massage school, so I was set to start in May 2020.  All of my music performance work ended up being cancelled during COVID, and TCSM did an amazing job of creating a hybrid learning format for us students.  They recorded all lectures so we could do much of our work at home at our own pace, and then we were able to get permission to be able to meet in person to practice our hands-on training.  I graduated in May 2021, and found a wonderful office space in Spokane to call home for my small private practice.  Since then I have taken classes on the shoulder, neck, and hips, and I am certified in Reiki healing as well.  I am very interested in learning biofield/sound healing in the future, which uses tuning forks and sound waves.

I am a very tactile person and I really enjoy receiving massage.  It has always been comforting and healing for me.  Touch is a crucial part of being a human, and I have found much benefit from massage, after enduring my own chronic back pain, and also after some serious injuries I sustained in 2023.  Massage helps calm the nervous system, and has so many other benefits!  It increases our oxytocin, serotonin and dopamine, and decreases blood pressure and stress hormones.  I love massage as a profession because I can use my hands and my intuition - it is tactile and active, and also fascinating to me to learn more about the body.  It is so rewarding when I can help clients reduce pain and help their bodies find healing.

Sometimes as a massage therapist, I wish that massage therapy could do even more to heal my clients.  But our physical and emotional wounds have probably occurred over our lives, and will take patience and compassion to unravel. So, sometimes the effects are subtle and they happen over time. When used as part of a comprehensive self-care ritual, massage can be so regulating for our nervous systems and encourage our bodies' own healing potential.   

I love working on the back, probably because that is my favorite area to receive massage!  The shoulders also, because they are such a beautiful and complex structure.  The ball and socket joint makes them so mobile, like the hips, but also more prone to injuries.  The shoulders have so many muscles that attach and I love all the shapes they create and all the actions they can do.

Anything outside!  I love camping, hiking, backpacking, paddleboarding, and experiencing the beauty of nature.  It is like therapy for me.

I also majored in music in college and have been a professional musician since then (and still am).  I juggle many different interests and career paths, and my life would not be as rich and full as it is without playing and teaching music!