Friday, September 20, 2019

stillness and reframing productivity

learning how to hammock in Colombia

I am learning how to relax. I've not very good at sitting still. I can keep myself busy, and master a check-list and perfectly arrange my time to fit as much as I can into my days. There are very few moments I have allowed myself to truly rest, not through the action of meditation, or Constructive rest, or the container of a nap, but just having stillness in my body and setting aside the rambling list of things-to-do. This is my radical act.

We live in a society, and I was raised within a household, where productivity and how much I do are significantly valued. It is hard to stop when you feel like your self-worth is intrinsically tied to continuing to do. As I struggle between my value and my time, time to wander in thought, to ignore the forever-long list of doing, I find more freedom in relaxing. Unwinding the impulse to continue doing allows me to slow into the taskless oblivion of living. Life doesn't have to be all of the things we do, it can also be all of the things we sense and perceive, the things we feel and find.

Monday, July 1, 2019

insurance questions

At Deep Ground Massage + Bodywork, we call your insurance provider to verify benefits. As so much of this practice focuses on education, we want to share with you the questions we ask when we call to verify benefits and illuminate what these components of your insurance benefit mean (find a glossary after the break).


Before billing can take place client eligibility must clarified. It is your responsibility to be informed of your coverage, copay/coinsurance, and deductible.

Date Benefits Verified:

Name of Representative with whom you spoke:

Is Massage Therapy covered with this plan?

Is Physical Therapy covered with this plan?

Is the Provider (Stephanie Lavon Trotter) 
In-Network?

Are there 
Out-of-Network benefits?

Does this benefit required first meeting the 
deductible?

Deductible Amount for the Year:

      Remaining Amount of Deductible:

Is a 
referral required?

        If so, by what type of practitioner?

Is a 
preauthorization required?

        If so, by what company? Please provide their contact information.

What is the 
Copayment/Coinsurance?

Is there a 
yearly maximum for this benefit?

How many 
visits are authorized per year?

How many visits are records as of today?

Is 
97140 covered?

Is 97140 applied to the deductible?

Is 
97124 covered?

Is 97124 applied to the deductible?


Saturday, February 2, 2019

a somatic practice




I have been practicing massage since 2010. In this time I have learned that the more awareness we have of/in our bodies, the deeper impact the work can have. Sometimes change can't happen through force, but the gentle reminder that transformation occurs in ways we often don't see. I have been practicing Contemporary Alexander since 2017 and have begun to take more courses that integrate this somatic awareness into my massage work. Many of my clients have experience this integration in real time, as I share my own practice of finding my bones, my alignment, explain self-care practices (like Constructive Rest) and commiserate on the struggle of deep movement and stillness patterning and how to remind our bodies that there are more choices for us to make in movement, that we can find less restriction and stiffness through very subtle and gentle practices of listening. I am grateful for the openness and acceptance of this subtly profound practice as it weaves it way onto my table. I look forward to sharing more of this work as it integrates into my shared bodywork.