welcome 2026

Happy new year dear clients!

The fervent march of time has been most palpable in the past year. Where did 2025 go? As always I will work toward more spaciousness and slowness in the new year, a years-long practice, which fruits successes and failed attempts.

(L to R: construction Stephanie in the new addition, Florida sunset, Puget Sound sea star, early summer garden and the sauna shed, Tom and I hiking in Bellingham, my parents and I on the Oregon Coast, a performance at Word Virus Books, December sunset over the Willamette on my favorite walk.)

This year I will try to keep a few appointments available every week to get folks in ASAP, when those pesky pains start talking a little more loudly. Likely these appointments won't be visible on my online schedule -though it never hurts to check as there have been some last minute appointments become available- if you reach out I should be able to get you in.

https://deepgroundmassagebodywork.fullslate.com

It is a new year, and I need up-to-date information for my records. If you haven't already, please take a moment to fill out the intake form before your next appointment. I appreciate you taking the time to help with this administrative task.

2026 marks my 16th year in practice as a bodyworker. As an old friend said the other day, your practice can drive! I am grateful for this work, my continued inspiration from my mentors and colleagues, and of course, you!

I also want to mention that my friend, Becky Miller, and I are starting up a monthly endometriosis meet-up for folks experiencing this debilitating pelvic pain. If you are or know someone who might benefit from a hour-and-a-half guided somatic practice and resource sharing session, send them my way! Our first meeting with be Saturday, January 24th at 3pm in SE Portland.

I look forward to seeing you sometime this year!

endo friends

After a particularly tender appointment with a client who experiences complex-chronic illness, I was moved to start a semi-regular gathering for my clients, friends and community members who experience complex chronic pelvic pain. And then my friend Becky reached out with a very similar idea. Together, we are creating a gathering for folks experiencing pelvic pain and endometriosis.

Some of you may know about my experience with endometriosis and my rocky maneuvering of the symptoms for the last 20+ years. You may also know of my 16+ years of work and learning as a somatic bodyworker and 30+ years of training as a vocalist and performer. In the past decade I have met more and more people with endometriosis, and have even helped them discover their diganosis and subsequent care. I hope that my combined skill set, along with my Becky's, and the collective experience in the group, will be a deep well of resource, in a path that can often feel desolate.

This gathering will be a space for those of us experiencing the challenges navigating the ups and downs of unexpected flare-ups, a space for somatic check-ins, resource sharing and space to share feelings and experiences of living in a body that is having a hard time finding ease and balance. Maybe we can find it together, even if for a moment, once a month.

We hope to collaboratively attempt a somatic awareness practice through breathwork, visualizations, movement, sound and writing, and in future gatherings, we hope to bring in guest bodyworkers and somatic practitioners to share their talents.

Our first meeting is Saturday, January 24th at 3pm in SE Portland. Reach out for more info: deepgroundmassage@gmail.com

sensing sensations

I have had a lot of clients wonder if they could ever get enough bodywork that they would no longer have any tension. How many times a week would it take?

I think this inquiry begs a few clarifications. I’m not talking about Pain. I want to distinguish between the discomfort of tension in the body and chronic pain or other neurological disorders. Pain due to tension is an expected signal from the body to the brain that it’s uncomfortable. Chronic pain is when these signals aren’t functioning as expected, in a constant feedback loop of discomfort that typically gets worse as the pain-signal lingers. Discomfort might be interpreted as painful, and the spectrum of interpretation within these very subjective words is vast. This discomfort causes temporary pain, and how we compare this acute pain from chronic pain is how long we endure it, and what ADL’s (activities of daily living) it impedes.

So, back to imagining a body beyond it’s tension. What is your baseline? It is a sticky question because our memory can be inaccurate, and our bodies are dynamic, meaning they are ever-changing, adapting in real time to the actions and stressors of our day-to-day. Often these adaptations can lead us away from alignment, or balance, which can lead to weakness from patterns of imbalance in repetitive motions. Another sticky question, is weakness perceived as pain?

updates, and...

It is my 10th anniversary of opening my practice in Portland! I have been a LMT for 15 years, and the vast majority of that has been here, with you. So thank you for your support of my practice, and thank you for letting me support you.

At Apex Wellness Clinic, Dr. Rebecca Schacker has retired and Dr. Krystal LaPlante, DC has returned to a full time schedule at the clinic. I refer all of my clients looking for chiropractic work to Dr. K, she is attentive, thorough and a delightfully collaborative practitioner.

2024 begins

It is a restorative practice to reflect on the past year, especially at the transition into a new one, as it can feel so futile. 2023 brought so much change: A new tattoo! A new space for my practice in Foster-Powell! A big surgery, and recovery! A haircut; lobbing off 15 years of long hair! Travel around the Salish Sea!

2023 was also a year full of various creative endeavours: performing with Extradition for a festival and our quarterly showings, performing with Linda Austin in 3 miles of possible and improvising with a large-scale installation at Building 5, and designing/building a beautiful tool shed for my backyard.

I imagine 2024 will be more of the same; performing, building, and continuing our work together at my studio. At the end of this month I will begin a new course, Neural Manipulation, with the Barral Institute. I am especially excited for this work, as it integrates the nervous system and how our bodies hold and/or process trauma, with manual therapies to address whiplash injuries and chronic neck and spine discomfort. 

Summer update: NEW location

 I am so excited to share that I am moving into a thriving wellness clinic in Foster-Powell, Apex Wellness Center. This clinic may be familiar to those of you who began to see me 7-8 years ago, though I will be in a new room. I am excited to move my practice to this lovely space, full of incredible practitioners. I will start seeing clients there beginning June 1^st.

Please let me know if you need to update any currently scheduled appointments. I realize this new location may impact the days and times you’d prefer to schedule, or travel times. I hope this move won’t be too inconvenient. After the past three years of a temporary landing at Laurelhurst due to Covid and subletting between two rooms, I am so excited to stretch back into my full practice. I will be opening up my schedule with more availability, and able to get you in when you need.

Check the schedule here: https://deepgroundmassagebodywork.fullslate.com

Spring updates (masks, and other news)

Spring is here now, the bulbs are really popping up, the trees budding out. I am welcoming the light. The longer days have me imagining bike rides and long walks, yard projects and picnics with friends. 

Though the Oregon Health Authority will remove the mask mandate in Oregon healthcare settings beginning April 3, the providers at our clinic have agreed to continue to require masks out of respect for our immunocompromised clients, our community elders, and our own health in this work that requires such close proximity. We appreciate your continued care of the community of people and families that thrive at our clinic.

I've gotten very use to wearing masks.

winter greetings

2022 really made me    s  l  o  w     d  o  w  n   and it has been nice to continue with slowness into this new year. Even with my insistence on taking it slowly, last year went in a blur, thankfully with some sweet moments to savor; spending time with dear friends and their new child in Hawai'i; returning to a favorite childhood place (Wallowa Lake); exploring the prairie near Mount Adams; getting to see my brother and sister-in-law again after three years; and miles and miles of walks in Oregon, Hawai'i, Washington, England and Paris!

This year I look forward to a return to performing more -which begins this weekend as I am an ensemble member of Extradition's Corner festival celebrating experimental, new music composer Philip Corner- and continuing my studies in Alexander technique, Gyrotonic and Barral's visceral and neural manipulation.

I have quietly opened my schedule to new clients. For insurance, I am only in-network with Regence BlueCross BlueShield (and all of their subsidiaries) and am not currently accepting any new out-of-network insurance clients.

I'm in the clinic Sundays, Monday afternoons, and Thursday late afternoons. My online schedule is up-to-date and showing openings up to 6 weeks from now: https://deepgroundmassagebodywork.fullslate.com

waves

The ups and downs of these days have been a lot to manage. I have been ever-more reliant on my restorative practice of walking. Portland has a wealth of green spaces and parks in the city, and nearby. Recently, I have been thinking deeply about stress and anxiety, how these states show up for each of us, individually and collectively, and the entrenching of the semantics and pathology of Stress and Anxiety. (more on these ruminations soon.) 

 As we are well within our seventh wave of Covid19, I want to bring your attention to my Covid19 Protocol & Procedures and share a few resources I use to understand what is happening with the Covid19 pandemic, my own personal risk, and assess ways to keep my clients at the clinic safe.

Welcoming a new year

 Reflecting on a year that seemed to move at superspeed, I recall sweet moments with close friends, a trip to see the Painted Hills, a humid summer week in NYC, an Oregon coast long-weekend, a few house projects, miles and miles of walks, and meeting many delightful new clients. Though the year has been peppered with heartbreak, I am thankful for all of your kindness and encouragement.

It seems challenging to be thinking, again, of a new variant and how much more adaptable we will need to become, but I am hopeful -and grateful for vaccines, boosters, and more accessible testing.

As we look to the coming weeks of this highly transmissible Covid-19 variant (omicron), I would like to remind you to please be discerning and reschedule your appointment if you have any -however mild- of the following concerns (I will be doing the same):

• You or one of your household members have had symptoms of fever, cold or flu in the past 14 days (eg. tiredness, runny nose, congestion, sore throat, cough, high temperature, shortness of breath, aches, pains, vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, or loss of smell or taste.)
  
• You have been near someone who has potentially had, or tested positive for COVID-19 through a family or work contact in the past 14 days. 

August updates

 I can't believe August is nearly half over; this summer has just disappeared. Though I can't quite recall where all the time has gone, I have been enjoying early mornings and late evenings in the hammock, and chance encounters with friends during my walks on Mt. Tabor and Powell Butte. 

As cases rise in Portland (and everywhere else), I am finding it difficult to feel the recurrence of uncertainty. However I am grateful that the vaccine is doing its job; mitigating severe symptoms, hospitalization and more death. I hope you all are wearing your masks (now mandated in Oregon) and washing your hands frequently. As a slow adapter in this pandemic, I was just beginning to spend time with more folks, but am returning to some pre-vaccine habits: decreasing the number of people I see (especially the number of people I am around unmasked) and opting to gather outdoors.

To understand the state of Covid-19 in Oregon, I found this OPB article useful: https://www.opb.org/article/2021/08/12/oregon-covid-19-cases-mask-mandate-governor-kate-brown-delta-variant-vaccines-questions/

June 30

The dates demarking changes to our safety practices seem arbitrary as our world continues to suffer from COVID-19 infections. I am charged with keeping you, your families, and our community safe and I will continue to do so to the best of my ability.

With Oregon amending its COVID-19 mask and physical distancing mandates on June 30, I am still asking you to wear a mask into the clinic and throughout our session and wash or sanitize your hands upon entering the building. I will be wearing an N95 mask and gloves, and our air filters will still be humming.

We will no longer request responses to the COVID-19 Screening Form. And when you arrive, you may enter the building (using the key code) and wait in the lobby if you chose.

Below are the changes to our COVID-19 Protocols and Procedure:

March updates

My colleagues at Laurelhurst Family Clinic and I have received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine!

However, none of my personal or in-practice protocols and procedures will change -mask wearing, and hand washing remains a vital part of our lives, and will be necessary for some time to come. The vaccine is another way to protect ourselves from experiencing a severe case and reduce the strain on hospitals. There is currently promising data about the effectiveness of the vaccine in preventing community spread, but I am erring on the side of caution. Until we reach herd immunity (a currently unknown percentage), or have more information and data, we should continue being vigilant about hygiene, personal space and mask wearing.

And here are some Covid-19 vaccine resources I'd like to share:

• This great interview by Ira Flatow on Science Friday: How Did A Vaccine Get Developed In Less Than A Year (1/15/21) 
• CDC: Understanding Covid-19 mRNA Vaccines
• CDC: How Vaccines Work
• Local information on when you are eligible and how to schedule a vaccination appointment:  https://govstatus.egov.com/OR-OHA-COVID-19 and https://all4oregon.org

a deep breath in 2021

 A year of Unexpected and Adapting has been challenging and, has in many ways offered small gifts. Since July I have found my way to a new, beautiful clinic in Laurelhurst, and found a way to return to this work that feels safe for me, and those of you who have ventured in to see me. This includes very strict procedures and protocols, and limiting the amount of clients I am currently seeing.

One of the bigger challenges this year is the shrinking down of who we can see, and who we are in close contact with. It is hard not to be able to see everyone, and yet a small gift has been receiving emails and texts from you all, checking in. I appreciate each and every one of you. I am grateful for the ways you are supporting me now.

Many of you who have been in, know I have been interested in how wearing masks, and our collective and individual worries around a global respiratory virus, a virus spread most easily by aerosolized particles, is affecting our breathing -not to mention how are nervous systems are reacting to all of the shift and stress. After the break find a diaphragm handout with an awareness exercise for those of you who are interested.

My hope is that this new year will allow us to eventually grow back our bigger circles, and step into our larger communities in some capacity, though in the meantime I hope you reach out if I can offer my support to you, or just to hear how you're doing.

trying it out

I am excited to announce that I will return to the table Wednesday, July 8th.

I will be practicing out of Laurelhurst Family Clinic on NE Glisan/44th thanks to my colleague Lori Krampetz, LMT. I am subletting her room 1-2 days a week, beginning next week.

We are taking things one month at a time, as COVID-19 cases rise in Oregon and the Governor reiterates her strict dedication to her ReOpening Plan which can revert to closures at any time. 

A few things to note about booking:

• I am not currently taking on new clients.
• I am not allowing advance booking beyond July.
• I am only seeing 4 clients a day at most, to leave time in between clients for adequate cleaning and for the room to air out and to keep my weekly close-contact with people outside my bubble to a minimum.
• Evening appointments are few, so please only choose these if you must. I am trying my best to accommodate everyone.

Once you book your appointment I will email new Intake and Office Policy forms that are fillable online. Then, the day of your massage you will receive an email to fill out a COVID-19 Screening form, also fillable online. These must be filled and signed.

And remember, in preparation for your appointment, please kindly:

• Come into the clinic wearing a face mask, bandana or scarf and continue wearing it through the session.
• Please remain in your vehicle/outside and text when you arrive. You will be let in.
• Please wash your hands for 20 seconds or use hand sanitizer provided upon entering the clinic.
• Please limit personal belongings to essential items only (keys, wallet, cell phone). All personal belongings will be placed in a sealed container during the session.
• Please bring your own water bottle and leave it in your car, if possible. We are not allowed to offer any beverages, including water before or after your appointment.
• Please be freshly showered, wearing clean clothes.

For those of you who are ready to return, I am looking forward to working with you again, and those who are waiting, see you again when the time is right.

masks are required

Easiest thing you can do to keep your community safe is wear a mask! Simple as that. 

dipping in a toe

Multnomah County has entered Phase 1, which means Personal Services can return to work with many new safety measures in place to slow the spread of COVID-19.

We are working on procuring necessary PPE to follow the regulations and recommendations set forth by Multnomah County, OHA, and the Governor's office, in addition to creating our own office protocols and procedures.

See you when the time is right.

what to consider before opening

I hope this finds you all well, and staying safe. Thank you for reaching out and checking on me over the past months as we all are doing our best to keep each other healthy (and sane), it has been wonderful to hear from you.

The governor is asking we continue to:

• limit visits to higher risk populations, 
• limit gatherings,
• limit travel, 
• increase hygiene, cleaning and sanitation, 
• telework when possible, 
• stay home when sick, and 
• wear face coverings when in public.

As our governor and counties begins to lead us through "opening" the state, I wanted to share with you what that is projected to look like, following guidelines put forth by the governors office for personal service providers (like me). Personal service providers will not be able to resume work until their county is in Phase 1. As I am sure you already know, Multnomah Country has not yet open to Phase 1. I don't know when we might achieve that. And, it is important to note that the governor might reinstate closures to non-essential business if COVID-19 cases begin to increase.

This uncertainty as a business owner is very difficult. And I am asking myself the question, is going back to work worth the risk for you and your families or for me and mine? Some of you might be saying, Yes! I am in desperate need of a massage. And I hear you -I haven't seen my genius massage therapist since March and am feeling deeply the importance of regular bodywork for my physical, mental and emotional health. Though I am having a hard time negotiating the risks to do this work.

When the timing is right, and I secure a new studio location, adequate PPE and cleaning and sanitation supplies our sessions might feel very different to properly implement safety and sanitation protocol set forth by the state, and recommended by ABMP. A draft version of what you might expect is after the jump.

In addition, I want to let you know that I am feeling pretty cautious. I am in deep acknowledgement that this virus will be with us for some time, and that we will as a community and society be greatly impacted by it -but we can help to shape what that impact is by really sitting with our own expectations and our own desires.

I will continue to stay in touch periodically as we learn more, as the situation becomes more clear. Please feel free to reach out. I am here.

Take care.

closed, for now

As you may know, this morning in Oregon Governor Brown issued an executive "stay at home, stay safe" order which requires me to close my business "until further notice". 

All future appointments are cancelled. 

I am deeply sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you. It is a difficult decision to make but I believe it is the safest right now to prevent the rapid and exponential spread of COVID-19.


If you have a moment today, or this week, here are some ways to advocate for our healthcare workers and all workers who are continuing to keep us safe, healthy and with our essential goods:

• Write our congress people and governor asking for the safety and well-being for those working non-stop in healthcare and service industries to be considered, that they are provided the supplies and funding they need to continue their vital work:

Senator Merkley
Senator Wyden
Representative Blumenauer
Governor Brown

• Help to share this message from our local Portland Garment Factory creating PPE for local healthcare facilities.

• Make your own face mask for you and your household, to allow masks and other PPE supplies to go to those who really need it.

In other difficult news, I have decided to let go of my lease at my Hawthorne location. Karuna Contemplative Living has been home to my practice for nearly 5 years. It is sad to say goodbye to Hawthorne, however when it is safe to practice with you again I will be back in a new location.

Please take care and don't hesitate to reach out. I'm always here to offer self-care suggestions, and self-massage techniques. I hope you all are staying healthy, and finding little joys in your days.


In solidarity.

precautions and updates

For your health, and mine, and the health of our loved ones and those in our community who need us to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 I have decided to close my practice until April 1st, at which time I will reassess and determine if I should re-open my practice, or postpone opening depending on recommendations from the CDC and OHA. If you have an appointment before April 1st it will be cancelled.


This is a difficult decision, and I am grateful to all of you for your support of me and my practice throughout the years. If you have the ability, the recommendation is to stay home as much as possible. However with this lovely weather, it is easy enough to keep distance from others in the garden or yard, get out for a walk, or bike ride. Please take care of yourselves, and have compassion for all beings as we move through uncertainty.


If you find yourself with some free time, you might consider writing our local congresspeople to encourage paid time off for self-employed and independent contractor workers and workers without PTO, and hazard pay to health care workers, and frontline employees and businesses like our grocery stores, pharmacies, and other amenities that are continuing to stay open and serve us all.



Senator Merkley

Senator Wyden

Representative Blumenauer

Governor Brown


Wishing you all well.