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!

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.

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. 

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:

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.

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.

injurious feelings

As the days get sunnier and beckon us to play, and we begin to move our bodies more (often in new or renewed ways), we might find ourselves with some aches, a little pain or tightness.

I woke up one morning this week in a tremendous amount of pain. I stretched a little, and got ready for my day. I worked, and found myself not walking my walk, my body contorted, wincing with every step.

What do we do when our body isn't working how we expect it to? I went through a little denial "It's nothing big," I thought, "it will go away in a couple hours."  The pain subsided, but I had a long day ahead; running around, driving, and massage clients. By the time I could kick my feet up, I was sore.

I laid on my mat, took thirty minutes -I was convinced I didn't have- to stretch, a slow, meditative session of stretching and breathing.

The next morning it was worse. I could hardly get out of bed! I cried as I got ready for another long day. I got to work and hobbled along, until I couldn't. I call my chiropractor and he got me in an hour later.

I was reminded of what of some my clients feel when they come to me; desperate, in unbearable pain. I wanted to feel better, right now! But, after my adjustment I felt worse.

I went home drew a hot bath, soaked in Epsom salts. I slathered my pain with Sombra warming gel, and got back to my day. It wasn't until 10 hours later, that I felt like I could fully use my body again. I am still recovering, still allowing my muscles and bones to return to their alignment, still allowing myself to slow down enough to listen to what my body needs.

Immediate relief can happen, but sometimes our bodies take their own pace to heal. What are some of your self-care habits that help you body heal?

fluid motion

I took a wonderful course this weekend which focused on the fluidity of the spine, evoking our aquatic days. Undulation, a technique for spinal bodywork, is based in structural integration modalities, like Hellerwork and Continuum.

"Undulation, a fluid movement through multiple joints that include waves, bends, and curves, can be used as a tool..." to get through dense myofascial restrictions (stiffness) and revitalize lost range of motion due to our postural habits and repetitive-use injuries. (Anita Boser, LMP, CHP).

There are some common misconceptions when it comes to our bodies, that through idiomatic phrases, our bodies (and minds) believe is true. This class helped to unmask these words, and redefine, or rather, return to the definition via the evolution of our connective tissues and the past uses of the spine. The Spinal Column, evokes a solid, upright, rigid support. However, our spines (and our boney structures, in general) can do incredible things!

video: Emilie Conrad speaking about the fluid connective tissue that is the spine, as a Continuum teacher demonstrate the beautiful and free movement that our bodies, in health, hold.

Another broader cultural habit is to assume that once our bodies are in a state of injury or decreased motion, that we must adjust to or work around this new habit, greatly decreasing our body's entire range of motion. Bodywork and manual therapy (massage) restores our bodies to their highly functioning state, through the movement of fluid (lymph, blood) to the connective tissues (muscle, bone) and, by the breaking up of adhesions (places where the fluid surfaces of the body are no longer simply gliding, but stuck in fricative, decreased motion).  If we continue to encourage limits of our range of motion, we impress into our muscular memory, solidifying our dis-ease, a reduced range of motion that eventually can effect our entire body. With self-care practices and hands-on bodywork encouraging stretching and movement, we could hope that we could create patterns of a little more movement, instead of a little less movement.

So get up, stretch, and let your spine dance. Free your structure with fluid motion!

take five

Don't forget to take a moment for you! Sit comfortably. Close your eyes. Take ten deep breaths -in through your nose, out your mouth- filling your lower abdomen as much as possible. Before you open your eyes set an intention: a goal, a mood, a feeling, a hope.

deep ground massage + bodywork

A return home, a return to my roots, has proven just as difficult as the Uprooting to the east. In our transient states, we find an ease in the temporary. We outstretch our hands to hold another, but know that our time is fleeting. We cherish those moments, believing that we may never have them again. But the radical act of setting down roots, a conscious attending to Connection, to Longevity, is careful work. We set our feet in the ground, and stand still, letting our words and emotions go to work. As we unearth new friends, colleagues, and acquaintances, we discover the communities that thrive in the places we come to know.

The deep ground I find here --my birthplace, my Home-- is overwhelmingly familiar. It is strange to surround yourself in a foreign place, and then return to the familiar. Time passes, and things change, but your just can't separate out the Herstory from the Present. I just had coffee with a friend who is Home after teaching English in Japan for five years. The re-introduction to everything you know isn't, as we'd assume, easy. We grow accustomed to adaptation, the clever workings to adjust to a new environment in a moment, learning new ways of doing things, even challenging what we believe.

As I recall the wonderful things of the PNW, and especially Portland (as she grows, and boasts a bustle of artists and young people) I am pleased to offer my massage work.

Here, in the NW, massage is about creating moments for yourself. Massage provides the time to rest, to collect and reintroduce the parts of yourself that slip away throughout the days, weeks, and months of living that happen between the times we take care of ourselves. This is a call, to care for yourself, yet another radical act in our busy, busy world.

a license!

mail-call!

I've been a licensed massage practitioner (LMP) in Washington State since 2010. I had a great practice on Capitol Hill where I served fellow artists, and creative beings, with affordable pricing. I moved away from Seattle, my home for nearly 8 years, to pursue graduate studies on the east coast. Returning to Portland in August, I spent an entire month preparing for the Oregon Board of Massage Practical Exam. If you know a licensed massage therapist (LMT) working in the state of Oregon, give them a hug! That was a serious test of skill, knowledge, and confidence in my massage work. And I passed, with a 93%. Whew!