I came to massage sideways. I was heading toward secondary education when I found myself working in Portland with people in addiction recovery — low-income, homeless, and HIV-positive patients in a multidisciplinary clinic where naturopaths, osteopaths, and acupuncturists were treating the whole person, not the diagnosis. What I witnessed in that room changed the direction of everything. Touch worked. Not metaphorically — measurably. I watched it alter pain, shift nervous system states, and give dignity back to people who had been told their bodies were the problem. That is where I learned what massage is actually for. I am interested in the kind of work that changes what the body considers normal.

That is what we do here. More.