Dear One,

Do you remember your first...

• day of school?
• crush?
• kiss?
• heartbreak?
• flight on an airplane?
• solo living arrangement?

Life is a series of firsts, many seemingly insignificant, many more lost in the busyness of the everyday.

But some firsts stick with us and impact the trajectory of our path. Lately I've been thinking about a relevant first in my life: receiving my first therapeutic massage.

I was 28 years old, exiting a short-lived and tumultuous relationship while recovering from ACL reconstruction on my right knee after a devastating skiing accident in Sun Valley, Idaho. My life felt supremely shitty.

A dear friend at the time recognized within me a deep need for loving touch and suggested I book a massage with her beloved healer. Just like getting physically intimate with a new partner, I was filled with a rush of sensations about baring myself to someone I didn't know. Nervous energy entwined with curiosity. My heart, cracked in so many places from multiple losses, ached to feel whole if only for an hour. My muscles craved release and softening after months of grueling physical therapy to regain strength and mobility in my leg.

My first massage therapist's hands radiated love, warmth, and kindness. There was something profound about her informed touch that seemed to magically knead the angst out of the soft tissues of my body. The table was warm, the sheets were cuddly, the lighting was dim. I felt like I was being given permission to rest and to be held when I most needed both.

Looking back, I also think that first massage quietly imprinted in my soul an aligned next step for my career.

Ten years after that luscious healing session, I began training to become a massage therapist. Attending night classes while mothering 2 kids under age 4 was not a walk in the park, but it was one amazing journey.

In the decade and a half that I've been practicing massage, I've provided comfort to people from all walks of life with struggles you cannot imagine. From a state of deep presence, I've been a vessel of support when they felt empty, lost, afraid, or incapable of next steps.

I've regifted the power of my first massage again and again.

One of my superpowers as a holistic wellness professional is understanding that much of the physical pain we feel in our bodies has origin stories in our mindset and emotions. It's why before I ever lay hands on someone, I first "touch" the whole of their being with heartfelt questions, taking time to establish rapport and understand as best I can what they wish to receive from our time together.

Whether we've just met or it's a client's 200th massage with me, I treat each session as if it were a first: with tenderness, presence, and intimate care.

I've had the blessing of being in practice long enough to know that every person who entrusts me to meet them as they are, in their unique state of vulnerability, is truly an act of courage, one I do not take lightly. It's why, at the close of each massage, I whisper "thank you" before leaving the treatment room.

Like gentle spring rains that reawaken the sleepy ground, I wish us all "firsts" that soak fondly into the pores of our being and touch us beyond skin deep.

Jennifer (she/her)

If receiving your first massage of the new season might fill you with hope, I am ready to embrace you with love!

My virtual yoga class schedule will continue as is for the month of March, Thursday and Saturday mornings as posted on my website.