My path to massage therapy

I moved to Austin to attend graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin, in the hopes of studying what it would take to achieve social justice. Soon though, I burned out on the abstract and esoteric, so I proudly left academia to enter the workforce full-time. There, as a worker in the service industry, I had a vantage point to how we as working people live and survive under capitalism. Seeing these things up-close, I asked myself how I could best help others, and I struggled with this question for years.

I found massage therapy as the answer to how I could live a life of learning and service. The practice of massage therapy is, for me, a pursuit of lifelong self-growth and a vocation of serving the people. Touch is a tool for self-healing, and my services are a time and space for clients to seek self-discovery and somatic integration. Massage therapy gives me balance, and I use it to give balance to others.

My first experiences with massage therapy were, unfortunately, less than validating. I felt unseen whenever I received a massage because of a lack of understanding or poor communication. I enjoyed the work itself—my body always felt rejuvenated—but I didn’t believe there was space for me or who I was. This exclusion needs to change because all people deserve access to therapeutic, nurturing touch.

And so, I set out to make space for all people in the field of bodywork and massage therapy. I enrolled in and successfully graduated from The Lauterstein-Conway Massage School, and soon after I founded Touch Ceremony at the holistic wellness center Earth Commons in early 2020. Although inclusion and understanding are admirable commitments, they are inadequate to address the lack of services available to oppressed and marginalized communities. That is why, in my practice, I am committed to accessibility—because justice is more than representational; it is material.

Of course, being queer and gender fluid myself, I understand bodies beyond normative ideas of gender, size, type, and shape. I listen to and respect each person’s body and what it needs, without judgement. More than that, I acknowledge my own position in our patriarchal White supremacist capitalist society by offering accessibility initiatives and programs. My practice welcomes all people, whatever income or identity a client may have.

With its name, Touch Ceremony is meant to give back significance to the rituals of taking care. The sacred has been subtracted from our mundane day-to-day. Some parts of our society seem to discourage self-reflection and mindfulness. Why? Why is busyness so valued? What does stillness feel like? What makes my body feel better? How can I feel more alive and purposeful?

Touch Ceremony offers a time and place to explore these questions for yourself. Actually, I am on this path myself because I continue to ask them—inspired by the answers all around us.

In 2022 I discovered Esalen® massage, realizing with elation I had found my tradition. That year I proudly joined the lineage of bodywork that began in Big Sur, California, by completing the 100-hour professional certification program under the guidance of Robin Fann and Jessica Fagan. Becoming a certified Esalen® massage practitioner felt like fate, to find so many other bodyworkers who have and who are asking these same questions. I am dedicated to continueing the legacy of Esalen® massage here in Austin and central Texas. Learn more about Esalen® massage here.

MT133211

Certified Esalen® Massage Practitioner No. 21000204