about me

Hi.

I have been a New Hampshire Licensed Massage Therapist since 2018.  I studied massage therapy at River Valley Community College , completed my internship under Kevin Comeau of Vermont Massage Therapy , and graduated summa cum laude in December, 2017.

I offer massage as part of the team at Open Door in White River Junction, Vermont.  I also do home visits to known or referred clients, and do chair massage events.

If there is a continuum of bodywork with Reiki at one end and physical therapy at the other, I fall probably 80% towards the physical therapy end.  What I love the most is being a body detective – understanding a person’s habits, daily activities, pain patterns, and the goals they have for their body – and figuring out what is restricting them and what I can release and nurture for them through massage therapy.

I am inspired by the work of Dr. Ida Rolf, Tom Myers, Deane Juhan, and Gil Hedley, among others.

I have a lot of thoughts about pain, suffering, consent, and healing, which I will share on my blog as I develop them.  Suffice to say: I do not believe massage HAS to be painful to be effective.  Asking tissue to change can be uncomfortable on many levels, but can have great benefits if done with care and compassion and with the full understanding and consent of the client.

Previous to becoming a massage therapist, I did a fair number of things.  I am a New Hampshire native.  I graduated with honors from the University of New Hampshire in 1991, with a bachelor’s degree in English.  I went on to a 20-year career as an outdoor educator and worked for various ropes courses, the North Carolina Outward Bound School, the Appalachian Mountain Club, and other organizations before moving to the Upper Valley to become the advisor to the Dartmouth Outing Club and an Assistant Director of Dartmouth Outdoor Programs.  I left the Outing Club and started and ran my own small organic farm.  I raised vegetables, eggs, and chicken for local markets and I farmed by hand with the help of my Suffolk Punch draft mare, Lil.

In this picture I am getting out some firewood and also smuggling a tiny human.  When my daughter got old enough to go to school I was ready for another career change, and that is when I got interested in massage therapy, which leads us to the present day.

When I am not massaging people or mothering a small child, I enjoy running, hiking, knitting, growing food and flowers, and occasionally getting out in my boat.

My New Hampshire Massage Therapy License number is 7540.

There, now you know all about me.

 

p.s. If you happen to be interested in horselogging, that rig is a standard Pioneer forecart with a PiggyBack Logging Arch made right here in New Hampshire by my friend Mark Cowdrey.