AUTUMN NEWS +

You may read the original version of my Autumn 2024 newsletter through this portal. Clients may sign up for the newsletter in their inbox by opting in for Marketing emails in your client profile.

Happy October!

I cannot believe we have made it to Autumn already. I have been writing this newsletter since June so in the spirit of sharing a collection of information all at once, here is a list of fun things that have happened since I last wrote (in February!):

I completed my Rolfing Ten Series - Rolfing is not nearly as rough as I was led to believe! While it is intense in some aspects, the pressure is bearable and always reaches my nervous system with the message that it will feel so much better after the work.
I’ve been running regularly with a friend and will be running the Hoosiers Outrun Cancer event this weekend.
I’ve delivered a few support caches to my husband on his training hikes.
I provided chair massage at several multi-day, pagan festivals, traveling as far as Pomeroy, OH.
I took another Abdominal Therapy training in Grand Rapids, MI, specifically aimed at supporting prenatal and postpartum bellies.
I worked alongside my mother serving veterans and yoginis at a few massage events in Northwest Indiana.
I celebrated my 33rd birthday.
I assumed primary responsibility over the lease for Suite 101 and upgraded myself to the biggest treatment room, subleasing the other two rooms to friends and professionals who want to share in the healing power of the space.
I reupholstered my massage table with help from my mother and step-father.
I provided my first labor support massage for a client I had been seeing for prenatal sessions throughout their pregnancy.
I celebrated this beautiful life with friends over bonfires and beaches, craft tables and swapped clothes, games and concerts and pizzas.

I’ll be happy to discuss any of these experiences you wish to know more about as time allows, some of which I’ll expand upon below.

LAKE MICHIGAN, GRAND HAVEN, MI | 6.21.24

IN MY HEART

Help, I’m alive
my heart keeps beating like a hammer.
Hard to be soft
tough to be tender.

I have been writing this newsletter since June! It’s busy season and slow season and I keep wondering how I am going to tell you all the things I want to share. Help, I’m alive!
This summer has been full of wonderful and nourishing activities both personal and professional. I’ve learned that I need to fertilize my produce crops, that the deer actually help my coneflowers when they nibble fresh spring growth, and that rest is an important part of integrating my life experiences into my being. During my latest Abdominal Therapy training I finally figured out my place in the community perinatal support system. I celebrated my 33rd birthday and I’m delighted by the repeating threes.
The above line comes from the song Help, I’m Alive by Metric, (one of my favorite artists who saw live with friends at the Vogue Theater for my birthday) and while its rhythm is super catchy, I feel that the poetry deeply resonates with my exploration of who I am as a human. It’s an entertaining meditation as a massage practitioner too, especially as I encounter stiff muscles throughout the day. I hope you can find some similar affirmation and joy in the tune yourself.

IN THE SPACE

The space is the big news this round. My former suitemate Kristin Snyder is taking an extended maternity leave following the birth of her second child, meaning I have taken over the lease for our suite. This is a big, grown up change for me and I am so excited!! I have moved into the southeast treatment room with a three year commitment, leaving my former southwest 11’x11’ room and the play therapy room available for a couple of subleasers. Both rooms have filled already and I am so happy to welcome these new faces into the space.

A reminder: in my last newsletter I announced that as of June 1st I would no longer be accepting gratuity via credit card. With feedback I have received, I have decided that I will continue to accept credit card gratuity but only if you tell me at checkout that you want to add it. I will no longer be turning the screen your way unless you ask, so please consider this shift as a way of making gratuity a more intentional act on your part (which is what it should be across the board!), rather than a subliminal pressure. Thank you for enduring the awkward navigation of tipping culture with me, and for understanding my desire to distance myself from the urge to suggest.

ON THE WEB

I am not a huge Meta advocate, but if you’re a Facebook user and you want to give my Page a Like, it will make me look more popular which is apparently good for business. I am surrendering to the accessibility of social media as marketing in the spirit of using all tools at my disposal - thanks for the push, Mom. And if you haven’t yet left me a Google review, please consider doing so this week.

ME, @ WITCH FEST (photo by Lisa Renee Wilson) | 9.21.24

IN THE COMMUNITY

In June, I drove up to Indianapolis to take a training on the nuances of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) which passed Congress in 2022 and took effect this June 19th. I am now equipped to explain the PWFA to pregnant workers so they can get the accommodations they need in their workplace. If you need to know more about it, ask me! And in the meantime, you can read more here.

This past weekend I participated in the third annual Witch Fest on the square, celebrating the anniversaries of sister shops oak. and Gather. The event always turns out to be so beautiful and has served as a gateway to several other witchcraft and pagan themed festivals in town in the following years - there has been one every weekend this Autumn since the 21st! I love this event just for the opportunity to be among so many folks sharing and exploring magical spirituality and look forward to many years to come.

As mentioned above, I’ll be participating in the annual Hoosiers Outrun Cancer event on Team Ivy with my friend (and new suitemate!) Jenna this coming weekend. If you wish to contribute to the fundraiser, my personal fundraising page can be found here.

Next week is the end of the first eight weeks of the fall semester at Ivy Tech, where I’ve been teaching another round of Deep Tissue with Jo Wohlfeld. It’s so awesome to get to work with awesome instructors and see the next round of LMTs come up. Plus, I get to review my own skills and dust off old tools from my toolbox to try again in my own treatments. Lucky you! If you want to do more to support the upcoming bodyworkers in our community, check out my friend and recent Ivy Tech graduate Elizabeth Cobb, known among local yogis as Embodied Bettie.

ON THE MENU

As my teaching schedule expands to include more credit hours on campus, my availability is limited. Some of you have surely already noticed the dwindling of available spaces! Please book ahead to December to ensure you get the appointments that are most correct for you.

Clients booking online will see that the categories have been rearranged in reference to session type vs session length. Please be mindful of this to accurately book the session length you want!

A new offering includes Perinatal Abdominal Therapy, which is a belly massage for pregnant clients or clients hoping to soon be pregnant. As mentioned above, I am learning that my place in the perinatal massage community is as a preconception support, advocating for cycle charting and optimizing hemodynamics for the best possible start to a pregnancy. I will still work with pregnant clients at all stages (including as labor support - wow!) but I would love to see you and your people up to a year before you start trying to conceive. Ask me if you have more questions!

BOOK NOW

ABDOMINAL THERAPY: PRENATAL THROUGH POSTPARTUM, Summer Solstice Class | 6.23.24

IN MY HANDS

Today, I’m reflecting on the woman I have grown to be in the last few years, and feeling proud of the advocacy I do for my students turned colleagues, my friends, and my profession. Within the bodywork world, I am still receiving work myself every two weeks with practitioners across the spectrum offered in Bloomington. Even with all the work my hands do for me around my own massage table, in the garden, holding the steering wheel and in the dance studio, these fingers are so happy with the regular work I receive for them. It keeps money flowing among my fellows and enables me to continue serving you! Thank you as always for the trust.