A little something about each of us...

Stephanie

I have worked as a healer for many years using the arts (music, poetry, theater, movement, painting, etc.) to help people find relief, restore balance, release expressions and become more whole and integrated in mind, body and spirit. I taught graduate school in Lesley University's Expressive Therapy program and Endicott College's Master of Arts and Learning program. I have worked in numerous mental health settings and in private practice. I love this work and see its relevance in the holistic massage and energy healing I now practice. This isn't really a change of direction for me, more like adding a missing piece to my repertoire.

I have always loved and been fascinated by massage and bodywork and experienced it as being about much more than a physical treatment. I have traveled many places and received many styles of massage from all types of people. I seemed to absorb the different techniques I liked and would always come back and practice each intriguing move on my friends and family. I also chose to receive massage as part of my commitment to wellness and went every two weeks to acupressure for many, many years. I learned a great deal from those sessions as well as from a talented chiropractor I used to go to in California who taught me a bit about Kinesiology and Cranial Sacral work. My fascination with massage and bodywork finally took over and I went back to school yet again to study massage and Polarity Therapy.

My massage work today draws back on the influences of my career as an expressive therapist and teacher, my experience and exploration as a self-taught massage therapist and the formal training in massage and energy healing I added to that base. I am still passionate and inspired by this work and continue to learn each day and from each new person I encounter. My style is eclectic because I spent so much time with massage and healing before I studied formally and also because I discovered energy healing on my own and developed my own skills and "language" before learning the techniques and terminology of Reiki and Polarity. Because of this, I use the formal structures somewhat uniquely as my sense perceptions were intuitively trained differently.

I do experience "energy" in my hands and body when I work and can sense and feel things in, on and around others. This has been going on for many years now and was unrelated to any belief system or school of thought. In fact, at first it was quite disconcerting and annoying at times. I was one of the most skeptical about "this energy healing stuff" and on several occasions, refused to tell practitioners if I had an illness or injury just to see what they would say. I found out that my mind/body couldn't lie to my chiropractor when he used Kinesiology to discover a former knee injury and that a nurse using Therapeutic Touch at a public demonstration could merely scan around me and find another old wound. I am still amazed by this and, although I don't have those same skills, have opened up to the gifts I do have without the need to constantly question.

That being said, I still have a very curious and inquisitive side that loves to read about physics and the latest techniques in conventional medicine that are utilizing light, sound, ultrasound, infrared, and many other types of waves, currents, magnetic fields, etc. that in the not so distant past would have been considered ridiculous because we could not yet measure, see, or control them. I like to read about quantum mechanics and the transmutation of energy and matter, and that atoms (the building blocks of all matter) are essentially made up of space. I have discovered that science postulates Energy as the force that keeps the universe in motion and yet there is no true definition of what energy is. When I read these things, it sounds very much like a modern version of chi or ki and it certainly seems likely that someday we will discover (more than empirically) that touch has healing properties and that thoughts and intentions affect matter.

I feel that what I bring to this work (in addition to diverse life experiences and a fascination with physics) is a true appreciation for the individuality and uniqueness of each person I work with. That is why I offer customized healing sessions. We all have preferences and beliefs that need to be honored as a starting point for any therapeutic work. There is a time when really deep muscle massage is absolutely what is needed and wanted. There may also be a time for stillness and turning inward with gentle touch and attention to energy. You get to decide. What works best ultimately is really not one thing or another but what you believe will work best and what your own intuition guides you to choose.

My aim in offering these customized sessions is that people who have never experienced holistic massage before will feel comfortable enough and in control so that they can experiment and discover what is beneficial for them--try it and see if they find it helpful. For those who have some familiarity with massage and energy healing, I would like to open up the infinite possibilities in this kind of work to find the most optimal circumstances for encouraging healing, relaxation, and finding balance in mind body and spirit. Massage and energy healing have tremendous potential for doing transformative work on many levels and finding that potential for each individual is my goal.

Tim

If you call or stop by, you may encounter Tim Waite. Tim is a highly talented Jack-of-many-trades. He built the lovely curved front desk and the tea table, refinished the bathroom at the studio, created this website, and took the photographs found here. He is an artist, digital photographer and digital photography teacher at the South Shore Art Center, former football player, Gulf War veteran with 13 years of Active Duty service in the US Army, father, and emerging jewelry artist. His professional work until now has been in the IT field and broadcast engineering, supporting TV stations and networks around the world. Tim is also a web designer and developer, specializing in data-driven web applications and e-commerce sites, including PayPal integration. His latest venture is a website of his own design created for artists and galleries to publicize juried art shows and events.

Don't be shocked if you see Tim tapping on his laptop as you enter. He has graciously offered his support to our venture so we don't have to close the doors or let the answering machine pick up when we are in sessions. He is biased; he doesn't like chair massage much at all, but can tell you honestly how he experiences what we do here and how it can be beneficial without subscribing to any particular belief system.

While Tim has no formal role in actual sessions, as part of the team, he is bound to and honors the rules of confidentiality. He may hand you a client health questionnaire, ask relevant questions over the phone about medical conditions, or otherwise facilitate the logistics of your session. You are always free to talk to him or in front of him (or to ask that we don't) knowing that he will honor and respect your privacy.