Whole-istically You

05/31/2026

Let the day 2 activities begin!!

Intermediate Neuromuscular Training 🤗🎉

05/30/2026

🎉 Day 1 of Neruomuscular Therapy Training at the conference!! 🎉

I’ve been wanting to take this since massage school and the day is FINALLY here! Get ready for some new techniques, treatments, healing, and pain relief 🫶🏻

05/26/2026

Mobile massage isn’t just for in your home, although it absolutely can be!

If you’re scheduling an event, want to spoil your employees, or just want a fun girls night, massage is a great addition to the day.

Reach out via DM for any questions you have!

05/25/2026

❤️🤍💙 Thank you to those who served and continue to serve. God bless you all ❤️🤍💙

05/25/2026

05/16/2026

All set up and ready to go at Hazleton track and field for the Outrun the Darkness event!

Come out and support su***de awareness and prevention with the race, food trucks, massages, tricky trays, kids zone, and more! 🫶🏻

***deawarenessprevention

05/15/2026

Massage therapy doesn't cure any diseases.
Massage therapy won't make everything go away.
Massage therapy isn't going to fix it all.

But massage therapy CAN help.

Many people think the benefits of massage come from the release of muscular tension.
In reality, the benefits of massage come from how it affects your nervous system.

When you get a massage, your nervous system recognizes that it is safe. The strokes in a massage help the nervous system to realize this and reduce cortisol levels and naturally increase neurotransmitters, like dopamine and serotonin.

This shift in circulating hormones helps to reduce anxiety and depression. People who experience pain disorders or mental illnesses benefit too.

Most illnesses deal with some level of brain fog, disassociation, or being too "in your head". The pressure during massage activates neurons in the area being worked on, sending signals to your brain. This lets your brain connect with that area of your body and become aware of its presence. This distraction during your massage session helps your brain get into and stay in that awareness. This helps the body/mind connection, and with regular massages, can help it to stay connected for longer periods of time.

When you find a therapist that you can trust, your body begins to relax even more. This trust allows your brain to process feelings, emotions, and traumas that get bottled up and shoved away. This can result in different things happening (that are completely normal) during the session. Feeling ticklish, nauseous, abnormally painful spots, and other sensations can be an emotional reaction to the treatment session. Some people cry or laugh without knowing why. And all of it is normal. It's your body trying to process and let go of these feelings that it didn't feel safe to process before.

Working with a massage therapist who is experienced with this type of treatment is extremely beneficial for managing mental health. They know how to work with your condition and help move the treatment along physically while saving space for you to mentally and emotionally work through it all. Not all massage therapists work like this, but I do.

05/12/2026

Day 2 of Outrun the Darkness Info Week

If you saw yesterday's post, you know that 50% of su***des do not have an underlying diagnosis of depression. This means that the other 50% deal with depression or another/similar diagnosis.

Depression is a fairly misunderstood condition because most people assume that it's feelings of unending sadness. This is part of why so many people go undiagnosed, because it has many factors and feelings to it.

Depression is a mood disorder. That doesn't mean that you get into a mood and that's it, you're depressed. Mood disorders are mental health conditions that severely affect your emotional state. It's not just changing moods, it's extreme changes from one to the other, and periods of certain moods that last weeks on end. They are disruptive to your everyday life and lower the quality of life of the individual experiencing them.

Depression has several classifications based on the DSM-5.
1. Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder
2. Major depressive disorder
3. Persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia)
4. Premenstrual dysphoric disorder
5. Depressive disorder due to another medical condition

Depression doesn't just deal with feelings of sadness; you can also experience other moods like uncontrollable anger, sleep disturbances, loss of interest in things you enjoy, fatigue, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, inability to concentrate or brain fog, appetite changes (increase or decrease), weight fluctuation, suicidal thoughts or ideation, physical pain or discomfort, gastrointestinal symptoms, and erratic behaviors.

Most depression treatment is focused on the central nervous system and neurotransmitters (especially serotonin, BDNF, dopamine, norepinephrine, and glutamate). Medications, getting off of drugs, alcohol, or other things that make symptoms worse, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and other treatments are available to people suffering from depression or other mood disorders.

With or without a diagnosis, you still deal with the problems, but without a diagnosis, it's more difficult to get the help you need to feel better. Reach out to your doctor or the 988 hotline to get help near you.

05/11/2026

With the Outrun the Darkness event coming up this weekend, I wanted to dedicate this week to sharing some information related to su***de, mental health, and ways to help yourself or those around you who may need it.

I found these statistics on the CDC website. Most of the data is from 2023-2024.

Some surprising information I found from researchers at the University of Utah was that 50% of people who have committed su***de did not suffer from depression.

Many times, we assume that depression is the cause of death by su***de. This recent research shows why it's difficult to prevent su***de because half of the cases are people who don't have suicidal tendencies, depression, or other mental diagnosis.

This is why so many people are left in shock and say they had no idea their loved one was struggling - maybe the loved one didn't know either.

You might find it weird for a massage therapist to be posting about this. Massage therapists are supposed to be all love and light and not bring up difficult-to-talk-about topics. But that's exactly why I'm talking about it.

Not talking about it prevents progress.
Not talking about it keeps the stigma.
Not talking about it is why people suffer - not just those who are dealing with hard feelings, but their loved ones too.

If this can help 1 person, I'll be happy.
Because I know if that one person gets the help they need, it helps them and all the people around them, too.

If you don't have any plans this weekend, please come out to support the Outrun the Darkness event at the Hazleton Area High School.
There will be tricky trays, food trucks, a 5K and 9.88K, activities for the kids, and information for those who want to help or need help.
+ I'll be giving free chair massages.

If you or someone you know needs help, 988 is the hotline phone number to call.

Keep an eye out for my posts this week. Some will be tips on how to help your mental wellness. Some will be informational about the event. Others will help you understand how massage and other integrative therapies fit into a mental health care plan.

***deawareness