Hi there! Thanks for stopping by!
I have been a practicing licensed massage therapist since 2024. I attended the Florida School of Massage in 2023, a truly special place of learning. Bodywork has sincerely changed my life and given me the tools to show up compassionately and with intention in all facets of my life. I feel so passionate about bodywork and can’t wait to share my expertise and care with you in a session that meets your specific needs.
My journey to bodywork:
I first moved to Gainesville in 2012 to attend undergrad at the University of Florida, where I mostly worked on small farms and gardens around town and also helped transition the student gardens at UF into a cooperative farm model. I fell in love with cycling and met lots of like-minded friends along the Hawthorne Trail and mini-bike tours around Florida. In 2014 I biked across the country from Baltimore, Maryland to Portland, Oregon with 4K for Cancer.
After graduating from UF, I switched gears and moved to Providence, Rhode Island to attend the Rhode Island School of Design for Architecture. That program really kicked my ass - architecture is no joke! I regularly pulled all-nighters and was living off a diet of iced coffee and everything bagels. My body was not happy with me and I was already feeling burnt out when the pandemic happened my last semester of grad school and brought everything to a screeching halt.
My love for photography helped me secure a job with a Boston-based photographer, where I managed his studio for four years while still living and commuting from Providence. I started dancing during the pandemic and was introduced to the movement practice: contact improvisation. I started meeting so many bodyworkers and was really impressed by their candor and the way they carried themselves both in and outside of the dance space. I began sensing into the feelings and sensations in my own body. “Oh yeah, I’m right here. Like, right here.”
When my best friend unexpectedly passed away in 2023, I knew I had to face the burn out and the hopelessness I felt living this rat-race lifestyle. I knew I needed a change. And I knew I needed to come back to Florida. After attending my best friend’s memorial, I applied to the Florida School of Massage on a whim and they got me in for a tour the very next day. All the years I had spent living in Gainesville, I used to pass those hands holding up the FSM sign, biking back into town from Micanopy. My best friend and I used to laugh about those hands and always wondered what went on there at FSM. Well, as soon as I pulled up for my tour and felt the peace of the campus nestled right into Paynes Prairie, I knew I was home.
At FSM I learned so much about myself, but moreso I learned how to be a better communicator. It really grounded me. All the years of anxiety and running around and trying to figure out my purpose, I found it through bodywork. I understand now that we all are deeply affected by the stress of the American lifestyle and need safe outlets to relax our tense muscles, rehabilitate our bodies from injury, work through trauma, and learn new tools to care for ourselves and each other.
Thanks so much for reading about my journey into bodywork. You can read more about my style and approach to bodywork here.
Photo by Jordan MacKenzie
All images on website by © T. Deutch