Bridge to Wellness Bodywork
“I walk away feeling lighter and more at ease in my body for days!!!”
“Kirstin’s technique for releasing shoulder/neck tension is unsurpassed!”
Now accepting new clients in the Germantown/East Falls area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
When my clients get on the massage table or on the Thai Massage mat, we communicate together to release the stuck energy from the physical and emotional weight they have been carrying, leaving it all on the table/mat, free to greet their new reality with a sense of weightlessness.
It’s the look they have after a session, like they found the space they needed to take a full breath after holding years of tension in their neck, chest, shoulders, and hips. The look that shows they are finally able to let go of that emotional and physical strain that slows them down and keeps them from feeling at ease in their body; renewed.
*For optimal healing, I recommend that all of my clients also utilize proper diet, breathing exercises, stretching, physical exercise, yoga, and chiropractic work. Healing is not a linear path and wellness is created by bridging modalities that bring the body, mind, and spirit back into alignment.
My practice bridges a wonderful chiropractor on Wissahickon Ave and a phenomenal yoga studio on Henry Ave to help make it easy to manage scheduling for the necessary maintenance of the intricate machine that is your physical presence.
About Me:
My path to this Bridge of Healing role was paved by some incredible teachers. I’ve taken more than a few roads less traveled and I’ve worked through a lot of darkness to be able to be this light. Through auto accident injury and overworking from a physical career, I have always been excited to learn more about how our bodies heal. As a result of this winding road, I’m happy to bring a variety of tools and techniques to each of my sessions.
I know, firsthand, the healing power of massage. In 2012, I was in a car accident that caused painful nerve damage and severely limited mobility in my right arm and shoulder. To add insult to injury, this also led to an enormous emotional weight from losing the ability to live my very physical lifestyle which settled into my neck, shoulders, and hips.
Through massage therapy, along with dedicated stretching, exercise, yoga and chiropractic work, I was able to heal and regain mobility. This allowed me to not only get back to my life and work, but even to be able to play guitar again!
The physical and emotional trauma an injury like this can cause goes deeper than muscles and bones, and I understand that. So today, I not only bring my vast experience and modalities with physical healing through massage, but I also hold space for the emotional healing that accompanies deep physical healing. I do this by incorporating tools like aromatherapy, herbal compress, facial and abdominal cupping, dry brushing, warm towels, warm stones, and gentle soothing. This helps create the space to physically open, stretch, and massage the parts of your body that are holding onto that tension and stress whiled helping you breathe through the letting go process.
Educational Background:
I received my formal education at Cortiva Institute of Massage Therapy. I obtained my license in March 2021. I have since completed the following:
99 hours of Thai Massage Training, and continue my studies as a Teachers Assistant through Living Sabai.
21 hours of training in Cupping: for muscle release as well as facial and abdominal cupping.
20 hours of training in Sound Healing Therapy using tuning forks, Tibetan and crystal singing bowls, as well as gong. .
This in addition to a small handful of additional classes to guide my technique. I’m basically always learning something.
My methodologies include a strong tendency toward Thai Massage, Trigger Point Therapy, Swedish Deep Tissue Massage, Integrative Assessment, Myofascial Release Techniques, and Reflexology, along with various stretching and positional approaches to improve range of motion.
In addition to massage, I am also frequently involved with the following:
For the last 14 years, I have owned and operated Karma Diva Green Cleaning, where we leave no speck of dust in the homes we clean… In massage, like in cleaning, I clear all the pathways for mobility and move the stuck fascia that’s getting in the way of optimal function to ensure that when you get off the table, you feel 100x better than when you arrived.
In 2020 I had the privilege of recording a collection of songs that I wrote, singing and playing guitar over the course of about 10 years of my life. If you’d like to support my music, a reminder that artists really don’t get any financial benefit off of mainstream streaming services like Apple and Spotify. To ACTUALY support my music, you can purchase my album, called Stitch, on Bandcamp, here. I feel my musical tendencies often come through in my work with massage.