Journey to Integrative Healing
Hi there! My name is Mimi!
I am a massage therapist and energy practitioner here at Firefly Hollow Wellness. In this blog post, I want to talk about my story; how I became a massage therapist and energy practitioner. I have been wanting to share this with all of you for quite some time now since I started working at Firefly and I am SO happy to finally be doing it! Come along and let me tell you about my journey to healing!
HOW the Journey BEGAN
First, I want to talk a bit about my background in holistic and energy healing since this is how I eventually became a massage therapist as well.
Before I learned about energy healing. In 2012, I started practicing yoga and meditation. This was a time in my life where I realized I needed to start taking my health into my own hands (just like a lot of us when we first start this journey!). I was starting to gain weight and was suffering from anxiety and a little bit of depression. My yoga practice started out strictly for weight loss and exercise purposes only. I did meditation mostly in shavasana in yoga for 5 minutes maximum or a guided meditation before bed here and there. Along with using yoga as my exercise, I cleaned up my diet and started to become more interested in nourishing my body. That had been the start of my healing journey and first step into holistic healing!
AND THEN…
Starting in 2013, I discovered the more traditional and spiritual side of yoga! This helped to shift my mental state and pushed me more in the spiritual aspect of my healing journey. During this time, I was working closely with clients, and this was the year when I was introduced to energy medicine. I have always been empathetic to others’ emotions and energies, so when I started working closely with clients who were holding a lot of stress and anger, it affected me by translating into anxiety and sometimes panic attacks. A coworker at the time had been the one to mention Reiki to me! She said it would be a good way to learn about energy and how to channel it in a healthier way to ground myself around these people with strong emotions.
Reiki
I had no previous knowledge of Reiki, but my mother had known about it for a few years. We decided to go take our Usui Reiki I&II levels in a day class together with a woman she knew of. After taking the two levels of Reiki, it naturally led me toward seeking more knowledge of energy healing techniques. I had stayed at a level II Reiki practitioner for about 4 years and started to offer Reiki to clients.
During this time, I did a lot of research about energy medicine (the science and the spiritual practice); crystals, essential oils, and I even took a class in sound healing, which I added to my energy practice. Between 2017 and 2018 is when I officially decided to go to massage therapy school since I knew addressing the physical body was part of holistic healing as well. I wanted to be able to offer this to my clients. Right before I started massage school, I took a level III class in Gendai Reiki from Candy Nicolson here at Firefly Hollow. While attending massage school is when I received my Reiki Master level from Candy. I was quite ambitious! Right now, I am just offering Reiki and Integrative Energy Healing sessions to clients. But someday I might be teaching Reiki to others and hopefully be apart of someone else’s spiritual/energetic journey!
A NEW ADVENTURE: MASSAGE
In late 2017, I started working at a day spa and wellness center. Because of the flexible hours I was able to finally become serious about enrolling in massage therapy school. I enrolled and started the Harrisburg Area Community College’s massage therapy program in January 2019. I graduated from the 900-hour program in December 2019. After almost a year of training, I was finally able to work as an energy practitioner AND licensed massage therapist! When I saw Firefly Hollow’s team was hiring, I took this opportunity to broaden my knowledge with an awesome team of professionals.
Specializing and Learning
Knowing that I wanted to specialize in a form of connective tissue bodywork, I was ecstatic to be able to work alongside an instructor and practitioner of Structural Integration. I am happy to say that I have completed the courses and now offer Structural Integration sessions to my clients! Along with connective tissue, I also love working with more traditional massage techniques such as deep tissue and Swedish in my massage therapy sessions.
When it comes to working on the body, I believe in approaching massage in a profound way rather than forcing deep pressure on the tissues. I find that coaxing the tissue into a state of relaxation is key to releasing tension and adhesion in all the layers of tissue. I love to work structural integration techniques first in a session to melt and release the sticky, adhered fascia before gently warming with Swedish techniques. This eventually allows the muscles to let me sink in with deep tissue tools before finishing with some muscle elongation to really feel the muscles’ length and ability to have healthy elasticity.
WHAT’S NEXT?
I am always continuing to refine my skills and knowledge of the physical and energetic body! I have taken a Yin Shiatsu class that addresses both musculoskeletal and the energetic meridian system of the body. This is something I will be offering my clients in the future as another way to merge energy and bodywork. Right now, I love to add on Reiki to my massages. My clients tell me that together it adds that next level of healing for them.
This work has brought me so much joy! It is captivating to see the journey of my clients. I can see progress as we work together in improving their well being.
Thank you so much for hearing my story and happy healing!
Learn more about Mimi’s services!
