Athena Michelle Kizner

Welcome!
I am a massage therapist, yoga and mindfulness teacher, and self-taught herbalist with a passion for health and wellness.

I offer bodywork healing sessions where I listen to and follow the body's innate wisdom and hold space for healing. I integrate a variety of styles including Swedish, Thai, acupressure, lymphatic drainage, neuromuscular therapy, and Ortho-bionomy®. We play, we dance, and every session is different. Sessions can focus on a particular issue or explore the full body. I also offer private yoga and meditation classes and doggy massage.

About Me:

I have a varied background. Degrees in ecology/biology, teaching in alternative education, dancing, homesteading, crafting, and music have all had important roles in my life. I've always had an in interest in health and wellness, influenced by a family filled with medical practitioners.

Dance has long been a joy of my life, and it was through dance that I was brought to yoga. As I deepened my yoga journey, I started attending workshops in Ayurveda and women's wisdom, then became a yoga assistant in 2013. I completed my Yoga Teacher Training in 2014 and have been teaching yoga ever since, bringing my children along as I ventured into teaching yoga for children and families. I continue to dance, being active in the 5 Rhythms community, a powerful movement meditation practice, as well as practicing various styles of partner dance.

In 2021, I experienced some painful personal growth that led to me reevaluating my life. One night, while feeling sorry for myself, I started giving my old dog a massage. I became so present with her and felt so much more vibrant and connected after and something clicked. I had a vision of the life I wanted to lead as a "town witch," creating a space where I could be present with people to support their healing. I realized that my passion, experience, and talent could be used in this work. That service was the way to a fulfilling life and I have been on this path already, cultivating skills, knowledge, and intuition to work with bodies and support people's health. It has always been important to me to live my values and this work truly felt like a calling.

In 2022, I enrolled in Massage Therapy Institute and became a certified massage therapist. I became fascinated by energy and subtle work in particular and became an associate in Ortho-bionomy®. I integrate the various tools I picked up in massage school into my practice, most commonly calling on techniques from Swedish, Thai, Orthobionomy®, and Craniosacral modalities. Sessions often feel like a dance--a conversation between two bodies.

I have also been interested in natural home remedies for many years, teaching myself about herbs as I encounter health issues in myself and those around me. Along with continuing studies in bodywork, I am expanding my herbal knowledge with courses. I feel honored to be doing this work and sharing the joy of better health with others.

Modalities and Benefits

Bodywork is great for circulation, regulating stress and anxiety, improving sleep and flexibility, healing from injuries and surgery, and reducing pain.

Below is some more information about the specific styles I use. I intuitively incorporate a mixture of these techniques into a typical session but can also offer any one as it's own specialized session.

• Swedish and Deep Tissue - This is what most people think of one when you say massage. Long, relaxing strokes, warming up the muscles, getting to deep layers of muscles with firm pressure. This is a relaxing and soothing rub down and these techniques form the foundation of a typical clothes-off massage session.
• Ortho-bionomy® - I am trained as an Ortho-Bionomy associate because I have seen and experienced unbelievable results from this work. OB is a gentle, pain-free technique that harnesses the body's innate wisdom to heal itself. The practitioner uses position, soft compression, gentle movement, and presence to allow sources of tension to release. The work is subtle but the effects can be profound! More information can be found here.
• Lymphatic Drainage - Lymphatic massage is a gentle technique that has been proven to reduce inflammation and support the immune system. Using targeted, light strokes, swollen areas can experience immediate relief. These techniques are great post-surgery or at the tail end of a cold to help flush the system. They are also helpful in conjunction with other modalities to deepen the experience.
• Thai - Traditional Thai massage is done clothed and on the floor and feels like attending a yoga class without having to do any of the work. The practioner moves and stretches the body and applies compression to the muscles. At the end, one can feel grounded and relaxed yet energized.
• Craniosacral and Energy Work - Craniosacral techniques follow the gentle flow of bones and fluid in the cranium and spinal cord to subtly release and realign stuck areas and bring deep relaxation to the client. Energy work is a broad term that implies listening deeply to and being present with the body to offer healing. When these subtle techniques are used, clients often report feeling "almost asleep but still aware," also called a hypnogogic state.
• Acupressure - This ancient Chinese technique works with energy lines called meridians that run through the body that are associated with different qualities. Acupressure is done with clothes on and works to bring alignment in the body, energizing or calming the meridians and points as needed. Refloxology, where specific points in the hands, feet, and ears are associated with different organs is also a part of this modality.
• Neuromuscular Therapy - NMT pulls on wisdom from various styles to offer a holistic approach to healing. Trigger point therapy is a key element to this modality, where the practitioner locates an area that is a source of pain and releases it using pressure, position, or guided movements.

Thank you for nourishing your health and well-being! I look forward to sharing my services with you.

Athena Michelle