**Due to the COVID-19 viral outbreak and the close proximity that massage requires for me to be to my clients I will be temporarily closing my practice in order to comply with the strong suggestion of social distancing. Once it is safe for my children to return to school and we are all able to resume normal activities I will be *so* happy to see all of my lovely clients! Take good care, y'all, and be safe!**

Meet Anna Marie:

I've been a massage therapist since 2008 and hail from Seattle, WA. My family and I moved across the country to Richmond, VA back in 2013 when our youngest son was a mere 6 months old and I reopened my practice in RVA in 2014. My clients are a lively combination of desk jockeys, athletes, busy parents, and folks of all ages, shapes, and abilities. I believe in the body's innate ability to heal itself--so it's my job to help ease stress, un-kink tight muscles, and unwind frayed nerves to help make that healing possible.      

I graduated college (Go Huskies!--I'm a University of Washington alumna) with a degree in Women Studies and a focus in social services. I noticed that the people I worked with in the homeless youth services community were over-worked and chronically stressed out. I wanted to work in a profession where I could thrive both physically and mentally while also promoting that for the people I was serving. I took a break from more schooling and managed a Birkenstock store and it was there that I developed an interest in movement and alignment. After seeing how people's health conditions and activity levels affected them clear down to their feet I learned that:

1. Wellness care is a heck of a lot better than illness care.
2. I wanted to help people on a deeper level while also doing something I loved.

So off I went to Brian Utting School of Massage for the best massage training you could get in the Pacific Northwest. I am also a student studying under Damion Bond in the Shivagokomarpaj Old Medicine Hospital lineage of Thai Folk Medicine.

But what I really want you to know is this:

I used to be an overstressed person that rarely listened to the cues my body was trying to tell me. I slept less, had digestive issues, and grappled with anxiety--and that was before I became a mom of two small boys! After 10 years of experience providing massage and even longer receiving massage (I was a teen when I got my first massage), I'm way more chill and light years happier. 

I am more calm. And calm doesn't have to mean still, or boring, or unproductive.  In fact, I am more productive, patient, and present for my family, clients, and colleagues.

Calm doesn't have to be all about dimly lit massage rooms and the stereotypical sounds of a fireside piano. Calm is a feeling you can create to help you be composed, collected, and capable.