Elicia graduated from the Colorado Institute of Massage Therapy in
Colorado Springs, CO in 2005 with 1030 hours of training. Her
medically-based education prepared her to work in any kind of
therapeutic setting. She has worked in a variety of spa settings in Sioux Falls, SD, performing massages, body treatments, Vichy
Hydrotherapy, Endermologie cellulite treatments, and Nutrition and
Lifestyle Education. She is spa-certified on a
variety of body wrap, body scrub, and aromatherapy body treatments, as
well as Pre-Natal Massage, Myofascial Release, Trigger Point Therapy,
Sports Massage, Hot Stone Therapy, and introductory Lymphatic Drainage
techniques. Sessions
are based in Swedish techniques to relax, knead, stretch and loosen
tight muscles, and pay special attention to muscle knots. Sessions also
can include a number of muscle energy techniques for specific areas of
concern, including Trigger Point Therapy, Myofascial Release, Neuromuscular Re-Education,
and Scar Tissue and Adhesion Release, in order to address specific areas
of injury and help interrupt the body's pain cycle. She is also trained in a unique massage technique, Neuro Tap & Stroke, designed to soothe and calm the nervous system, ideal for clients with Parkinson's, Multiple Sclerosis, and other neurodegenerative diseases. She also achieved Level One, and Advanced Postures in Thai Massage training from
Al Turner II of Two Souls Thai Massage in New York, as well as a seminar on the Trager Approach, a movement therapy utilizing gentle,
non-intrusive, natural movements that release deep-seated physical and
mental patterns and facilitates deep relaxation, increased physical
mobility, and mental clarity. More recently she took several
seminars in Orthopedic Massage, studying with James Waslaski of the Pain
Management Center in Texas. Orthopedic Massage is a technique designed
to gently and deeply release postural inhibitions and restricted
movements, re-pattern scar tissue, and restore movement to stiff joints. She
takes pride in offering a peaceful, beautiful massage setting in which
to use the power of therapeutic touch to alleviate pain, increase ease
of movement, and encourage clients to learn to reconnect with, and
listen to their bodies, while allowing them space in which to mentally
unwind, ground their emotions, and lay aside the external burdens and
stresses of modern life. During her massage career, she began experiencing her own
increasingly chronic health issues. With no help or answers for "why"
from doctors in the medical establishment, she began educating herself on how nutritional deficiencies and stress impacts our
physical functions and mental acuity. She met a Nutritional Therapy
Practitioner who helped her identify the underlying causes of her
declining health, and was able to reverse many symptoms by applying traditional,
ancestral wisdom of nutrient-dense, whole food nutrition, and specific
supplementation to support damage done to her body by the modern
lifestyle. After dramatic healing and restoration, she knew she had to
share this wisdom with clients, friends and family who were seeking the
root causes under the health concerns plaguing them, . She enrolled in
the Nutritional Therapy Practioner program with the Nutritional Therapy
Association of Olympia, WA, and received her certification in the fall
of 2013, and returned to the 2014 class as a Group Leader. She currently
works with individual clients to create customized, bio-individual
nutritional programs to help restore vibrant health, as well as offering
classes on a variety of traditional food preparation, fundamental
nutrition education, food activism, understanding functions of
digestion, supporting immune health, and reducing toxic burdens in our
environments. In her spare time, she also volunteers
for the Avera McKennan Dougherty Hospice House, sharing touch therapy
with patients. They have been some of her most memorable and rewarding
clients. She enjoys spending time traveling and going to concerts with her husband, Rob, as well as volunteering as a foster home for rescue dogs with the Northern Plains Boxer Rescue. She also expresses her creative side doing charcoal drawings, and refurbishing vintage furniture and decor items, and has recently began exploring urban homesteading with a large backyard garden, and plans to add backyard chickens very soon!
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