A path of service
I launched Hands on Healing to bring together several streams of inspiration into a career focused on healing. Before moving to Washington, D.C. in 2017, I lived and worked in meditation retreat centers for almost 12 years. This was an incredible experience of deep training and bringing meditation into daily life. In massage therapy, I found the hands-on complement to that contemplative training.
I believe the foundation of healthy living is a synchronized mind and body. By attending to our embodied experience we open fresh pathways for action and ways of being in the world with greater ease and function. Real-time body awareness also harmonizes our body systems and further strengthens our innate ability to maintain a dynamic balance in an ever-changing world.
The fundamental skill of a massage therapist is to listen: both verbally and through touch. It’s pretty straightforward. I might be the most technically advanced massage therapist in the world, but if I’m not paying attention to you all that skill is wasted. There’s also convincing evidence that clients get better outcomes when they feel empowered, included, and active participants in the healing process.
Successful massage therapy depends primarily on a trusting and supportive therapeutic relationship between you and me, which we are beginning to build even now! I have put a lot of time into making sure this website accurately represents me and the focus of my practice - and you are taking the time to read and reflect whether I might be a good fit for you. I appreciate that and look forward to meeting you.
“Byron took the time to listen to the things that were going on in my body, and appreciated how all those different parts worked together. He learned each time and incorporated that learning into future sessions. I appreciated his thoughtful and holistic approach, and found him warm, friendly, and welcoming.”
How we heal
At every moment, in the best way available, our bodies are choosing health. We are doing the best we can, even if we feel pain, frustration, or distress. If we shift our perspective we are bringing our innate resilience into view, rather than feeling overwhelmed and anxious about the pain or dysfunction that might be present. Health, vitality, aliveness becomes something recognizable in itself - a positive experience - not just the absence of pain.
When we get stuck - sometimes literally when a muscle gets knotted up, congested, or stuck to its neighbor - we might need some help. Massage and bodywork help on a purely physical level. Compression of muscle tissue can relax and reset chronically tight areas. Kneading and gliding improve circulation. More blood means more nutrients, oxygen, and better immune response. Touch stimulates the nervous system and helps it come back into balance. These could be described as some of the outside-in ways of healing.
Massage also works from the inside-out. As I work through different areas of your body, you are moving your attention through your body as well. You are breathing differently (hopefully more deeply). You are consciously and unconsciously relaxing. Put all together, receiving massage can be an empowering self-education in what health feels like in your body, a kind of semi-self-guided body tour.
"Hands on Healing" is in part what YOU do with new language to describe how you feel in your body. You can use the experience of the session to guide your daily life.
Expanding my clients’ ability to tune into and understand their real-time body knowledge is the focus of my practice. You may feel difficulty connecting to your body or finding language to describe what you are feeling. But, speaking from personal experience, that is a skill we can learn!
“I worked with Byron over a period of about two months and it made a tremendous difference in the range of motion of my left shoulder. He is very thorough and takes his work seriously.”