My mission as an acupressurist is to provide bodywork and related wellness services such as health education and stress management techniques to people of all ages, in all states of health. My specialty is in skilled, therapeutic touch for seniors, people living with life-altering health challenges, and end of life care.

The work I do enriches the lives of people who enjoy massage as a part of their regular self-care, and makes the lives of those suffering from advancing age and debility easier through the use of gentle, skilled touch.

For those who are able to travel to my healing space, a beautiful room with a massage table awaits. The treatment is based on the client’s specific needs. Styles of bodywork may include Swedish, Esalen, as well as traditional Asian styles performed through the clothing such as Shiatsu, Tui Na, and Jin Shin, and Reflexology.

For clients who wish, I may provide a small amount of homework, for example, helpful acupressure points for a certain condition or complaint, or a short breathing meditation, or one or two stretches that one can perform between sessions for maintenance.

For clients unable to travel due to pain, illness, or debility, I am happy to travel to the home or care facility, and adapt the session following a thorough assessment. The massage can be performed in a hospital bed, or in a chair, or on a sofa as appropriate. Each session is unique and custom-tailored for the client. The massage may include gentle lotion work, Reflexology, or traditional Asian styles through clothing and/or bedding, as appropriate with sensitivity to medical conditions and personal preferences.

My clients enjoy having a partner in their wellness. They tell me that I have made a difference in their lives. Sometimes they tell me that I have helped them more than any other discipline of health profession! I have eased people through challenging cancer treatments often mitigating their symptoms. Helped to reduce the swelling and pain of edema. Helped with chronic sinus infections, headaches, neck, and shoulder tension. I have helped people to feel more graceful, more at peace with their bodies, with improved mind-body awareness. I help people develop a deeper and easier breathing. I have assisted in emergencies such as immobility with hips or the neck, and panic attack. The work may ease the transition of hospice patients, one of whom said that through the bodywork he felt like he was going home, like the universe was a good place to be. Another hospice patient said that she couldn’t remember when she last went to a place free from misery, worries, and concerns.

By helping individuals in such meaningful ways, by working with the whole person in support of the body’s natural healing abilities, it is my privilege to touch families and communities in a tradition of touch that is many thousands of years old. There is no substitute for human touch.

Elizabeth Holliday