Make the commitment to your health & wellness with Kristen Allen, Licensed Massage Therapist, & set up your FREE CONSULT, today!
Through my Education & Training;
an Associates Degree In Science: Holistic Massage Therapy,
I've come to acknowledge the importance of understanding the various modalities for wellness. Some practices that were part of my education are decades old, while others are centuries old and still in practice today! Such modalities I was initiated into undertanding include Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Natural Herbal Preparations, Alternative Holistic Healing Modalities such as QiGong, Yoga, Massage and Tap Therapy, and as we evolve, we discover more healing modalities! Such ideas and concepts like Homeopathic Remedies, amongst other practices are all modalities aimed to restore the body to a natural state of balance and enhance the connection between the mind & body. These practices all promote a way to balance, from within, and throughout life. As a massage therapist, this is my goal: to assist my clients in this one facet of healing, to help loosen muscles or soft tissue restrictions, promote relaxation to improve sleep, range of motion or reduce pain, as well as assisting to realign soft tissue to promote function and overall flow and cohesiveness of all systems of the body!
The aforementioned modalities were introduced to me in an educational setting in 2017, and even before that in less formal settings. These fuel the core of my soul's desires, while the never-ending knowledge potential continues to drive me to learn as much as possible to then help you!
My goal in life is to connect people to people, and people with certified practitioners that can assist with each of the aforementioned alternative avenues, and share those resources with my clients when asked 🙏
"Your journey to health & well-being with self-care is unique to you. If increasing your range of motion, improving balance and reducing restrictions all while relaxing sounds great to you, then consider a massage to assist in getting you back into balance!"
"Let the energies of massage take you to a mental space where you can embrace the calm and encourage a relaxing state of being."
Holistic Massage incorporates the whole body.
Health is having good physical condition.
Wellness is the state of being in good health.
Approaching your wellness plan with massage therapy is a great modality to achieve overall wellbeing!
Applying Massage Therapy in a Holistic manner is to balance soft tissue, bilaterally (equally), by assessing your current posture, gait and alignment, then assessing and comparing soft tissue restrictions and deviations... coupling that with an understanding of Massage Therapy Techniques, Anatomy, Physiology and Kinesiology, my goal is to help promote each clients health and wellness in a very personal and relative way, while assisting to promote a better quality of life, reduce stress, depression symptoms, and injury-related recovery time in ALL my clients! (See Benefits of Massage)
My name is Kristen Allen, I started Massage Therapy in 2017, and from my very first class, Oriental Theory, I started to fall in love with the concepts of balance, particularly the soft tissue of the body. So much so, that I would practice on myself, my pets and anyone I could get my hands on!
More traditional Chinese medicine concepts of Yoga, Breathwork, Chi & Meridians caught my attention, and the massage practicum as it related to balance began to open new doors and new insights.
The best part of this journey have been the feeling of connection and community with those I service, as I'm helping people transmute from one physical state to another physical state that is geared toward better balance, less pain, and more movement for a lot of systems of the body.
Let's work together and attain your massage goals!
Kristen has been drawn to the healing arts, harboring a deep desire to make a positive impact on people's lives for as long as she can remember. She discovered her passion for massage therapy, after an arduous road of trauma, loss, grief, and her own personal struggles with depression and anxiety. From her very first class, she knew this profession resonated with her nurturing nature, innate compassion, and generous character.
Kristen's journey towards becoming a massage therapist was filled with determination and perseverance. She enrolled in a reputable massage therapy program and received her Associates Degree in Science : Holistic Massage. She learned various techniques, anatomy, and the power of touch to heal. Throughout her training, she witnessed firsthand the transformative effects of massage on individuals dealing with a range of physical and emotional challenges.
During her practicum, Kristen worked with diverse clients, many of whom were battling chronic pain, stress, addiction as well as the burdens of daily life, and some mild to moderate traumas. As she provided the soothing touch and therapeutic manipulations, she witnessed the remarkable changes and known benefits that were enhancing the quality of her clients' lives. Kristen's style draws from a plethora of skills, understandings, and experiences. She strives to always cater to her client's specific needs and draws from her expertise in the field of Massage Therapy.
Kristen does not believe that pain is required for massage therapy to be effective, and employs long, thought-out, and meticulous strokes to achieve the goals laid out before treatment.
Kristen encourages an open connection with every client to ensure quality service, and that their goals and expectations are met.
Kristen is a Wife, Mother, Daughter, Aunt, and Massage Therapist who treasures all her relationships, prides herself on her work, and strives for understanding and awareness in everything she does.
Her clients are always a top priority.
"I promise to provide a safe space for you, so that you may receive the maximum benefit of Massage Therapy. Your self-care choices, and life choices, will be respected. With integrity, this company will provide equal care to all people without discrimination, bias, or misrepresentation. We are of the same beginning, together, under one sun. We are all human, and compassion for our states of being is essential to heal, grow, and move forward with ease..
Let my hands, help you ease into a relaxed state of mind, assist in relaxing soft tissue restrictions, and forget about the worries and stresses of life during your massage...
I would love to get to know more about you, your massage goals, what's troubling you, and how I can help you with massage therapy."
My Personal Self- Massage Journey:
As a Mother of 4, you can imagine the trauma my body has endured.
I worked diligently honing in on my feelings of varying applications, pressures, and releases. With the knowledge of muscle attachment sites, and their kinesthetic capacity, I worked overtime at balancing my hips, shoulders, and abdominals to break up the scarring and adhesions from my abdominal surgeries. The effects for me were astounding.
I could breathe better after Trigger Point Releases in my ribcage! My serratus anterior, and intercostal muscles were restricting my breathing capacity, but not for long! I had a chest tube procedure in 2013, so you can imagine there was alot of work to be done after 7 years unmanaged!
With regular movement through massage, my back aches became less frequent and aggressive. I started balancing my hips with lighter work, then deeper work into the deeper hip flexors, internal rotators and external rotators of the hip with massage techniques, yoga, and breath work!
My experience allowed me to re-align my musculature back to having a full range of motion in my shoulders, neck, and lower back, which in turn alleviated my back pain by rebalancing and stabilizing the major abdominal muscles after multiple surgeries associated with my personal experiences with 2 C-section childbirths in 2018 & 2021, and a chest tube procedure from 2013! Let's just say I had a lot of catching up to do when I realized the waterfall of issues I just ignored for so long!
I repositioned my gait in stance position to be more parallel and balanced my hip stabilizers with Touch Therapy Techniques, breath work, yoga, strength training, and stretching.
I boosted my immune system with consistent manual lymphatic drainage techniques to keep my neck, shoulders, and upper back loose from carrying twins around, amidst the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic! And let's not forget the self-massage on the legs! Whole muscle belly movement, to release holds in varying positions with breath work and stretching did WONDERS for my aching lower back!
All of my issues may not be your issues, and finding the right way to work the muscles will be unique to your body, as everyone moves differently, with different stresses, motions, and gaits. Movement from within, in conjunction with movement from outside the body is imperative to a good massage if its goal is to restore function and mobility.
Awareness of systems within the body plays a huge role in knowing where and where not to avoid manual pressure application, and I would love to be a positive resource for you to trust in knowing that your wellness is just as important to me as it is to you!
My goal in our sessions is to assist you in getting your muscles, circulation, and the overall function, movement, and pliability of your muscles back into their natural, balanced state with general massage practices and some mild breathing techniques.
My Practice is due to my practice.
With time on my hands and to continue on my journey of massage during the COVID-19 pandemic, I used a few case studies throughout the lockdown to take time and really feel the applications I was taught. What do I mean by that?
I wanted to understand the feeling of applications, techniques and releases, as well as trigger points, knots, and all the other terminology involved with massage. I wanted a full understanding of feeling from the inside AND out when modalities were applied. I did this by honing in on my 8th sense; Interoception. I did this with the help of my mentor (the Late) Sarah Y Cunningham, LMT, and OMT.
I'd love to share this understanding with you so that you may better develop a relationship with yourself, geared towards better self-care massage practices that you can use whenever you are dealing with tension, pain or soreness! By tuning into your internal awareness, you'll gain a deeper connection with your body, allowing you to intuitively respond to its needs and optimize your self-care routine.
Awareness
Insight
Application
Become aware of your body, its systems, and the various aspects of anatomy, and feel with your hands, while also feeling the response of your muscles, with your muscles. This process is to gain awareness of your personal touch from your fingertips to the muscle being affected. A process known as Interoception.
Gain insight into what your body is telling you (pain, tension, headaches etc) and where it may be stemming from, to deduce potential causes and remedies.
Apply light movement with stretches and rhythmic breathing.
Massage, Body Mechanics, Holistic Self-Care Practices, and Awareness of Alternative Health Modalities are the foundation of my practice. I was educated to have an understanding of the whole self regarding how the body works relative to the various systems of the body, up to and including the various layers of soft tissue, organs & the anatomy of a cell. The holistic approach to Massage Therapy is assessing the whole self in congruence with all the basic anatomy, daily activities, signs, symptoms, and other qualities of the body during a Massage Session and using that information to reduce problem areas of discomfort or pain to enhance relaxation.
Mobile Massage of Hillsborough County LLC. All rights reserved 2024