The Restorative Power of Gentle Touch
TEND Bodywork Sessions
TEND Gentle Foundations
A profoundly gentle experience, like being wrapped in comfort. Warm, nourishing, deeply connected touch woven together with steady holds, slow rocking, soft compressions, and soothing massage.
Created as bodywork support for those navigating profound grief and loss, these sessions are also for anyone carrying the heaviness of life, whether that’s times of overwhelming stress, extreme burnout, or major life change, and for anyone who simply wants a slower, simpler, more tender kind of massage. The work is grounding and truly supportive for your nervous system.
Sessions typically focus on the head, neck, shoulders, back, arms, hands, lower legs, and feet, but are tailored to your unique needs. The pressure is gentle, fully present, and supportive, adjusted to what feels good to you. You’re welcome to stay clothed or undress to your comfort level. You’ll always be appropriately draped for modesty with cozy sheets and blankets.
Settle into the quiet, breathe, drift off, cry, sleep, or simply be. Come just as you are.
TEND Signature
Settle into a full, steady massage with the gentleness of Gentle Foundations carried all the way through.
Built on a Swedish-style framework, this session moves through the whole body, including the thighs, hips, and abdomen, with a steady rhythm of soothing strokes, rocking, slow compressions, and easy joint movements. Deeper, focused work is woven in wherever your body is holding on, and pressure always follows what feels good to you. Undress to your comfort level, with traditional draping keeping you covered and warm throughout.
Signature is a natural next step after a Gentle Foundations session, and a good place to start if you’d like a more traditional massage with plenty of gentleness and depth. You don’t need a big reason to book. If your body is tired from work, stress has been piling up, or you simply want a really good massage, this is the one I’d suggest.
TEND Deep Rest
Lull your nervous system into a deeply relaxed, healing state of restoration.
Long, slow strokes connect the whole body, woven with rhythmic rocking, grounding compressions, and supportive care for the joints. Potent moments of stillness and focused work on areas of tension give your muscles time to soften. Pressure follows what feels good to you, deepening as your body relaxes.
Esalen-style draping lets the work flow uninterrupted while protecting your privacy. It’s a great fit if you already love Esalen-style massage, or if you’re comfortable with traditional draping and open to trying Esalen-style draping. With longer, flowing strokes and more of the body undraped at once, it may not be the best first step if you’re deep in grief or burnout, and Gentle Foundations is a good place to begin.
Deep Rest was created for the exhaustion that can come when stress keeps the nervous system working overtime. If you’re craving deep rest or restorative sleep, this is the session I’d suggest.
About TEND Bodywork Techniques
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Gentle, steady holds, with my hands often resting in two places at once on the body. Used to help you settle, ground, and balance the body’s energy.
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Soft, rhythmic movements that lull your nervous system into deep relaxation and help your muscles release unnecessary tension and guarding.
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Broad, steady pressure that warms and softens the muscles, brings circulation into the tissue, and eases tension, all while giving a calming, grounded sense of being held.
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When a joint feels supported and moves easily, all the muscles around it can relax at once. That’s why I give extra love, space, and movement to the joints, where tension and defense tend to gather. This isn’t stretching. Everything stays well within your comfortable range, never pushing to the edge. This pleasant movement gives your joints and body a felt sense of ease that they can remember and return to.
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Classic, familiar massage with kneading, gliding, and friction that works into tight muscles, eases tension, and helps the whole body relax.
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Long, flowing strokes that travel the length of the body, with you comfortably draped throughout. Slow and luxurious, they connect one area to the next, so your body feels whole again rather than like a collection of separate parts.
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People are often surprised by how much their body responds to gentle, relaxation-focused massage. When the nervous system settles, tight muscles tend to let go too. Sometimes, though, areas need more specific attention, and I can weave in deep tissue techniques as long as they don’t cause pain or undo the relaxation we’ve built. If you are looking for a full session of deep tissue massage, that is, quite simply, not something that I offer. I am happy to refer you to therapists who do!
Who These Sessions are for:
Deep Rest & Relaxation
Burnout & Chronic Stress
Mental Health Support
Times of Grief & Loss
Massage During Times of Grief and Loss
I’m sorry you are facing this.
Massage can be exceptionally supportive right now,
TEND massage during times of grief and loss focuses on comfort, providing assisted relaxation, and easing the physical symptoms you are experiencing. Techniques are gentler and more nurturing than conventional massage, honoring your body and your healing journey during difficult times.
This work focuses on comfort and easing the physical symptoms of stress, grief, loss, and burnout, offering "assisted relaxation" when relaxation isn't easy to find. Techniques are gentler and more nurturing than conventional massage, honoring your body and your healing journey during difficult times.
Sessions cover the face, scalp, neck, shoulders, back, arms, hands, lower legs, and feet. You can stay fully clothed or use traditional draping, and a massage chair is available for those who prefer not to use a table.
What are massage sessions like with TEND?
It’s OK if you’re not OK. Show up at TEND as you are.
You’ll be greeted with care and warmth and a cup of tea or water. If it is your first visit, I’ll show you around the space. From there, we’ll take some time to connect and go over your needs for your visit. When you are ready, I’ll step out to wash my hands, and you can stay clothed or undress to your comfort level and get under the cozy sheet and blanket, where you will be draped appropriately throughout the massage.
All sessions begin with grounding holds and gentle rocking. From there, the work builds in layers based on your needs, focusing wherever you need it most. Sessions include warm towels on the feet.
What this work isn’t
TEND doesn’t chasing that “good hurt” with deep pressure over and over again because that rarely resolves the underlying issues behind pain. TEND’s focus is on supporting the body holistically, with research backed methods. If you want a full session of deep pressure, deep tissue or trigger point work, I’m glad to point you to someone who offers that.
This is NOT mental health counseling, TEND