Hallo, hallo! I can’t be more excited to have returned to DC, after my travels to Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. I return with a deeper understanding of Thai massage, greater self-reliance, and a solid stash of Tiger Balm. As astonishing as traveling was, it is simply marvelous to be back home, to my beloved Keep, my life partner, and my practice at Freed Bodyworks.

And I’ll be staying in my sweet home for the foreseeable future.

When asked about the last two months abroad, I struggle to organize my thoughts. In the last two months, I discovered within myself a thousand conflicting feelings: excitement, fear, delight, threadbareness, painful loneliness, resilience, vulnerability. I see my own foolishness, stupidity, privilege, and luck. As I type up my notes from the trip, I find a staggering cluster of mundane, non-visual musings and terrifically exciting instances. I recover mangled receipts to tape to my journal; I find kip and baht in stray pockets of my clothes. 

I saw and experienced truly incredible things while traveling in Asia, and I’d be delighted to share them.

However, I’ve heard (and can empathize) that hearing travel stories can be as wholly frustrating; worse than an endless shaggy dog story, or a sleepy, lengthy description of a non-sensical, vivid, intimate dream. It is highly likely at I am not Bill Bryson, and in that line of thinking (and for anyone who asked my itinerary for their own planning purposes), I present my map of my trip highlights. 

Said attached map is incomplete, avoiding least charming hostels and less enjoyable places. If you’d like to know more, I will be sharing my notes as I disentangle them.

“Interactive” itinerary map link!

In person, I am happy to describe slow boat rides, Thai massage training, street food, fantastic animals, dream-perfect beaches, amazing temples, homesickness, dreadful tourist traps, and my inability to cope with tropical heat and enlightening sunburns.

My photos are here (complete with a shocking number of #selfies, so captured to ensure to my parents that I was and am still alive): https://www.instagram.com/keeparies/

But for now, know that I’m back and will be delighted to see you.

with care,
Aries

Beloved clients and friends,

As difficult as this is to say, beginning this fall, I will no longer be a permanent member of the staff at Freed Bodyworks. The District of Columbia and Freed Bodyworks will remain my home base for the next two years, but in that time, I will be traveling extensively. This isn’t a farewell, but it will be the first of many partings.

In my absence, I strongly suggest booking a session with one of my colleagues at Freed. For work most similar to mine, I recommend Sadiqua Iman, Emily Brown, and Rita Elsner. These fantastic people are incredibly capable, experienced massage therapists — each working in the field twice or three times as long as myself. I will add extra time to our next session to discuss which therapist would be the best match for you to ease this transition. Additionally, I’ll brief each therapist about the work we’ve been doing, such that they can pick up where we left off.

For the next two years, I plan to mature my skills as bodyworker and to expand the modalities that I can offer. I hope to also grow my “hands-off” skills in teaching, communication, and coaching. I will be traveling abroad — which I’ve never done as an adult — as well as spending quality time with my aging parents. While the original impetus for my travels is my partner’s resettling, I see this time as an opportunity for exploration and challenge. I’ll be spending the late fall on the west coast, the winter in southeast Asia (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia), and the summer in the pacific northwest, with regular visits to Ann Arbor, Michigan to see my partner. During my returns in the falls and springs, I will be offering sessions at Freed, and will be in contact with my availability.

I hope that in the months to come, we stay in touch. I’ll be posting about my travels here, sending letters, and putting sweet photos on my instagram (@keeparies).  Shoot me a note if you’d like email or postcards!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, for the incredible support you’ve given me, and the trust you’ve placed in me. My work at Freed has been the most meaningful work in my life, and it has been an honor to do that work with you.

Let’s talk about feet. Or, more precisely, heels.

In my client pool, I work with a group of former runners, most of whom were sidelined by a shared culprit: plantar fasciitis. Plantar fasciitis is a type of chronic pain, often starting with a stabbing pain at the heel with the first, barefoot step out of bed. PF can progress from a tightening of the plantar fascia, to irritation, scarring and degeneration of the collagen around the heel, and, at times, bone spurs. One of my clients described it as “the Devil’s brutal morning bite.”

As a massage therapist, I have no silver bullet for plantar fasciitis. Most of my PF-specific work focuses on releasing the posterior calf muscles: gastrocnemius, soleus, tibialis posterior. If that group, and the encasing fascia can relax, the calcaneal tendon will lengthen, and the plantar fascia won’t be pulled so damn tight. I also do work at the plantar fasciia, and the supporting musculature of the lower leg. There’s other factors to consider: gait, hip alignment, pronation, training volume, and muscular imbalances can contribute to developing plantar fasciitis. In the past, I’ve suggested that my clients stretch their calf by pulling their toes towards their shins or change their footwear. But things might be changing, with a single exercise, involving my most beloved objects– books and towels.

– Continue reading →

There are some events that you spend most of the year excited for. For some of us, it’s Christmas, or New Years, or Halloween, or a birthday, or that first warm day of spring.

And for me, it’s Lindy Focus.

Lindy Focus – credit Jerry Almonte

Lindy Focus is the best of times, and the better than best of times. And in my crazy way, I decided to combine my two loves — massage and dance — and do them every day, to their fullest extent. My beautiful, lovely, perfect friend Bee drove my massage table down early, and I’m bringing all the things I need to have the sessions I like to share with my clients.

Click here for sign up logistics — ie. (date, time, length of session)! Continue reading →