You know you’re in good hands from the moment you walk in the door to Healing Lotus Massage.
As you enter, you are surrounded by an atmosphere of quiet serenity cultivated by licensed massage therapist Caitlyn Coleman, the owner-operator of this new Sonoita business located on Los Encinos Road.
“I want someone to walk in and feel calming energy before they even get onto the table,” said Coleman. “I use natural and ambient lighting depending on the time of day. I use a linen mist as well as an aromatherapy candle. During the massage, I use hot towels on the back of the feet to increase blood circulation and to help create a state of relaxation and I typically have instrumental, calming spa music playing. I want people to feel that they can completely unwind, without stressors, and I [work] to create an environment that does that.”
As you make preparations to get on the massage table, Coleman is already observing your body and face, considering where you may be experiencing pain, noting how you talk and move, your general energy. Along with what you say in words, she is gathering nonverbal information, quietly formulating a treatment plan specific to what she senses is your present need.
Coleman has five possible massage modalities in her toolkit—relaxation, rehabilitation after injury, pain management, sports massage and energy work— but she tends to gravitate toward relaxation, pain management, and recently, sports massage. She gained a foundational knowledge of body mechanics and anatomy in her education, learning the elaborate shapes and connections of muscles and bone as well as what all these structures do when in motion, and under strain.
Coleman is friends with Patagonia massage therapist Alyssa Navarette. Both attended the same massage school in Tucson, though in different years. “We each serve clients in the same geographic area,” Coleman said, “but with Alyssa focusing on energy aspects, we offer complementary modalities rather than competing.”
This past April, Coleman had an opportunity to offer massage to ultra-runners in the first-ever Monster 300, a 309-mile footrace from Globe, AZ to Patagonia. She leapt at the chance, setting up both her table and massage chair in a booth on Harshaw Road at the race’s finish line. Because the event was eight days long and runners might arrive at any hour, Coleman put in some very long days, providing 56 massages for the event. “Totally worth it, despite the crazy hours,” she said.
The Monster 300 event organizers have now asked Coleman to be therapist-in-residence at three more ultra-running events over the summer in the Northwest, which she’s committed to.
Getting into massage therapy was a clear and powerful turning point in Coleman’s life where she turned from seeking to certainty.
“I was struggling,” she said.”I needed something new, and massage has always helped me to feel better. Now I want to be able to give that same relief to others and I feel it is truly where my passion lies these days. I can’t imagine life without this therapeutic outlet for both myself and my clients.”
Healing Lotus Massage is on Facebook and Instagram as “Healing Lotus 520.” Email: healinglotus520@gmail.com