Why Touch is Medicine

I have the absolute best job in the world. I really mean that.

Every single day I get to bring people into a version of themselves that very few people ever see. The vulnerable side. The side that lets go. The side that walks in carrying something heavy and walks out feeling lighter — with less pain than the way they came in. That never gets old. Not once.

I love caring for people. It is in my bones. And becoming a Licensed Massage Therapist was one of the most natural things I have ever done — even though the road that led me there was anything but easy.

Why I chose massage over chiropractic

I was actually looking at chiropractic school for a while. I love health and wellness deeply — always have — and I wanted to go further into it professionally. But something kept pulling me toward massage instead.

And honestly? It just fit my personality better.

With massage I actually get to be with people. Really with them. Not ten minutes in a room and out the door. I get thirty minutes, an hour, sometimes two hours with someone who has come to me needing something. That time matters. That connection matters. I get to know my clients. I get to be present with them in a way that most healthcare settings simply don't allow.

That is a gift. For them and for me.

I went to massage school in the middle of grief

I started massage school after I lost my dad. I was going through it while I was also walking through the loss of Starr, my mom, and beloved friends. Looking back, I understand exactly why.

When you are grieving — really grieving — you yearn to be held in that space. You need someone to tend to you. To show up for your body the way your body has been showing up for your pain. I needed that. I craved it. And I think part of becoming a massage therapist was my way of making sure other people could have it too.

Massage became my release as well. Stress, sadness, anxiety — they get locked in our cells. They live in our muscles and our fascia and our nervous system long after the moment that created them has passed. Massage helps unlock that. It gives the body permission to let go of what it has been holding.

I know this not just as a therapist. I know it as someone who has needed it desperately.

The body is one — all of it connected

This is what I wish everyone really understood. The body is not separate parts. It is one. Muscles, bones, nerves, senses — all of it connected, all of it talking to each other constantly. When one part hurts, everything feels it. When one part releases, everything benefits.

Touch moves all of it. That is what makes it so powerful.

When you receive a massage your nervous system calms. Your muscles release tension they have been holding — sometimes for years. Your breathing changes. Your mind quiets. Your body remembers that it is safe. That it is cared for. That it is not alone in carrying everything it has been carrying.

That is medicine. Not metaphorically. Literally.

Essential oils make it even more powerful

I use doTERRA essential oils in every session. Lavender to calm the nervous system before we even begin. Deep Blue for muscle tension and inflammation. Frankincense for grounding and emotional support. Balance for the whole nervous system reset.

Scent goes straight to the emotional brain — it bypasses all the guards we put up and goes right to feeling. Combined with therapeutic touch it creates something that is bigger than either one alone. The whole body gets to heal at once.

If you want to explore doTERRA for your own home care and self-massage practice, you can shop through my page at my.doterra.com/elizabethsfarmtable. I only share what I actually use and believe in.

You deserve someone in your corner

I think about my clients a lot. The ones who come in with tension so deep it has become who they are. The ones grieving. The ones exhausted. The ones who haven't been truly cared for in so long they've forgotten what it feels like.

Through my own grief I needed — still need — to be held in that space. To have someone show up for my body. To feel lighter. To feel less alone in it.

If you have never had a massage — or if it has been a long time — I want to encourage you. Not as a luxury. As a necessity. Your body has been carrying a lot. It deserves to be tended to. And when you finally let it happen, when you finally let yourself receive that kind of care — you will understand why I say this is the best job in the world.

With love,
Elizabeth · LMT