About Ritual Wellness:

Hi, My name is Melissa and its a pleasure to have you here!

Let’s dive into a bit about who I am and why I created this practice.

I started my journey into Massage therapy in 2013 in Elgin, Illinois where I grew up. I originally went to college in Northern Wisconsin to study Environmental Science and Outdoor Education. I wanted to be a teacher. I embarked on a two week canoe trip for orientation, and worked on various organic farms. I felt a strong pull to become a massage therapist, because thats how I had been managing my own pain and stress since I was just 13 years old. Shout out to my mom who took my pain seriously.

I completed a program for Massage Therapy shortly after, then moved to Colorado just two months after that. I continued my Massage Education at Colorado Institute of Massage Therapy in Colorado Springs for their Neuromuscular program, which i then completed in 2015.

Since becoming a licensed Massage therapist at only 20 years old- I often joke that I go into auto pilot with Massage. Its natural for me. I love anatomy and there is always more to know… but my thirst for knowledge and hunger for growth, paired with my purpose to help others- I have backgrounds in various fields I worked side by side with Massage.

I have years of Spa Management experience as well as working with adults with disabilities, residential gardening, and funeral service care. I always found my way to ask every question in life that had me questioning purpose…existence… life, death, and the nature that embodies it all. Some say woo-woo, some say crazy, I say forever a student. Stay curious and always be open to learning and humbling yourself with what you thought you knew. I believe this is true with bodywork, as well.

I consider the fact my experience in these fields was on purpose, and allowed me to grow into the practitioner I am, holding space for humans in the depths of their struggles and pain, while mentoring new practitioners in the field to ignite their passion and find the gifts they were born with.

I grew up watching addiction, surgeries, mental health, and stress rip apart people I love, and the one common thing I noticed in all of these people struggling with was as simple as this:

They were in pain.

Whether it was physical or emotional, they were trying to manage deep pain and the stress that comes with it. I wanted to become apart of a World where I could use my gifts, my hands, to take away some of that pain through therapeutic Massage Therapy.

Massage therapy will never be the cure to anything, but it reinforces that positive intentional touch is very essential to our wellbeing. Quite literally, positive intentional touch can heal.