By touching a body, we touch every event it has experienced. For a few brief moments we hold all of a client’s stories in our hands. We witness someone’s experience of their own flesh, through some of the most powerful means possible: the contact of our hands, the acceptance of the body without judgment, and the occasional listening ear. With these gestures we reach across the isolation of the human experience and hold another person’s legend. In massage therapy, we show up and ask, in so many ways, what it is like to be another human being. In doing so, we build a bridge that may heal us both.
–Tracy Walton, “The Health History of a Human Being,” Massage Therapy Journal, Winter 1999.
St. Michael & Company is a women-centered and faith-based health and wellness company in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Our wellness journey began when a family member was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2017. Since searching for healthy options for cancer care and treatments, we have traveled to 28 countries and explored mind and body wellness alternatives such as nutrition, yoga, meditation, acupuncture, therapeutic massage therapies, and aromatherapies.
The love for health and wellness is very personal. Our mission is our passion, and our passion is our mission. We believe in the pursuit of health and wellness in a holistic way to create transformational change. Hope and healing one person at a time.
As a member of the Society for Oncology Massage, below are some of our training/credentials:
- Manual Lymphatic Drainage, Academy of Lymphatic Studies, June 2023
- Oncology Massage Therapy: Caring for Clients with Cancer, Tracy Walton & Associates, Atlanta, Georgia, March 2019
- Understanding Lymphedema: Working with the Lymphatic System after Cancer Treatment, Juul Bruin, October 2019
- Lymph Massage: Protocol for Detoxification & Minor Pathologies, Juul Bruin, Crozet, VA, October 2019
- Manual Lymphatic Drainage Massage, Reeva International Spa School, Bali, Indonesia, June 2022,
- MCT for Pathology & Scar Tissue, Modern Cupping Therapy Education Company, September 2019
- Therapeutic Cupping for Lymph Drainage, Modern Cupping Therapy Education Company, September 2019
BREAST CANCER AWARENESS – Thanks to Shannel Smith , Community Outreach of the Virginia Beach Department of Health for the invitation to speak to the visually impaired community about our journey with cancer, Oncology Massage and more. Honored to have Ms. Catrena Leavy, a five year breast cancer survivor. Her story of courage and determination inspires us at all. We are blessed! #cancercure #cancer #cancersurvivor
Wellness Events
Cancer Care is not a sprint. It is a marathon. Consistent, continuous, and committed care for cancer patients is key to providing quality of life and enduring long-term cancer treatments.. Oncology Massage provides benefits to many cancer patients. Having been a caregiver to a cancer patient, I can relate to the patients’ needs, can anticipate possible challenges that patients might experience and can assure compassionate care for them. Read more
- Reducing pain
- Alleviating stress
- Relieving nausea
- Reducing depression and anxiety
- Improving sleep and lessening fatigue
- Preventing chemotherapy
- Induced peripheral neuropathy
- Relieving lymphedema