Katrina Koleto Massage | Fremont

Massage Therapy for Injury Prevention and Increased Wellness

Release, Relax, Unwind

I LOVE MY WORK!

Massage is a powerful healing modality. It's fascinating and rewarding and fun! And my love for the work shines through in every session.

My clients know I truly care about what they're going through and that I will do everything I can to help them relax, reduce pain, reduce stress, and just feel more comfortable and at ease in their bodies.

I am an empath who can sense subtle shifts in each client's tissues and moods while they are on the table, and I use that information to tailor the massage to the needs of the moment. I have training in caring for folks with PTSD (and as someone who has experienced my own various traumas, I have direct experience with some of the ways PTSD can feel & manifest).

Because I offer non-judgmental, open-hearted care, I end up with a lot of repeat clients who aren't as comfortable with other practitioners.

I have a gentle and accepting philosophy that there is no wrong way to have a body, which means I adore bringing health and healing to folks who have any shyness around their bodies-- from clients who identify as fat, to folx who are trans, to persons with disabilities.

I've seen it all, and your body is beautiful and sacred to me, exactly as it is.

I bring a body-positive, trans-inclusive, non-ableist, anti-racist approach to my work.

My massage approach fuses many different styles of massage, including slow deep-tissue and myofascial work (to really get the knots out), and soothing, nourishing Swedish massage and gentle Craniosacral holds (designed to calm the nervous system), with an emphasis on structural alignment. I like to see (with my hands as well as my eyes) where the body is out of alignment or unbalanced, and then I try to unwind the tissues.

Habits and repetitive motions can cause imbalances that can eventually lead to pain or even injury. When my clients commit to regular sessions, they universally experience an increase in overall mobility and a decrease in day-to-day discomforts. Massage isn't magic, but it sure can feel that way sometimes!

With clients' consent, I also occasionally employ tools such as cupping, gua sha, essential oils, and CBD (CHABA). And as we go, I always encourage feedback-- I want you to tell me what works for you and what doesn't, so together we can create the perfect experience.

If you're ready to feel better, click here to book an appointment.

"When you touch one thing with deep awareness,
you touch everything."

MY QUALIFICATIONS and HISTORY:

A lifetime of kinesthetic interest has led me to many body-focused pursuits throughout the years, including a dance minor in college, a year as a group fitness instructor, and several years as a Physical Therapy aide.

Eventually, I was working as a caregiver for a man who was partially paralyzed by a spinal cord injury. His Physical & Occupational Therapists and Massage Therapists taught me several bodywork techniques that I used with this client daily, to improve his function. Eventually, it dawned on me that doing this bodywork with my client was my favorite part of the day, and that with a little training, I could make bodywork my primary occupation.

Unfortunately at that time, I was diagnosed with Stage I breast cancer, and in the midst of receiving treatments for that, I also broke my wrist in a scooter accident. The wrist was so painful I had to quit my caregiving work, and I took on a couple of part time jobs that were easier on my wrist. I spent the next two years trying to figure out what to do with my life if I wasn't going to be a massage therapist. I considered going to grad school for Physical Therapy, but I was daunted by the missing prerequisites left by my English degree.

Then, one day, it dawned on me that I was sitting there cancer-free with a healed wrist, and that there was nothing stopping me from going to massage school. Within a year, I was enrolled at the Cortiva Institute, and in 2013 I became a Licensed Massage Therapist in the state of Washington. I began working right away, both in a supervised setting with others and in a part-time private practice, and in 2017, I left my position as an employee and transitioned to a thriving full-time private practice.

A lifelong dancer, with a college minor in dance, I found myself leading dance fitness classes in the late '00s. Eventually I joined the Seattle ecstatic dance community as both a dancer and a DJ. In 2018 I was a co-facilitator for an all-genders dance called Evolution, founded by my partner for life, Kevin Haggerty aka The Reality Doula, and me. We led the dance together for a year until his desire to work on his novel full-time took over his availability.

From 2016 to 2021, I was also a co-facilitator for a dance I founded for women and nonbinary folks, called Moondance: A Gender-Intentional Dance, though we only met one time in 2019, due to my struggles with adenomyosis (which eventually led to a hysterectomy in November). I had hoped to lead more Moondance events in 2020, but given the worldwide pandemic of Covid-19, Moondance ended up being held via Zoom only for a few short months during 2021.

In spring of 2021, I retired permanently from Moondance in order to begin taking coursework towards becoming a Certified Personal Trainer. My goal is to be able to instruct my clients in movement techniques that will support a pain-free life, and to inspire them towards their personal best levels of fitness and wellness (at any age and at any size).

- Lao Tzu