Valerie Vazquez, LMT.

How I got here

My journey into therapeutic bodywork started long before I enrolled in massage therapy school. I originally wanted to be a therapist or counselor in the mental health space. I earned my undergraduate degree in psychology at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California, then moved to Texas and went to work at a nonprofit mental health facility as a qualified mental health professional for children and adolescents.

Over six and a half years I got drained. We were only addressing one part of the client, their cognitive side. I had experienced anxiety myself, and even in therapy I found that nobody was addressing the physiological responses my body was still having, even when my mind was calm. I could see the same thing in my clients.

So I left mental health and started a new path that led me to massage therapy. I didn't know the impact it would have on me, or how much I could reach people through therapeutic touch.

In massage school we spent about three months in hands-on practice, receiving six to eight hours of massage a week. Toward the end of that, during a session, my body finally let go. It finally relaxed. And I had enough awareness from my years in mental health to recognize what was happening: my body and my mind were in alignment. I was reconnected, body, mind and spirit.

It was profound enough that I wanted to give it to every person who got on my table. I knew what I was doing was more than relaxation massage. That's where Reconnect Massage Therapy came from.

Why I don't push

I don't subscribe to the idea that more pressure is better. With my psychology background and trauma-informed training, if you come in with pain or you come in carrying something, the last thing I want to do is heighten that experience. If it hurts to move, I'm not going to apply pressure that makes it hurt more, to where you're clenching, holding your breath, and thinking about being anywhere but where you are.

I think that's part of the problem: we want to escape. The solution is to be settled where we are.

The nervous system is the first line of defense. It's how we perceive the world, and when it's elevated it keeps you on guard. If I can help you relax and lower those fight-or-flight responses, I can get deeper into the muscle without inflicting pain and without you holding your breath.

How I work

Every session is personalized, structured and unhurried. Elements I bring into my practice:

• Deep breathing and mindfulness
• Therapeutic touch and trauma-informed care
• Nervous system regulation
• Craniosacral therapy
• Active and assisted stretching
• Gentle modalities such as lymphatic drainage massage
• Reiki, woven into sessions rather than offered on its own

What sets this apart is that I'm working not just with the body, but with the mind and the spirit and all the energy stored up in your body, and allowing a safe space for it to be acknowledged and released. For anyone who needs a safe place to land: I'm going to be gentle with you, and I'm going to work directly with your muscles and directly with your nervous system.

In practice that means we talk first, I take notes before and after every session, you can ask me to change anything at any point, and after you leave I email what we worked on and text a few days later to see how you're feeling. Here's what a first visit is like.

Training and license

• Texas Licensed Massage Therapist, TX LMT #MT135863 (verify)
• B.A. Psychology, California Lutheran University
• Six and a half years as a qualified mental health professional working with children and adolescents
• Continuing education: Thai massage, active stretching, Introduction to Craniosacral Therapy, Craniosacral Therapy I, lymphatic drainage massage, Reiki I and II

The studio

A quiet, light-filled room in a downtown building across from the Water Gardens, with a small two-seat waiting area outside the door. [Room photos to add.]