Today we’d like to introduce you to Sharon Van Ormer.
Hi Sharon, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I can recall the exact moment when I decided to fully commit to the idea of becoming a massage therapist back in 2015. I was working as a registered nurse in a very busy emergency room with a typical day of being pulled in twenty directions. I loved what I was doing, yet burn out was definitely going on within myself and I knew it was time for a change. I had been thinking about becoming a massage therapist for quite some time as I felt that would be the best way for me to ‘give back’ all the time and attention that I wanted to give to my patients that time did not allow. Working in a fast, paced, organized controlled chaotic environment does not allow for the caring and compassionate side of nursing to reveal itself and I was feeling emotionally and physically depleted.
On that day I was in Pod 1, which contains the trauma bay. I had at least three patients (that I can fully recall). One in the trauma bay who was vented and stable, another on CPAP in room 5 and a third in room 7 who was actively dying. She was elderly with dementia and had suffered another stroke. Her family decided to let nature take its course and were by her bedside supporting her as she was passing on. I wanted to be in that room. To help emotionally support the patient and her grieving family but nursing priorities would not allow the extra time I wanted to give. At that moment, I knew I was going to enroll in Spa Tech which is an energy based massage school in Plymouth, Massachusetts, a short drive from where I was living at the time. I took the year long evening course meeting three times a week and had the intentions of becoming a medical massage therapist upon graduation.
I soon realized that my niche was not to be hospital/medical based as my own personal style of massage developed when I began working at Wildwood Day Spa in Marlboro, MA. I was the only therapist there, fresh out of school, still working as a nurse in the ER and trying to figure out my own personal style. As it was developing, so too was my intuitive skills in detecting with my hands where they needed to go to help alleviate the clients muscle tension. often I would hear “I didn’t realize I was tender there”. To understand this flow of energy I was experiencing, I enrolled in a polarity course to help move congested energetic blocks within the client. From there the snowball began rolling even more.
Since then, we had sold our home in MA and traveled around in our RV for about a year before buying our home here in Maryville, TN. I since have completed other courses on energy therapy such as Healing Touch and Reiki to add to my massage tool box. I continue to educated myself with mind, body, spirit knowledge to further understand our energetic bodies, how it effects our health and well being. My intuitive self guides my hands to where they need to go. I listen to what the client says, where they ache, why they ache and sense their emotion behind their story. I look at their body and see their scars and how they affect their discomfort and balance within.
I love what I do. It is a hobby, not a job. When it becomes a job it is no longer held in the same love.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I would say it basically has been a smooth road with a few twists, hills and great views. The struggles I can recall were when we were on the road in the RV. I was not working and I missed the contact with the outside world. Yet that is a whole different story, living in the RV, lol. During that time I read a lot and took some online courses. The greatest challenge is deciding which rabbit hole to go down to learn with.
I currently am taking a class on intuitive medicine. How to identify and heal your own spiritual/emotional/physical needs. I also am about to begin a six month nurse life coaching certification course that I will be able to incorporate into my work as well. The greatest challenge I have is to find the balance between work, learning and play as all are needed to support the others.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I specialize in taking care of the whole person. We are a blend, a trifecta of emotional, physical and spiritual energies, trying to maintain a balance (homeostasis) in a very overwhelming, chaotic world. It is no wonder that people have such degrees of chronic pain, emotional imbalances, physical ailments, feelings of depression/anxiety, and the list goes on….we are depleted energetically which effects the physical body.
I take the time to listen, to get to know my clients, to create that safe place where they are able to let go of those things that no longer serve their highest interest. We hold on to things that need to be let go of for way to long. Most often we don’t even realize it. This energy, the stuck flight or fight gets lodged into our physical bodies. I allow a safe, peaceful place to relax, to let it go. When the mind is calm, the body becomes calm. This allows for a greater response from the session. There are so many modalities of massage, each are just as important as the other as they fit the clients need. When you are fully present and engaged in what you are doing (your mind is not thinking about what you need to pick up at the grocery store) what you are helping the client achieve which is most often relaxation and pain control, you create a better response.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Within the next five years I would like to be able to offer a retreat setting for those who need their ‘reset’ button pushed. All the learning I am doing for own self improvement and for others will be my building foundations for what I would like to create. A safe, non-judgmental healing space. A space in nature, to connect with yourself and Mother Earth, to release your old, stuck energies that no longer serve. A place to learn about yourself by giving you the tools and empowerment to love yourself. We don’t tend to think about loving ourselves as often as we should. I have the vision of offering overnight stays and day retreats. Of having delicious, nutritious meals made from the goods of local farmers, educational classes on plant medicines, our often overlooked energetic systems, idle time to do as you please with no commitments to join in on the activities, go on a walk in the woods, sun bathe, do whatever it is you need to do as your time is precious and unique to you and how you heal. This vision is in an ongoing process of creation. Whatever manifests will be delightful. That I am sure of.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mendingrootsrn.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mendingrootsholisticmassage
- Other: www.massgebook.com and www.etwellnessdirectory.com
