About Innisfree Massage

Hi, my name is Ry and I am a LMT based here in Austin.

What is Innisfree?

The name of my practice comes from the W.B. Yeat’s Poem titled The Lake Isle Of Innisfree. In the poem, Yeat’s describes the desire to be at secluded lake Isle where one might be free from all the demands our troubled world puts on us.

My Approach

We live in a society where so many people are starved of touch, attention, rest, and stillness. The way we are forced to live often leaves us disassociated and out of touch with our bodies. Massage is one of the few contexts where we can give ourselves permission to receive and experience the things that help us feel whole again. That is my ultimate goal with massage.

The tenets of my massage are compassion, curiosity, patience, autonomy, and safety. My first priority is that my clients feel safe and that they have agency over their own experience. It is only when we feel emotionally and physically safe that our body can begin to receive therapeutic touch. My clients can expect me to go to great lengths to make sure they feel that way on my table.

My technique is a combination of Deep-Tissue, Myofascial Release, David Lauterstein’s Deep Massage, and Swedish. Rather than an excess of painful digging, my technique is like a slow and patient ironing out of the body that is both therapeutic and and extremely relaxing. This type of stimulus works with your nervous system instead of against it.

A Note on Painful Massage

I work in a way that is deep and powerful while staying within your unique pain tolerance. Contrary to what many people think, massage doesn’t have to be painful to work (in fact it is often counterproductive) and the meaning of the term Deep-Tissue is something the massage world can’t seem to agree on. In an effort to operate in good-faith and to stay within my values, I tend to lean on a less invasive approach. In short, if you are someone who is absolutely certain that you need a massage with extremely intense pressure that pushes your pain tolerance, I am probably not the therapist for you. I would be happy to recommend someone else for you though! But if you are curious about what I’ve had to say on the topic, I would love to have a more in depth conversation about it.