Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dr. Tiffany Ryan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Dr. Ryan, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

My business partner, Katherine and I first crossed paths when I approached her about teaching at her yoga studio in Portland, Oregon. I was a Social Work Professor and had recently moved to Oregon after completing my massage and yoga training in Costa Rica, and was looking for a yoga teacher gig. Although Katherine didn’t have any open positions, we shared similar backgrounds. We began discussing the importance of massage and therapeutic touch. Massage and yoga had been key tools that I used to deal with a time in my life when I had to deal with grief in many different parts of my life. I knew the power of touch and mindfulness – and how they help you to feel connected to others and to yourself. A new idea formed—combining restorative stretch, therapeutic touch, and mindfulness into one relaxing class. As the popularity of the class grew, it became apparent that we were onto something, prompting us to create Yomassage. Yomassage was originally intended to be an accessible way to receive massage on a regular basis since it was less expensive than a one-on-one massage therapy session, but it turned into something more. Yomassage began appealing to all kinds of clientele, including those who had never experienced traditional massage. We decided to create a curriculum to train other massage therapists.

Dr. Ryan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Yomassage was originally intended to be an accessible and trauma sensitive way to receive massage on a regular basis since it was less expensive than a one-on-one massage therapy session, but it turned into something more. Yomassage began appealing to all kinds of clientele, including those who had never experienced traditional massage. We decided to create a curriculum to train other massage therapists, and then opened up the first of (hopefully) many Yomassage Social Spa’s.

The problem it solves: Yomassage’s mission is to make therapeutic touch accessible.

Massage is seen as a luxury – individual sessions cost on average $80 plus tip for 60 minutes, and around $120 plus tip for 90 minutes. Therapeutic touch releases hormones that elicit happy feelings and those of being connected to others, while reducing stress hormones. Mindfulness in the moment reduces blood pressure and heart rate. Mindfulness practiced over time rewires the brain and its response to stressful stimuli. We combine the two by having clients observe the sensation in their body while receiving massage and engaged in gentle stretch.

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year. It’s not uncommon for someone with an anxiety disorder to also suffer from depression or vice versa. Nearly one-half of those diagnosed with depression are also diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. PTSD affects 7.7 million adults or 3.5% of the U.S. population. Major depressive disorder affects more than 16.1 million American adults or about 6.7% of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year.

Whether the client is suffering from a mental health issue, or just needs a nurturing time and space to reconnect with their body, Yomassage delivers. Clients receive 90 minutes of pure relaxation for between $35-$75. Classes are small to ensure enough hands-on time and provide the safety and community of a group setting.

How you are different than your competition: Our brand is focused on making massage accessible and creating community among our practitioners and clients. Right now we are the only modality that allows massage therapists to serve multiple clients at once. There are some yoga studios doing similar classes, but they generally have large classes, don’t guarantee a minimum amount of hands-on time, and they are not led by massage therapists. Yomassage provides the knowledge needed to create an amazing experience for clients, and therapists leave our training being able to start leading Yomassage classes immediately. We have a strong community of Yomassage Therapists that support each other. Finally, we offer a membership to provide marketing and business support to ensure our Yomassage Therapist’s success. On the spa side of our business, we are the first ever “Social Spa” – our service allows people to heal in community. We have a huge emphasis on connecting with our clients and helping to create community.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

We held our first training in September of 2018 and didn’t spend much money on a website or any other startup items because we wanted to see if we would even get anyone to sign up! This made is hard to seem “legit” in the eyes of massage therapists who had never heard of us. The universe had our back, and when one of our Yomassage Therapists reached out to a national massage therapy organization after we had only been in business for a few months, to see if they would donate swag for an upcoming training, somehow the editor of the organization’s magazine, Massage and Bodywork, caught wind of what we were doing and asked us to be featured as an up and coming modality in their Spring issue. More than 225,000 massage therapists receive this magazine and they ended up using our picture on the cover and giving us a 6-page spread. This has been a huge boost for us and with all of the training enrollments we have received due to this feature (which we would never have been able to afford to purchase at the time), has given us the means to expand, increase marketing efforts, and solidify our business.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

It feels like we have had so many failures, but upon reflection, we’ve just had a lot of big challenges that we’ve been able to overcome (but weren’t so sure at the time). The first and main struggle was trying to get people to know who we were and that we were a legitimate company when we had very few resources. The continuing struggle is as a women-owned company in the wellness industry, it’s definitely been a challenge to get funding for expansion. We learned that networking and letting anyone and everyone know who you are and what you’re doing is key. We have had to learn how to be scrappy and bootstrap.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.yomassage.com
• Instagram: @yomassage @yomassagesellwood
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yomassage.co
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/yomassage/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXpJsMdDwxdNIz6ucjO4dlA/videos