BY CHRISTINE CONRAD SHULTZ, PHOTO BY JADRIAN KLINGER
Be motivated. Be inspired. Don't look back.
Those are words by which Nancy Schmitt advocates and lives her life. A 14-year survivor of breast cancer, Schmitt found inspiration from her battle with the disease that led her to create an original body of therapy work called “Aviana Touch Therapy.” With massage therapy training and specialized education in the treatment of people living with cancer and illness, the aim of Schmitt’s program is to bring the body and mind into balance for both physical and emotional benefit.
You named your practice Visionary, is that how you see your approach in the medical massage field?
NS: A visionary imagines what does not yet exist, but might some day. That includes living your dreams, and I envision that the healing power of touch in every stage of wellness and disease, including cancer, can help change the way people here in Central PA think about massage and bodywork, and starting a brand new story [in their lives].
In your approach to “touch” therapy massage, you make the distinction between “disease” and “dis-ease.” Why is that relevant to what you do?
NS: To me [dis-ease] represents the experience of stress in our lives; a sense of dis-comfort and dis-connect that throws us just a little (or a lot) off balance. Often we can’t put our finger on just what is wrong, but we find ourselves struggling to truly relax. If we don’t find a release for dis-ease, it can easily lead to disease, and I’m speaking from experience.
On your website, you note services that are quite different from traditional spas and other massage therapy programs, segments like “talk” therapy. Can you elaborate?
NS: My own body/mind [awareness] is exploring new frontiers, and I’m studying the latest sciences to keep up with my work. I find it wonderful to express, in the “talk” options, concepts that helped shape my work and my person – I offer a list of topics for both private mentoring and consults or group settings. I incorporate my personal life knowledge into topics that can range from meditation instruction to reducing stress to seeking the divine self, or just living life more productively.
You offer continuing education programming, too?
NS: Yes, Aviana Touch Therapy Training was the direct outgrowth of my own breast cancer experience. Through my Visionary company, Aviana (ay-vee-AHN-ah) offers national certification training for massage therapists, Life Touch Training, energy and meditation training and advanced certifications. You can find [massage] therapists throughout the country who practice my Touch Therapy.
Do you see your services as more preventive or restorative, and do you emphasize one more than the other?
NS: I see my work as both. Of course, I love the concept of using my work – both hands on and the workshops – as a prevention tool, but there is an amazing healing quality in this work, no matter the stage of wellness. I openly share my personal successes and failures in the hope that it might help another discover an easier path through the highs and lows of life. HBG
On the web, visit www.visionarybodymind.com.
