State of Oregon Board of Massage Therapists

Iris Waterlin - License # 21190

Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals #1090997

(Formal) Education

Kinesiology Taping Practitioner FMT Basic - Rocktape

Manual Lymph Drainage Vodder Technique - Academy of Lymphatic Studies

Functional Movement Screen FMS 1 - FMS

Cupping and Gua Sha - All One Acupunture

East West College of the Healing Arts

California Healing Arts College

Witnessing a client connect with, recognize and befriend their body makes my heart sing.

My journey to offering bodywork started in 1993 and has been informed by not only the education I have sought, but also the many jobs I have performed, from being stuck at a computer for my entire workday to standing behind a counter and making fancy coffee or sandwiches. I have worked as a medical assistant, a surgical assistant in several women’s health care clinics, and a phlebotomist. I scheduled and coordinated surgeries and chemotherapy as the new patient coordinator for patients who just found out they have a cancer diagnosis. I was the research coordinator at Downtown Gynecology for a pilot study investigating Clostridium sordellii and Clostridium perfringens presence among women in the US. I have worked hours on my feet in the restaurant industry both front of house and back of house, buffed floors as a janitor, and even operated a forklift for a few years. All of these varying experiences inform the way I view bodies, and the patterns that are caused by the work we often spend most of our waking lives performing.

Formal education and licensing have their place in creating a space for people seeking help to find some framework and context for the care they want. And at the same time I want to acknowledge that most of what makes me the unique weirdo that some of you have found help from is just regular life stuff and paying attention… And asking a lot of questions. When I take classes, I find teachers so often limited by covering the curriculum that what I leave with is being mostly told to stop asking questions and stay on track. I am not a ‘stay in the lines’ kind of provider.

I absolutely believe in a therapeutic relationship and making and keeping clear boundaries. But I also know they need to be permeable—that the the power differential of ‘expert’ and ‘customer' or ‘patient’ gives too much weight to the provider. Physical medicine is a practice like all medicine. And we are in a partnership. Science is about asking questions! It’s about being humble and knowing just how much we don’t know and then getting curious. To be effective we need to document and measure. And we need to TRY things out! So often I think we sell our time and our selves to other things: to our jobs, to our obligations. We might think we need the answer and to get something fixed, but really we need perspective: for a helper or a facilitator to clear something that has been blocking our view, and to help us bring us back to ourselves. To incorporate the parts of us that are already there, waiting to be embodied.

I love being there for that moment. Big or small. Like a baby’s first wobbly steps, or someone realizing they just need to sleep in once a week, and that the pressure to do something ‘fun and epic’ is often someone trying to sell us something, when what we really need is some time for ourselves.

I’m not here to sell you something. I’m here for the front row seat of watching you learn to care about yourself the way you care for and show up for other folks. I want to teach you to notice the tides of your body so you can show up for yourself in those times of ebbs and flows. Because nothing is harder for me than not being able to show up for someone when they are in pain and need help. When someone texts me late at night to say ‘my back went out’ or ‘I can’t turn my head’ or ‘there is a shooting pain down my leg,’ I want to say, ‘I’ll be right there, don’t worry, help is on the way!’ But I’m just one person. So I invite you to take the time to learn with me. We can make a tide table for your body and give you some tools so you feel supported and prepared for your journey.