Help Annina Launch Her Private Practice in Asheville!

How do you feel in your body today?

This is the question I ask each person who comes to me for massage therapy. The answers are as different as the individuals I serve, but together, there are points of connection, pain points, or tender places weaved together by fascia, the connective tissue in our bodies. Following these threads have helped me understand the value of my work for my community of West Asheville.

In the US, 21% of us - 51.6 million people - suffer from chronic pain. This looks and feels different in different bodies - from hip, shoulder and neck pain, to autoimmune and chronic pain conditions like fibromyalgia. Wanting to learn more about bodies (including my own aches and pains), and how we work, move and live well sent me to massage school in Helsinki, Finland, where I am from. There, I studied shiatsu, where I learned that everything - body and mind - is connected. Healing modalities work best from a holistic understanding, treating the whole individual through bodywork, nutrition and spiritual practices. Studying massage therapy opened me to the power of touch, and the difference it can make in people’s lives who are suffering from chronic pain. It is a gift to be able to give relief in this way, and I discovered I have a calling to this work.

In 2018, I moved to Asheville, NC with my son Teo, where I continued my study of massage at the WNC School of Massage, and in 2022 received my diploma with a certificate in Clinical Neuromuscular Therapy. Currently, in my work at a local spa, I witness the immediate positive effects and long term benefits of myofascial release and neuromuscular therapy on the clients I treat.

What the Fascia?!

My desire is to expand my reach out into the community by establishing a private practice, What the Fascia?! In this community I’ve grown to know and love for the past 6 years, there are many who carry the weight of working through pain to support themselves and those they love, who need access to the kind of therapy I provide. Just as the body and mind are not separate, it makes holistic sense for me to figure out how to use my gifts to support the community and seek sustainability in this work, even as rents and living expenses rise. This fundraiser is to secure rent and limited childcare for the summer months, while balancing my current work at the spa with starting my own business, allowing increased capacity, and the ability to maintain a livelihood as a recently divorced single mom. My ultimate goal is to build an inclusive (pain-centered/pain-focused) practice that reflects me and the unique healing I bring to the landscape of massage therapy in Asheville.