Meet Beth Tacular of Duke Park neighborhood, Durham

Today we’d like to introduce you to Beth Tacular.

Beth, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I am currently living my dream life, as an artist and massage therapist in private practice, and spending time with my wonderful kid, and my other loved ones in a community I love. It has been a winding path to get here, but I find a lot of joy and meaning in what I do. I grew up in Raleigh and have lived in North Carolina my whole life, attending UNC-Chapel Hill and NCSU for undergrad and grad school. I studied graphic design, and visual art and social change, and I have been making art my whole life. For a while, I homesteaded, hand-building a log home and permaculture subsistence garden in Chatham County, while making a living as a performing artist in the indie-folk band Bowerbirds.

After having my son in 2013. I wanted to stay home more and make more time for art, and I eventually went to school for massage and manual lymphatic drainage, because I love working with my hands, and with people, and I find bodywork endlessly fun and fascinating. I love people, but I also love alone time, so combining art-making and massage allows me to create a really well balanced day-to-day life.

My art style has evolved over the years, but lately I use a meditative, intuitive process to create intricate black and white drawings that reflect my experience living in a body, with all the glories and hardships that entails. I explore themes of gender, mothering, grief and connection to earth.

My massage style is also intuitive, incorporating evidence-based methods as well as bringing a deep presence to the moment, and a lot of attention to detail. I love doing deep-tissue as well as more relaxation-focused massage, and I also specialize in post-surgical care.

I live and work just north of downtown Durham and love walking through my neighborhood or down by my beloved Eno River.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Starting a touring band while also being a visual artist and building a homestead by hand on a limited budget was way more challenging than I had thought. My partner and the time and I worked really hard, pretty much all the time, but we loved our work. Things got harder when our son was born and had serious health issues that were complicated and hard to figure out. He has overcome those medical issues, but I didn’t sleep more than three hours at a stretch for years. I had to stop making art and playing music during that time, and just focused on child care and my big garden, where I was growing healthy organic food to feed my son.

When he finally crested the hill health-wise and I had more time to take a breath and look around, my relationship with his dad was falling apart. During the breakup I lost my home and garden, and I went through a lot of grief. I returned to my art as a means to process this, and I began making the black and white drawings I make now, small at first and eventually larger and more detailed.

I also finally had time to attend massage school, and I jumped in with a lot of excitement, but it was hard to be in school full time while working part time to support myself and my son. After working for a while, I was injured and couldn’t do art or massage for months. That was a very challenging time, but I was undaunted in my efforts to heal and get back to work at the things I love to do. When I am making art or doing bodywork, I am in a flow state and absolutely certain these are paths I am meant to follow.

Now I am healed and incredibly grateful to be back to work. I don’t work for a spa anymore, but set out on my own, which felt scary and risky in some ways, but I knew I could do it. I sell my drawings and shirts and tote bags with my art on them, and my massage practice is going really well. I’m so grateful! And I know how it feels to not be able to do the work I love, so I will never take it for granted how lucky I am.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I think my art is pretty intense, but I work in a stream of consciousness way, so I don’t have a plan for any piece before I start it. I think this means that my inner world is pretty intense, although I don’t think people would say I come across as super intense. I think that in my work as a massage therapist, I make people feel relaxed and safe, because I have an easygoing energy in that environment and care a lot about each person who comes to see me. The massage itself can be intense if someone wants a deep tissue massage with a lot of pressure, and I do take my work seriously, but I try not to take myself too seriously.

I think my art comes across as a little bit psychedelic, with a lot of figurative imagery and symbolism. I intend the work to be an offering to the divine energy running through us all, human and more than human, on this earth. And my intention for bodywork is not too far apart from that. Both feel like a spiritual undertaking for me, and both are fun, meditative, and very focused, while trying to bring some beauty into the equation wherever I can.

In my bodywork, I specialize in a flowing massage that is intuitive and detail oriented, and that intends to relax the body and mind, loosen tight muscles and restrictions, and help people return to their life feeling a lot better in their bodies. I also do manual lymphatic drainage and scar work, as well as Maya Abdominal Therapy as taught by Rosita Arvigo, all of which improve the flow of lymph, blood and energy through the body, as well as loosening the connective tissue and creating more fluidity and ease.

I think what sets my apart is that I combine an obsession with science with a very open mind and spiritual mentality.

I also recently completed my training to teach Mindful Self Compassion, a program similar to Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, but more focused on learning to treat oneself with the care with which we treat our good friends. I am excited to start teaching this to other artists who deal with a harsh inner critic, as well as other care providers who have a hard time not always putting other people’s needs first.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I tend to think that my hardships taught me deep empathy, and to not take anything for granted. I have been lucky in love, and lucky to have such an inspiring and creative son. I am lucky to have found work I love. I have almost died a few times, including contracting yellow fever from the vaccine, which apparently is a one in 200,000 chance of happening. and I ended up in the ICU with multiple organ failure. But I survived with no long lasting symptoms. That feels both unlucky and lucky at the same time.

I met my current partner Hilary the first day I joined a dating app, and I swooped them up after a thirteen year relationship, after they had only gone on one other date before me since that ended. That feels very lucky. I got injured and had to give up my art and massage for a while, which felt very unlucky at the time, but I got through it and have a better sense of my limits, as well as way more compassion for others dealing with varying levels of ability.

Life is like that, and I have no regrets.

Pricing:

• 60 minute massage: $120
• 75 minute massage: $150
• 90 minute massage: $180
• sliding scale rates available
• no upcharges for add-ons like hot stones or cupping

Contact Info:

• Website: held-bodywork.com and bethtacular.com
• Instagram: @beth.tacular and @_held_bodywork