Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Bordeau.
Stephanie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
For as long as I can remember, I have always been passionate about health and wellness, which led me to become a health educator, receiving a Master’s in Public Health. When I finished graduate school, I worked on a large maternal and child family health grant, providing prenatal and childbirth education to a very large and impoverished area in Illinois. I loved teaching women about their bodies and providing them with tools to have a healthy pregnancy.
Looking back, I can see that my passion for working with women began then. When I moved from Illinois to Cary, NC back in 2004, I was excited for my new role as a behaviorist in a medical communications company. I was able to use all my knowledge of health behavior theory and create communication material to help educate patients on a mass scale. It was at that time that I also stepped into my first yoga studio, heard my first OM, and knew I was home. I found a practice that could calm me like no other and I fell in love with yoga, and that was the beginning of the spiritual healing path I’m on today.
After several years of creating health communication material for patients, I switched companies and began working directly with healthcare providers to create medical education in the field of gastroenterology. I was fascinated with the gut, the brain-gut connection, and the absolute importance of gut health to our overall wellness. Even though my work was academically stimulating, my connection to helping people and knowing that my work was actually reaching those that the work was intended for was being lost. And, here I come back to my yoga practice. It was dedicated and devotional and the deeper I grew in my spiritual path, the more detached I became from corporate work.
I felt unsettled and my anxiety was high, knowing that I was not being true to myself and using my skills to help others improve their quality of life through health and wellness education. In 2013, after pain-staking self-reflection and decision making, I quit my lucrative corporate career and headed to Florida for my yoga teacher training immersion program and really leaned into my passion.
When I returned from my yoga teacher training, I began teaching yoga full time and really felt connected and knew I was honoring who I was and the work I was meant to do. I opened a yoga studio, which was short-lived, but otherwise a good experience full of valuable lessons. When I let the studio go, I found out I was pregnant a week later which was such a welcomed blessing! I loved loved loved the experience of being pregnant and taught yoga throughout my entire pregnancy. I was very drawn to the prenatal experience and knew this was a true passion of mine.
I was not sure how my work would look postpartum – would I teach prenatal yoga, become a doula, be an educator? I didn’t really know my next steps in my work, so I focused on being the best SAHM I could be. I had the absolute privilege to be able to stay home with my son full time, teaching yoga, and creating a very nurturing environment for his development for three years. This seems like an important place to mention that I had a challenging labor experience that resulted in an emergency C-section.
My postpartum recovery was intense and complicated, which required (and still requires) dedicated bodywork to keep scar tissue at bay and for my body to function properly. This experience sparked the flame to expand my offerings to help women with postpartum care and dive deep into womb healing, thus expanding my gifts into massage and bodywork.
Massage therapy was the perfect way for me to combine all my knowledge of how the body works from both an academic and energetic level as well as use my empathic skills in a healthy way. When I started massage school, I felt so alive and connected to myself in such a joyful way. So passionate and full of life with the work I was doing because I was making a difference. I could see the immediate impact on someone’s quality of life, making deep and personal connections with others and being witness to healing breakthroughs. Just like when I heard my first OM and felt at home, placing my hands on a human body with healing intentions felt like home to me.
Knowing that I wanted to work with women’s health, the moment I discovered The Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy®, there was no question this was the path for me. The work was so in line with my spiritual path that I had already established through my yoga practice, was mechanically/anatomically sound, and rooted deeply in shamanic healing practices. The wisdom of this work is incredibly healing and can be used beyond women’s pelvic health and has become the base of my bodywork practice.
The core, your life center, the most venerable place in your body holds many stories and to be able to work in this sacred space is a blessing that I am grateful for.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Oh, definitely not. I have definitely had bumps in the road and many steps forward two steps back moments. One of my biggest obstacles was adjusting to being back in school full time after being out of school for nearly 20 years. I had also been staying home with our son for the last three years as well, so the new routine, new ways of thinking and learning was a huge adjustment for myself and the family.
Physically, I had a really tough time in massage school. I had an old injury flare up with a vengeance that took nearly three years to heal from. I had lost all external hip rotation and really struggled to walk and maneuver daily life activities without being in pain. I remember praying before my clinic hours to anyone who would listen out there in the ethers to take my pain away while I helped others with their pain. It worked and I persevered through school with great pride.
I worked diligently to rehab my hip through regular and consistent bodywork and rebuilt my yoga asana practice from the ground up. It was during this healing journey that I created a new, kinder, gentler approach to caring for my body. It has been a process, a daily practice filled with many tears of pain and joy. I have an amazing team of healers that I am incredibly grateful for and continue to work with regularly.
As you know, we’re big fans of Steph Bordeau Massage. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
As a person with a nurturing and intuitive spirit, becoming a massage therapist was a natural progression in my journey.
I have experienced the deep, profound healing that occurs through regular bodywork and wanted to be able to share this incredible healing gift with others. I am a lifelong student of yoga and attribute my intuitive touch to years of work towards cultivating a deep awareness of Self. My approach to massage and bodywork is to create a healing environment that is safe and nurturing, calming to the nervous system, and nonjudgmental, with intentions to allow pain to release from the body, mind, and spirit.
I am a 2018 Graduate from Gwinnett College graduating Summa Cum Laude. While in school, I developed a deep connection with abdominal work and realized the healing power our core holds. Post-graduation, I embarked on my journey to become an Arvigo® practitioner and am very passionate about the beauty of this work and infusing the wisdom of these teachings into almost every bodywork session.
My approach to massage and bodywork is to blend a variety of modalities to create a healing experience that is unique to that individual client. No session is ever the same. It is important to me to address the physical body as well as the energetic body, understanding that to touch the surface is to stir the depths. I am compassionate and empathetic to individual and collective trauma and approach the body with respect and kindness.
I have also been a certified yoga instructor since 2013 and love sharing the incredibly healing practices of yoga. I offer semi-private and private sessions tailored to individuals’ therapeutic needs. Just like my massage offerings, classes are infused with other healing modalities such as breathwork, cupping, sound healing, energy clearing, and aromatherapy.
My massage and bodywork sessions are somatic in nature and focused on deep healing. As I look forward and grow in my career, I have inspirations and visions of offering multi-day healing retreats that will allow participants to cultivate a deep sense of awareness and personal connection that will nurture their own healing journey on a profound level.
What makes you happy?
Being a Mom makes me happy. It is the greatest joy in my life and the deepest love I have ever experienced. Being a Mom keeps me grounded in my self-care practices so that I can maintain balance and be a present, healthy parent. I have been dedicated to cultivating a balanced life over the last decade and when I am in balance, I feel happy. I am in a flow state where everything seems to align and work out beautifully. Life feels light and I feel at ease.
Cultivating a balanced life through the toolbox of self-care practices I have built, as well as having the intuitive wisdom to honor where I’m at, at the moment, and what I need for the day has provided me with a solid foundation and the skills to manage my body and regulate my emotions in a healthy way – which brings me abundant joy. It fills my heart, even more, to be able to infuse these skills into my child’s life and witness them using different skills unprompted for their own emotional regulation.
Being at the ocean also makes me happy. The pure vastness of the ocean and soaking in all the healing energy she has to offer soothes my soul like no other. The ocean is a great listener and I go as often as I can. I also love a great hike and being outside in nature. I feel grounded when I am in nature and when I feel grounded, I feel happy.
Pricing:
- 60-minute session: $95
- 90-minute session: $135
- 120-minute session: $180
Contact Info:
- Email: stephbordeaumassage@gmail.com
- Website: www.stephbordeaumassage.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/stephbordeaumassage/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/Steph-Bordeau-Massage-829996797381678
