A wholistic approach to lymphatic health.
When any part of the lymph system becomes overloaded with toxins, the system stagnates, creating a toxic, oxygen-deprived environment conducive to degeneration and disease over time. This can initially be experienced as tenderness, swelling, fatigue and low immune response. If you are experiencing any of these, I invite you to come in for a consult.
We can support the lymph system from a number of approaches. Manual lymphatic therapy encourages toxins to move through the system. By taking a wide-angled look at lifestyle and dietary patterns, we’re able to address the factors that lead to systemic congestion, so that you can enjoy a better overall sense of well-being.
Bodywork . Diet . Lifestyle
LYMPHATIC MASSAGE
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MYOFASCIAL RELEASE
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AYURVEDIC SUPPORT
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DIET & LIFESTYLE CONSULTATION
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LYMPHATIC MASSAGE • MYOFASCIAL RELEASE • AYURVEDIC SUPPORT • DIET & LIFESTYLE CONSULTATION •
Services
First session? Download bodywork waiver
Ayurveda Self-Care & Support
Simple, individualized Ayurvedic therapies to support well-being.
Diet & lifestyle recommendations
Seasonal self-care practices
Support for rest, digestion, and resilience
Personalized support for long-term
Manual Lymphatic Drainage
Lymphatic Drainage is a gentle massage which focuses on moving the fluid layer of the body, using an Ayurvedic lymphatic massage oil.
Stimulates and supports detox
Encourages healthy immune function
Reduces swelling, congestion and inflammation
Promotes relaxation and recovery from injury and surgery
Calming and clarifying to the mind and nervous system
Ready to Schedule?
Myofascial Release
Slow, non-force, long-held releases unwind gripping patterns in the connective tissue caused by strain, overuse, trauma or injury.
Reduces acute and chronic pain patterns and scar tissue
Restores flow of lymph, nerve and circulatory systems throughout the body
Restores range of motion
Deeply relaxing and gentle
Supports healing and recovery from surgery
Most new clients begin with a 75-minute bodywork session. Sessions are individualized and may incorporate manual lymphatic drainage, Myofascial Release, and Ayurvedic bodywork according to your needs. Follow-up consultations and extended bodywork sessions are available for returning clients.
Learn more about the techniques…
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Manual lymphatic massage is directed at moving the fluid layer of the body. Like water, it is both gentle and rhythmic, but results in deep relaxation while triggering a powerful detox of the system. Many clients feel calmed by the treatment, and express a renewed sense of vitality and clarity.
Vodder-based manual lymphatic drainage technique is designed to restore a congested lymphatic system to its natural flow. Deeply relaxing, this gentle but powerful modality exercises the small atrophied muscles of the lymph system. It stimulates a detoxification as it re-establishes the free flow of lymph throughout the body, which allows the body to restore and maintain health and balance in its systems. Additional use of Lymphstar sound and light vibrational technologies break up lymphatic congestion at the molecular level, optimizing results of manual therapy.
Due to the detoxifying/restorative nature of this modality, lymphatic therapy is a powerful adjunct to seasonal cleanses and detox protocol. Used before or after most surgeries, it improves hastens healing and recovery. Some choose Lymphatic Drainage as their massage of choice because it is relaxing as well as cleansing.
Lymphatic Drainage was pioneered in Austria by Emil Vodder in the 1930s, while working to clear severe sinus congestion with his patients. It developed into a whole-body therapy which stimulated lymphatic action (our natural detox system), thereby increasing the body’s restorative and healing capacity. This therapy drains stagnant lymph and restores it to function on its own. Today, it is the fourth most recommended therapy by European doctors for both preventative and post-surgical healing.
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Myofascial Release is an effective hands-on technique that involves applying gentle sustained pressure into connective tissue restrictions to eliminate pain and restore range of motion. This technique is gentle and has many facets as it is designed to address the effects of trauma in the body. Trauma (physical and/or emotional), inflammatory responses, and surgical procedures create myofascial restrictions.
I have been studying Myofascial Release with Dr. John Barnes since 2010. Myofascial Release is a natural complement to Manual Lymphatic Drainage. Fascia is a 3-dimensional webbing that runs throughout the body, sheathing around muscle, tendon, bone, even cells.
When the fascia is healthy, it is like a wet loofah, porous and pliable, with fluid easily moving throughout the various layers and body systems. Imagine that running through these porous spaces are also your nerve, lymph, and blood capillaries. When the fascia has been traumatized, it is like a loofah sponge that has been wrung out and dried in a twisted, tight position. Not only does this effect our nervous system, contributing to pain patterns in the body, but it also impedes circulatory and lymphatic flow.
The added benefit of this technique offers significant opening to the fluid layer of the body, and also reveals and alleviates many long-standing pain patterns related to trauma and congestion in the body.
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Cupping Therapy is an ancient form of medicine in which a local suction is created on the skin to promote blood flow and healing.
Through either heat or suction, the skin is gently drawn upwards by creating a vacuum in a cup over the target area of the skin. The cup stays in place for five to fifteen minutes. It is done to help treat pain, deep scar tissue in the muscle and connective tissue, muscle knots, and swelling.
Cupping therapy decompresses connective tissue and draws stagnant blood and toxins to the surface so that they can be moved out of the lymphatic system. Used in various places on the body, it dramatically reduces pressure in the connective tissue, as well as improves circulation. Glass cupping on the face helps to de-congest the lymph, thereby reducing toxins and puffiness that contribute to aging. When applied to the abdomen, cupping helps to stimulate digestion and circulation and lymphatic flow in the intestines and internal organs, thereby assisting with cleanses and detoxes.
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Use of the LET LymphStar technology is offered during treatments. The LymphStar LET wands are sonar-vibrational devices which enhance the effects of manual lymphatic drainage by breaking apart random molecular bonds formed by toxins in the lymph nodes. It is painless and subtle. When used it helps to stimulate microcirculation and the lymph nodes to optimize manual treatments. It is painless and used briefly before manual work on various sections of the body.
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Ayurveda is a traditional system of medicine from India, that emphasizes individualized care, daily routines, seasonal practices, and gentle therapies that support the body’s natural capacity for healing. Depending on your needs, sessions may incorporate Ayurvedic treatments and self-care recommendations to extend the benefit of bodywork between visits.
Commonly used therapies include:
Marma point therapy
Garshana (traditional dry brushing)
Herbal oil applications
Ear oiling
Seasonal self-care practices
Personalized home care recommendations.
Client Resources
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Body brushing can be a useful tool to assist in lymphatic drainage. The lymphatic system is an integral component of the immune system, filtering the blood of all cellular waste. When healthy, it absorbs and discharges unwanted body fat, excess fluids, toxins, bacteria, viruses, hormones and assists in healing challenges related to all of the body’s systems.
Stimulate lymphatic & immune function
Calm the nervous system
Improve digestion and kidney function
Detoxify & tone skin
Increase circulation
Reduce cellulite
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Meet your therapist
Alicia Morris Soto, AHC, CMT
Alicia Morris Soto began her studies in bodywork at Kali Institute in 2003. Guided by her interest in yoga, she went on to study Thai Yoga Massage with Saul David Raye. In 2008, however, a desire to support friends with acute Lyme Disease symptoms directed her to focus on lymphatic drainage massage.
“Early in my practice, I noticed a palpable link between fluid stagnation and gripping patterns in the body which inspired me to study in Myofascial Release with John F. Barnes to improve quality and outcomes of treatment. However, in my research on how to maintain lymphatic health, I was inspired by the rich discussion that Ayurveda (traditional Indian medicine) offers about the fluid layer of the body, which Western medicine was barely beginning to acknowledge and language. Ayurveda is as vast as it is simple, and I’m so grateful that this wondrous, slow-moving, upstream body system washed me up on its shore.”
Alicia graduated from Mount Madonna Institute as a certified Ayurvedic Health Counselor in 2018. Since 2009, she has offered gentle detox and restorative body treatments, as well as Ayurvedic lifestyle support, in her practice at Ojai Lymphatic Therapy.
“Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.”
– Lao Tze