Yoga meets massage

HURON — She's received massages for years. And now, Erin Percy finds herself on the table's other side. "I love receiving them, but now, I love doing them," Percy said. With her new business, Erin Percy Therapeutic Massage, she plans on combining personal experiences with her deep yoga background to ensure clients feel both relaxed and rejuvenated. "My main focus is to treat dysfunction with muscle soreness and tightness, but I also have a deep focus on the nervous system in my yoga," said Percy, who understands how emotional and mental stress can live within one's body. Percy recently graduated from EHOVE Career Center's massage therapy program and set up her business at Open Way Yoga's Huron studio, 607 Main St. It's also where she practices yoga. While new to the entrepreneurial element, she's anything but a novice regarding holistic approaches for health treatments. "Receiving massages and also being a bodyworker, as a yoga instructor for so many years, goes hand in hand," said Percy, adding how massage can lengthen and stretch muscles. "People come to massage when they are sore and come to yoga when they are sore." She further explained: "I've had so many years working with and watching all different kinds of bodies, how they move and the different issues that clients come to me with. I've been trained to watch bodies. And, just like with my yoga teaching, I will structure each massage session to the individual. Not every two people will get the same massage." Percy explained the process. "Each client fills out an intake form so that I know exactly what they are coming here for," she said. "I pay attention to that, and I target my massages based on the information they give me. I try to create a really relaxing, safe, calm environment. When we soothe the nervous system, muscle tissue then follows." Percy can provide several different types of massages, including ashiatsu, deep tissue, trigger point therapy, myofascial release, prenatal, cupping and hot stone therapy. People can book with Percy by visiting massagebook.com and then searching for her business name. "I guarantee they are going to feel like a brand new person when leaving," Percy said. "I take what I do seriously."