Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristi Douglas.
Kristi, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My health and fitness journey really began after giving birth to my first child in 2004. Having gained some weight during pregnancy, I started a run routine. Initially, the run/trot was around the block. Gradually building to two blocks, half mile, mile, 3 miles and on the mileage went. Eventually completing my first half marathon.
Feeling satisfaction and inspiration at what I was able
To accomplish, I started studying to receive a personal trainer credential. After receiving my ACE personal trainer certification, I worked with athletes who had just had a child and now had running and fitness goals. While this was rewarding to see the women succeed, I felt there was a piece missing for me.
After having my second child and now venturing into Ironman training, the concepts of recovery, massage and self-care were front and center.
Here is where I entered massage school. I completed the requirements for my massage certifications, sat for and passed the state license exam. But wait, there’s more. I was introduced to a style of bodywork called Structural Integration. Structural Integration also known to some as Rolfing is a way for organizing the body in relationship to gravity. What does that mean? This style of bodywork typically is received in what’s called the 10-Series. 10 sessions, 90 minutes each that have specific goals and procedures through manual therapy to find more balance in the body that results in less pain (if not full resolution), better posture and an ability to more efficiently.
Today I work with athletes and non-athletes who are dealing with issues of pain that are getting in the way of performing optimally in their sport or enjoying doing their daily activities. From Ironman athletes of all ages to folks who want to walk their dog around the block with less pain.
Education is always continual. Currently, I’m in my 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training with the intention of introducing yoga as another means to find therapeutic benefit in the body.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has been fairly smooth in that I am a student of life. The sector of health and wellness is so great because it is ever changing and evolving. Science is now supporting and validating theories that manual therapists have suspected and felt in the body for centuries.
I follow my interests in personal training to massage, Structural Integration and now yoga with the intention of exploring many different ways to assist and support clients in achieving performance and well-being goals. Who doesn’t want to move with more ease and grace and be more efficient?
Please tell us about San Diego Athlete Massage.
San Diego Athlete Massage is a therapeutic massage and bodywork company the specializing in endurance athletes. It’s funny, I do receive email and calls asking if I work with “non-athletes” and of course, I do!
What I’m known for a and proud of is the ability to work with a client to get them out of pain and back into the activities they love! I see runners who are very sad because they have had chronic calf issues that have sides lined them from training and racing. One client had chronic back pain and could not stand for more than a few minutes due to her scoliosis. After just a few sessions, she was able to go about her day without experiencing chronic pain and fatigue from back pain. That scoliosis client is probably the client I’m most proud to have worked with. She came in with no hope that she could ever live with less pain. Together we worked to show her otherwise!
What’s sets me apart is that my approach is the whole body. As someone who works with athletes, I offer sports massage but not is my focus. Offer Structural Integration to help clients feel better, more balances and more efficient sets me apart. The work I do also lasts longer than a massage. While a massage feels amazing during the session, the effects can wain in the hours after or the next day. When balance is found in the body, that sense of ease last days if not weeks. Another thing that sets me apart is that I give clients the tools and knowledge to continue working on themselves outside the session. Self-care through foam rolling or the use of other tools. Yoga postures will soon to add to this self-care regime if the clients are interested.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
In relation to what I do now, my favorite childhood memory is running my first 10k race at age ten. The race ran over the Coronado Bridge and through the streets of San Diego. What’s so great about this memory is that my best friend and I were so slow, the course had been reopened and we couldn’t find our way to the finish. We ran this way and that way eventually making it back to our families. I think we ran way more than 6.2 miles that day. We finished with smiles and cheers and sparked a lifelong passion for movement and fitness.
Pricing:
- $90/60 minutes
- $120/90 min.
Contact Info:
- Address: 503 N Highway 101, Suite D & E Solana Beach, CA
- Website: Sandiegoathletemassage.com
- Phone: (619) 693-8774
- Email: kristi@sandiegoathketemassage.com
- Instagram: @sandiegoathletemassage
- Facebook: Sandiegoathletemassage
Image Credit:
Photo credit for the ones with blue sunglasses working at an event @mermaidwranglerphotography
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