The journey, passion and purpose of massage therapist and bodyworker Yuki

Yuki Person

Hi Yuki, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory. 
Hi there, my name is Yuki. If you are unfamiliar with Japanese names, it’s pronounced You-key. I have been a massage therapist/bodyworker in California for over twenty years. I grew up in a multi-cultural home with a Japanese mother and Caucasian military father in Oahu, Hawaii, and practiced Buddhism from childhood, focused on chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

I remember my mother always working hard to build her business selling Japanese tour packages. Looking back, I realized that, even when she came home late and tired, she always made time for self-care, making sure to remove her make-up, moisturize her face, stretching, asking me to step on her back (ashiatsu,) or massage her achy areas. I remember a handful of times when I was little she would wash my face when I fell asleep on the couch or practice acupuncture on me with an acupuncture kit she received from a Japanese friend. As long as I can remember, she always had a caring spirit and still does to this day. I feel that is where my journey of compassion, caring for others, and the love of meeting and connecting to people started.

I can honestly say that I’ve been in the customer service industry for over thirty-five years, beginning as a babysitter at age ten. I also attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa and received a bachelor’s degree in international business. One thing that stood out was a class assignment to write my own obituary in my first semester of English class. I know what you are thinking, but hear me out: What do you write about yourself at age eighteen when you haven’t even lived much of a life yet? What I remember most from my paper was that I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. I didn’t know how, when, or where.

I feel I’m doing that now through my massage therapy/bodywork practice. I say “practice” because I’m constantly learning and growing as a person. After graduating from UH, I moved to Northern California with no job and little money. I stayed with friends and used my Buddhist practice to connect to my dream to help others and for something wonderful to come my way. I was often asked, “Why did you move away from Hawaii, the most beautiful place in the world?” Well, first off, there were no job opportunities at that time unless you wanted to work in the tourist industry. I had worked for Japanese tour companies during my high school and college years, and it just wasn’t for me.

A few years in Northern California, I tried my hand at administrative work for an international company. It was a great experience, and I met a lot of wonderful people, but it was not fulfilling or rewarding to my heart and soul. I missed the face-to-face, heart-to-heart connections and conversations. After a few more years of searching for my life’s passion and purpose, a family member suggested I go into massage therapy because I loved meeting people and always massaged my family when they complained of pain or stress.

In 2004, I attended a small school in Oakland, the McKinnon Institute of Massage, taking one or two classes at a time. After taking all their classes, I was hooked. Massage therapy was what I was looking for to align with my life’s passion and purpose. After massage school, I branched out on my own, building my clientele. I rented space in a salon and spa for a short period and marketed myself through advertisements, networking groups, and chambers. After dealing with my own breast cancer scare after massage school, I worked for five years with a nonprofit cancer organization in Pleasanton, providing massage therapy services for those going through cancer treatments.

Working with cancer patients was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I remember a first-time cancer client started to cry when I walked into the room, even before starting the massage. She explained that she was so happy someone was not afraid to touch or massage her. That just broke my heart. Human touch is so powerful—it can lower the nervous system, bring back circulation, and so on. I was raised In Hawaii, sharing the aloha spirit (a kind and friendly attitude) and with a Buddhist practice to show compassion, empathy, and respect for others, no matter their situation, and that’s what I did with this client and what I do with all my clients.

I then rented a room for ten years, building my massage business within a friend’s wellness center in Danville. But I wanted to be closer to family and loved the diversity of Los Angeles, so I closed my massage practice and moved to Los Angeles in 2016. Leaving my friends, clients, life, and the business I had built was one of the scariest and most challenging periods of my life.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Starting over in a new city with no job or clientele was tough. I went through depression and disconnection in life, but again chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo to help me connect to my purpose and passion. I worked for what was then a small massage franchise for a few years. Let’s just say it was an experience, and I learned a lot. It showed me what health and wellness are and are not and what I actually wanted for myself: my purpose in life as a massage therapist/bodyworker. You may be asking yourself, “What is the difference between a massage therapist and a bodyworker?” Well, for me, I not only provide massage therapy services but also other bodywork services such as myofascial release and lymphatic facial, which does not include oils or lotions.

Another major obstacle happened in 2020, about six months into the pandemic when a fall left me with a broken ring finger in the palm area—so it was considered a broken hand—and two sprained fingers. This was the first time I ever broke a bone. My hands and feet are my tools for my line of work, so you can imagine what I was going through mentally and emotionally. My self-esteem and confidence were shattered for nine months while going through occupational therapy. I was so afraid of working for someone else and possibly feeling the stress of my injuries with back-to-back clients with little time for rest. But it was also a blessing in disguise, as it showed some other medical conditions that I urgently needed to take care of. While I was recuperating, I chanted for what I really wanted in life: to muster the courage, wisdom, and hope to rebuild my solo massage therapy/bodywork business in Los Angeles and to continue to make a difference in people’s lives. Starting with no clientele, I marketed myself through a health and wellness website and have been at Sherman Oaks Health Associates as a massage therapist/bodyworker for almost two and a half years. So far, so good. My clients have been wonderful and loyal, and I am so grateful for being a part of their self-care journey.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am constantly learning, growing, and evolving personally and professionally through a variety of bodywork classes, and my Buddhist, meditation, and breathwork practice. I provide a variety of massage styles/modalities, the most popular being therapeutic massage, a blend of Swedish, deep tissue, stretching, acupressure, and energy work. Everyone’s body is made differently as is the pressure they are wanting, so my massage therapy services are customized to the client’s needs. My saying is, It’s not “one massage style fits all.” I also say it’s NOT a cookie-cutter massage. I definitely don’t do a foo-foo, light, feathering type of massage like some places offer. I have been told by many clients and friends that I’m tiny but mighty (don’t judge a book by its cover). Sometimes, I don’t even know my own strength.

I also provide a side-lying pregnancy massage at the twelve-week stage of pregnancy. I may not have experienced pregnancy, but I love that I can be a part of a woman’s pregnancy journey. One of my former clients, whom I massaged almost every week during her last two trimesters of pregnancy when I worked at the massage franchise over three years ago, tracked me down at my current location and wanted to thank me for her pregnancy massages and also booked a massage with me. On her appointment day, she brought me flowers to show her appreciation and commented that her three-year-old daughter is so smart, “probably due to vitamins and massages by Yuki.” Stories like that mean the world to me.

I also do a lymphatic facial using the jade or terahertz roller with no facial products, ending with ears and scalp massage and neck acupressure points to help open the lymphatic system and pathways of the face, neck, and head. Results vary per person, but many clients report feeling more relaxed, open, and light in the face area after this treatment.

In Los Angeles, over four years ago, my massage practice took a leap forward when I completed Myofascial Release (MFR) classes at the Hands-on Healing Institute in Tujunga from one of the most passionate, compassionate, and knowledgeable instructors I have ever met, Frances Nicolais. She taught me what full mind-body connection really means in a person’s healing journey of bodywork. Myofascial Release is a type of bodywork that needs more of a grip than a glide and requires no lotion or oils unless the skin is super dry. It’s not a full-body session but more body-specific, and if you can really tune out the mental chatter and surrender body control, it can be a full-body experience. Fascia, or connective tissue, surrounds everything in our body: bones, cells, arteries, nerves, muscles, you name it. Our body is like a memory storage bank—it stores everything from the time we are born till the present moment, the good, the bad, and the ugly; physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, as well as every bump, bruise, scar, blocked lymphatic or circulatory pathways, blocked chi or energy, and so on. We store happy moments in our bodies as well, but for most people, we focus on our pain or discomfort. Through my own experience and observation, fascia is like an interconnective webbing of energy. Since everyone’s body and life history are different, we don’t know how old a fascia line is, how long it is, or where it begins or ends.

A former client, who has since moved back to the East Coast, tried myofascial release for the first time with me and continued with more treatments thereafter. He was experiencing severe pain and anxiety, which prevented him from living a healthy and happy life. He remembered being paddled on his right gluteus muscles (buttocks) during a fraternity initiation ritual over twenty years earlier, and that pain just radiated through mainly the right side of his body but also affected his whole body. Can you imagine being in pain for that long? That incident left an imprint and lasting impression on his body, creating a new painful blueprint for his body’s memory storage bank. He went to every doctor you can think of and took every X-ray and test, but every result came back normal. Every medical professional thought he was crazy or making up stories. After his first MFR treatment with me, he felt much lighter, in less pain, and walked away a lot more hopeful.

We live in a world where we are constantly on the go and continuously thinking about something in every given moment. We rush to go to our massage appointment to relax, but when we lay on the massage table, we can’t stop thinking about things or look away from our cellphones, nor do we always have time for self-care. In order to take care of others, shouldn’t we take care of ourselves first? At least, that’s what I remember from the flight attendants’ safety instruction before taking off regarding oxygen masks. I am a person who will not sugarcoat anything, take away someone’s free will, or waste a person’s time or money, but I will show you compassion and empathy and find the best possible solution for your bodywork needs.

My passion and purpose in life is mind-body connection through massage therapy and bodywork. Think of me as a bridge, vessel, guide, tool, or a facilitator (whatever noun resonates with you), and helping you work with your body, not just on your body, to create a connective, understanding, and healthy relationship with the help of guided meditation through music and breathwork, for your healing journey. I truly hope people don’t think of massage therapy or bodywork as a luxury but instead a necessity and investment in their long-term health and happiness.

By Shakti Gawain – “Our bodies communicate to us clearly and specifically, if we are willing to listen to them.” My question to you is: Are you ready to connect and listen?

What do you like and dislike about the city?
Growing up in Hawaii, I thought Hawaii was a melting pot, but Los Angeles is a lot more diverse and cultural. A lot more things to do, see, and experience. That’s what I like about the Los Angeles area. My least favorite thing about Los Angeles—well, like most people, traffic is at the top of my list. However, I’ve learned from massage therapy and bodywork that, even in bumper-to-bumper traffic, there are ways I can relax and not be overwhelmed by tension.