Extended bodywork and facilitated reflection for people seeking deeper listening and integration.
Animistic Bodywork is a longer, intentionally structured session that combines hands-on bodywork with guided, non-directive reflection. It’s designed for people who sense that physical tension, stress patterns, or recurring experiences are connected to how their body, emotions, and inner narratives are organized—and who want a grounded, practical way to explore that through the body.
This work is not therapy, spiritual guidance, or divination. It is a collaborative, body-centered process that supports awareness, regulation, and meaning-making at your own pace.
This is a longer appointment.
For best depth of work, choose the Initial Session.
This offering is intentionally spacious and focused.
This is a good fit if you’re looking for:
This may not be a fit if you’re looking for:
The Shape of the Process
The session begins in a separate, seated space. We share tea and take time to clarify what you’re interested in exploring, what feels supportive, and how we want to move through the bodywork together.
This portion of the session is relational and non-directive. My role is not to analyze, advise, or interpret, but to help facilitate your own process of reflection and intention-setting.
Symbolic tools such as tarot or oracle cards, runes, the I Ching, imagery, or simple prompts may be used as neutral structures for attention and conversation. These tools are not used for divination, prediction, or guidance. Nothing needs to be believed in, and nothing is required.
The purpose of this time is to create a clear, consensual container of safety and intention before moving into hands-on work.
The bodywork portion of the session unfolds over at least 90 minutes within the agreements established during the initial, seated conversation. These agreements are shaped by your health history, personal background, and what you’ve shared about what you’re interested in exploring.
Touch is responsive and adaptive rather than prescriptive. The work is guided by tissue feedback, breath, comfort, and nervous system regulation, and remains grounded in the scope of therapeutic massage. Pressure, pacing, and focus areas are adjusted collaboratively throughout the session.
During the bodywork, you’re welcome to speak as much or as little as feels supportive. My role is intentionally limited: I may acknowledge what you share, respond to bodywork-related questions, or ask brief clarifying questions when helpful. I do not continue or steer conversation about the themes you’re exploring. This restraint is intentional and designed to support your own internal process rather than introducing interpretation, advice, or direction.
Silence is respected as part of the work. The aim is to provide enough containment for you to navigate your own experience while remaining supported, present, and regulated.
The integration portion of the session mirrors the relational tone of the opening conversation, with attention turned toward what arose during the bodywork.
This time offers a grounded space to reflect on sensations, impressions, or shifts you noticed—without pressure to arrive at conclusions or explanations. We may revisit elements from the initial portion of the session, such as symbolic tools or prompts used earlier, to see whether new perspectives or insights emerge in light of the bodywork.
Tea is offered again, and pacing is unhurried. The focus is on helping you re-orient, consolidate what you experienced, and transition back into the wider world with a sense of clarity and containment.
If appropriate, we may also articulate an intention for future sessions—whether that involves continued integrative work, a period of body-focused sessions, or simply allowing time for integration.
Pricing is time-based rather than technique-based to allow the session to unfold responsively.
This initial session establishes the container and orientation for the work. Many clients choose to continue with ongoing bodywork sessions afterward to build on what was uncovered here.
Animistic practices are not about belief or worship. In this context, animism refers to cultivating relationship—with the body, with sensation, with the inner landscape of emotion and thought, and with the world around us.
This work is centered around narrative: how stories arise from the interplay of bodily sensation, emotion, thought, and experience. Rather than trying to fix or replace these stories, the work invites curiosity about how they’re formed and how they live in the body.
Influences for this approach include animistic worldviews, Taoist and Zen perspectives, and martial arts training—not as doctrines, but as frameworks for attention, presence, and relational awareness.
Wild Hart Massage is grounded in trauma-aware, inclusive practice.
Animistic Bodywork is not psychological therapy, mental health treatment, religious instruction, or spiritual guidance, and does not replace any of these services. The work is non-directive and client-led. You remain the primary interpreter of your experience at all times.
You are always in control of the session. Pressure, positioning, pacing, and the balance of conversation and silence are adjusted collaboratively. You may pause, redirect, or stop the session at any point.
If you are seeking additional support outside of this work, we are happy to provide referrals to mental health and spiritual providers.
Wild Hart Massage is a Portland-based therapeutic massage practice offering thoughtful, ethical, body-centered care.
This work is for people who want sessions to feel grounded, intentional, and genuinely supportive—not rushed or transactional. The studio environment is calm, professional, and designed to support safety, clarity, and ease.
If you’re looking for extended bodywork with space for reflection, orientation, and integration, Animistic Bodywork is a strong place to begin.
You’ll be redirected to our secure scheduling platform to complete your booking.
Call or text 503-300-6383 if you have any questions.