May I introduce myself and my work:

I earned my Massage Practitioner Certificate* in 1989, from Diamond Light School of Massage in San Anselmo, California.  I have been practicing massage ever since. 

In 1999, largely due to curiosity about my clients' structural issues, I earned a Bachelor's degree in Biology, with coursework in Kinesiology, Exercise Physiology, and a number of Anatomy & Physiology classes as well.  The following year I studied Myofascial Release I with John Barnes. 

Statewide certification in California became a reality in late 2009, and I received California State Certification #13281 as Massage Therapist in September, 2010. Certification is renewed every two years.

You may wonder about the relevance of my Biology degree to massage, and I can sum it up in a few words.  The function of the various systems of the body in perfect health is taught at the undergraduate level, and that is the vision I hold for my clients.  Advanced massage courses may focus on techniques for treating a specific problem (frozen shoulder, fibromyalgia, TMJ), without requiring the student to have a strong background in the underlying anatomy and physiology.  My academic education and my training as a therapist blend, enabling me to see the condition within the context of the entire body in perfect health.

The first medicine was physical - well before the discoveries of the healing power of plant materials, shamans would use manipulation of the body to heal the body.  It is my intention to follow the physical tradition, working without tools other than local organic olive oil to modulate the friction under my hands, to help the body remember how to heal itself. 

I spent several years volunteering with physical therapy clinics in order to see what lies beyond the scope of massage.  I frequently refer clients to physical therapists, acupuncturists, osteopaths or chiropractors, modalities which form a continuum with massage.

I'm quite curious about the anatomy and function of the human body, and how to interact most effectively with it.  You will often find me rummaging about in my textbooks in order to review health projects my clients presented to me, or to better enable me to explain to them the structures & functions of the body as related to their current health project.  It is a grand day indeed when a someone strides in, announcing that the glitch that had plagued them for so long has quieted or vanished since they began having massage with me.

A few bits & pieces about the rest of my life: Along with my massage practice, I work as Project Manager for Pacific Manta Research Group, supporting the work of several researchers, and maintain a manta ray photo-identification database from 1993 to the present.  I live on my sailboat Caneel, and sail as often as the weather and calendar permit.  I enjoy travel, hiking, photography, cooking, dancing... I’m devoted to maintaining a small carbon footprint. My younger son is forever 31 due to a drunk driver, and will always be missed and loved. My older son and his wife and two daughters are a precious little family in the Bay Area, thankfully not too far away.

I am so grateful to all the steps and people leading me to the profession of massage therapy, as I can't imagine a more rewarding calling!

Karey Kumli, B.A., C.M.T.