Deborah Shaffett, CMT

For nearly a decade, I have worked with people experiencing pain, recovering from injury, managing stress, and navigating the ordinary demands of everyday life.

I am a CAMTC Certified Massage Therapist, and my experience includes work in private practice, clinical settings and luxury resort spas. Over the years, these settings have introduced me to people from all walks of life. Some come because they are in pain. Others are recovering from an injury or surgery. Many simply arrive carrying the physical weight of work, stress, burn-out or just everyday life. Regardless of what brings someone through the door, my approach begins in the same place: by listening.

My work is informed by a wide range of education, including clinical deep tissue and myofascial work, study in the Hendrickson Method, Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization (DNS), including Exercise Course, Part I and DNS Neurology through the Prague Rehabilitation School, as well as continuing education in Massage Therapy for Scars and Burns and Massage Therapy for Spinal Curvatures. I continue to study breathing and movement mechanics, rehabilitation principles, and other hands-on approaches.

Each of these has given me another way to look more closely at movement, anatomy, the nervous system, and the remarkable complexity of the person in front of me.

I have always loved to read and to learn. I have a lifelong interest in philosophy, psychology, history, literature, poetry and science fiction - not because they were required, but because I have always been drawn to understanding the human experience. That interest continues to shape how I think, how I listen, and ultimately how I practice bodywork.

Outside of the treatment room, you’ll often find me reading, volunteering with Napa Friends of the Library, baking, tending my garden, browsing estate sales or spending time with my dog, Atticus.