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Adele Lafever, LMT

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United States
Tacoma, WA
Adele Lafever, LMT

Massage Educator
Somatic Practice Strategist Hi! I'm Adele, and I'm a holistic massage therapist and mind-body mediator. I help people figure themselves out.

We access the power of touch to solve your mind-body puzzles with my practical, nurturing support. It's like having a scientist specializing in YOU, but instead of invasive tests, we use sensational experiments to decode your personal formula for vibrant health! My own health challenges inspired my research to recover my health, decode my own unique chemistry and neurology, and share the knowledge I gained with other explorers. All the best learning experiments are Hands-On... so I became a Licensed Massage Therapist and worked with naturopathic inpatients, supporting cancer recovery, opioid addiction, chronic pain, trauma, and other complex challenges. My clients told me, during weeks and months of intensive procedures and interventions, I was their favorite practitioner because I was often the only one to help them feel better RIGHT AWAY. These days, I practice independently alongside Dr. Jill Dawrs Family Chiropractic, where I focus on helping people with pain, anxiety, and other neurological conditions. I do my best work with people wanting support with:

-Specific Health Challenges. Who is attending to your comfort? Listening to your experience? Remembering to focus on you and what you’re going through?

-Unknown Conditions. Who is helping you adjust to mysterious pain, stress, or limitations? Who is open to your experimental ideas? Shaking loose a new clue?

-Vague Sense That Something is OFF. Who can help check if your discomfort, fatigue, or restlessness is normal? Who checks in with all your body systems together, looking at the big picture? I believe everyone deserves to get to know themselves, and many of us need a guide to help ask the right questions and recognize the body’s answers. If you share my clients’ desires for practical, nurturing support, reserve a time to talk to me about your hopes for treatment. Or, Book an Appointment to check in with your whole body, assess existing pain, stress, and tension, and dive into understanding the subject you already know best: Yourself!

09/09/2025

We dream of connecting with other healers who understand our vision and struggles, creating a space for growth and mutual support.

How are you all plugging into communities that support you as a healer?

09/05/2025

💁🏻 Not all massage therapists end up doing clinical work. Do we really have to learn so much Anatomy?

Why is it so important for massage therapists to keep up our science and medical awareness?

Well, even for providers who serve spa clients, or even do med-spa type treatments like contouring: meeting clients where they are is absolutely key. ✨

We need a framework to organize what our clients tell us, and to transmit that for our use later.

💯 This helps so much in retaining clients, and getting the impact they came to us for.

I tell my students: we're gonna have to listen to the clients describe their problems and sort what they're revealing to us. They use vocabulary that ranges so widely, so we translate it into vocabulary that is chartable.

You might choose to set up a practice for yourself that is not super science heavy, if that's what you want to do.

🕯 You might work with clients who identify their problems more in spiritual terms.

Supporting them in their process, we match their language.

But as practitioners, we also need the vocabulary and the option to also approach it from a more scientific angle.

And what I really love doing is translating between the two, helping clients realize we can bring science, magic, and beauty together.

That's one of our awesome privileges as massage therapists! 💛
...........
2nd image: loosely mind mapping the ideas the students brought in about how massage therapy fits into the medical system, before we dove into big topics like cell biology and the body compass

08/31/2025

👇🏼 Here's how I help my students master them quickly (and you can easily refresh!):

This is how I had to learn it myself. I was in the early stages of recovering from Trigeminal Neuralgia when I started massage school.

I could only read for maybe 20 minutes before the eye strain and concentration made me nauseous. I was afraid of blacking out 😵

So I had to develop a system to absorb complex concepts from a relaxed, embodied state.

🧘🏻 Each class session opens and closes with short guided meditations, to get the somatic awareness flowing and make sure that we're not Straining to focus. Instead we want to adopt a relaxed attitude and let the brain process the new info with those creative flow-state alpha waves amplified.

Here's a short example of part of the hypnotic meditation from our last class session:

"Some of these words, you've already known since you were very small. You continue to learn ways to describe your body throughout your life. There may several that you learned in the last few months.

Now, your mind is just open and exploratory, inviting in this rich wisdom and knowledge... Acquiring vocabulary, learning terms, learning how to talk about the body, more and more specifically... This connects us with all of these practitioners, doctors, writers, and researchers that came before us, and helped build up this language that we are now learning,

and it is inevitable that you will become fluent in this language, just like you became fluent in English by practicing, by hearing, listening and speaking."

My students always emerge from the meditations looking relaxed and grounded. They say it helps them connect with the concepts in a way that stays with them longer than cerebral study. ✨✨✨

08/27/2025

o hey Massage Therapists! Are we up to the challenge of creating a new paradigm? 🌍✨

Seriously, we're in this together, right?

🤲 We're holding the torch of Touch, while the rest of the world is kinda spiralling into isolation, medicalization, surgicalization, and technology exploding the old model of medicine....

Still gon anchor our communities in personal wellness and connection, right?

⏳ Time is upon us.

08/22/2025

Only Half of massage therapists make it through the first 5 years in the industry. Why? 🤔

we could blame the physical strain, since 80% of us develop repetitive motion injuries or musculoskeletal pain eventually.

💸 Or. we could say it's the inconsistent income, or how few of us ever reach full-time employment (only 40%!!)

Or maybe it's all those low priced competitors.... or flakey clients.... or "burn out."

But honestly, I don't think there's any one factor that justifies how few of us do as much Massage Therapy as we projected.

I think most of us come into the field with unrealistic expectations.

I'm afraid we're tapping out before we hit our full potential, because we imagined it would be different. We pictured something a little easier, a little less complicated, a little less isolated.

Starting something new is hard. Becoming a professional healer is Difficult 👐

Don't give up, please. What may feel like failure is always a clue to a better path forward.

Reach out if you're wrestling with discouragement.

Let's talk it out ✨

08/15/2025

So let me give you the official permission: you can absolutely hit those people up again.

Actually I'd argue it's your responsibility to reach out! They showed they'd like to have a massage. Some part of them already Wants to schedule an appointment.

So, pull out your call or text history, and check in on them!

Listen tho, take a deep breath first and make your peace wxith the fact that lots of people will ignore you, and a few will tell you "not now."

It's ok. Keep going. If they ask you not to contact them, take them off your list. Otherwise, they're choosing to stay on your list ✨

Pick one of these now, and save the rest for later... every 4-6 weeks is about right for any one person, until they either book in or opt out. Either way is perfectly fine and we're not going to take it personally.

Ok, let's go. Copy your fave and just text it to everyone on your list, Now!

"Are you still looking to relieve chronic pain naturally?"

"Are you still looking to reduce stress and tension?"

"Are you still looking to improve your muscle recovery?"

"Are you still looking to boost your overall wellness?"

"Are you still looking to enhance your mental clarity?"

"Are you still looking to release deep muscle knots?"

"Are you still looking to ease your back pain?"

"Are you still looking to improve your sleep quality?"

"Are you still looking to relax and unwind?"

"Are you still looking to restore body balance naturally?"

✨ Excellent job. You're doing great!

Now just keep the Convo going with whoever happens to get back to you!

A couple caveats:

- If you're actually fully booked for the next 10 days or so, hold off until you have some openings. These reach outs work best if you can schedule people in within the week.

- If you Don't have a way to keep track of potential clients, we need to start a little more basic. HMU to chat about options - I'm here for you 🥰

08/03/2025

An hour of focused attention 🕯

When that client goes to their general practice physician, they're going to get 15 minutes on average... up to maybe 25 minutes of direct attention when they are presenting with something that's a little more serious, and that requires the physician to interface with them more directly.

👉🏻 Your client won't get a full hour when they see other practitioners, even a chiropractor, even an acupuncturist. Complimentary practitioners will often have multiple people in various treatment rooms at the same time, rotating through.

They might get really high quality treatment, but they just won't get that much direct attention.

Your clients may not be Seen by anybody else....

on the level that you See them 👀

that, by itself, is incredibly healing, just to be observed and to fully experience the feedback that happens between a knowledgeable practitioner and the body of the person who's being observed.

for lonely humans in an isolating world, this is critical medicine.

07/31/2025

Massage Therapists can't succeed without touch and body awareness. I start students Day 1 with this:

It helps develop controlled awareness and the ability to access the hypnagogic state. This is important because it allows LMTs to:

✨ Experience the physiological effects of parasympathetic nervous system activation, which enhances client healing

✨ Maintain awareness and presence during sessions

✨ Guide clients into a relaxed, meditative state that facilitates the nervous system's ability to "rewrite code" and correct neuromuscular errors.

LMTs depend on attunement to the subtle somatic sensations and information coming from the body. So today, on our first Anatomy & Physiology class period, we started right away!

I want my students to understand and respond to their clients' needs during a massage session.

So we prioritize developing a deeper connection with our own bodies, to improve our therapeutic presence.

This is a routine practice for me, so I like to introduce it with my students early to develop the embodied awareness, physiological understanding, and self-regulation skills necessary to provide the most effective and tailored massage therapy experiences for their clients.

Over our term, we build on this practice to make it easy to anchor all those anatomy terms we have to master!

07/26/2025

URGENT PSA: There’s no such thing as a masseuse anymore.

You might think it sounds fancy or European, but in the U.S., “masseuse” is a red flag.

The word has been co-opted by illicit businesses and the s*x industry still tries to hijacks the term "massage" to this day.

Maintaining a distinction is vital for the people who need therapeutic massage, and for the bodyworkers deliver this service.

For reals :
✅ We are Licensed Massage Therapists
✅ We are trained in anatomy, physiology, and pathology, PLUS hands-on skills
✅ Massage is a regulated, protected profession in almost every state

So unless you’re referring to a bodyworker in another country (or one of the rare states without licensing laws) we don’t use that word anymore.

It’s not just a preference.
It’s a legal boundary.

07/24/2025

So what did I change?

It's kind of embarrassing. It's so simple, I can't believe I dragged out learning this.

I wish it was something complicated I could package in a coaching program, lol. 😅

I started answering every single inquiry as soon as I possibly could.

Sounds Way too easy, right? Like, how could that even work?

Somehow I had a mental block about compartmentalizing client time and business time, and I just wouldn't touch any of it when I was out of the office. As soon as I removed that block tho, my weeks started stringing together with seamless consistent bookings. Other little glitches in my system became easier to detect, so I could fix other aspects of my business systems.

I stopped wasting time stressing about filling my schedule. And I stopped putting off doing the one thing that could make the biggest difference in winning my clients' loyalty.

During business hours, it might take me an hour or more to get back to someone, because I'm in treatments. That's fine. Or it might have to wait until evening.

If I have time to open up social media.... I have time to check my messages first.

Every single place I take client communication. Text. Voicemail. Point-of-Sale software. Meta business suite. Everywhere.

Even.... Especially when... I'm already booked up for this week.

Giving up that excuse added a couple thousand dollars to my bottom line every month.

LMK if you've had to learn that lesson for yourself... or maybe it was just obvious to everyone else???

But I don't think it is, bc when I shared this with my former students, they had a lot of questions about how exactly to pull this off!

07/20/2025

Massage Therapists need to get reviews!

✨ Here's how to stack up credibility proactively without feeling pushy: (best tip last!!!)

🌐 Make sure your Google Business Page is up to date (Google has not been replaced by AI for clients looking for massage therapists).

🔗 Find the link on your Google Business Page to "ask for reviews" It's in the icon list right under your business name when you're viewing your own business.

📲 Copy your link. Write up a little message to your recent clients, and TEXT it to people you've treated in the last 2 weeks. This can say something like "Hey [name], I'm so glad you made it in for that last appointment. I'd really appreciate if you could help more people with [client's main concern] find me... would you please follow this link to leave a review?"

📨 Also drop the link in the footer of your newsletter so that you're regularly reminding people.

💖 Be consistent about gathering reviews from all the clients who are particularly delighted with your work. They want to help you!

and the big one!

📃 Make up a QR code that goes to your Google link. Print it out, and keep it visible on your desk. When you finish working with a client and they are all relaxed and delighted, let them know how much you'd appreciate their review. You can say something along the lines of "Can I ask you a favor?" pause (they love to help). "I'm doing a challenge to collect more reviews to stabilize my business and help others find me. Would you mind taking a few moments to drop a few stars for me, or write a few reflections on your session if you have time?" They agree to do it. "This QR code should take you straight to the link. Is that working for you?"

Bonus points if you can give them a little tea or sample of some kind that helps them slow down and settle into the waiting room while they write. You can totally change sheets while they work on it 😊

As soon as a new review comes in, screenshot it and use it on social media, newsletters, etc.

07/16/2025

Setting goals as a massage therapist is a delicate balance. Big important considerations:

💰 How much are you able to charge, and how does that fit with your income goals?

🧾 What are your costs per treatment? you have to understand treatment costs to predict real income!

🕰️ How much time can you afford to spend in hands-on treatment, when you ALSO need to integrate high level self care to keep this work sustainable?

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Who else is in your life, and what other factors need regular attention from you?

💼 How well are you able to project future income, booking volitility, and upcoming expenses?

There are so many factors: our ability to commit to rhythms and goals in our work are very personal.

That said, how many hours a week do you aim to work Hands-On? how did you arrive at that target number?

Address

Tacoma, WA

Opening Hours

Wednesday	9am - 6pm
Thursday	9am - 6pm
Friday	9am - 6pm
Saturday	9am - 6pm

Telephone

+18667822565

Website

http://adelelafever.com/

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