Meg Donnelly, Nova Weekend Warriors

Happy Pride.
🖤🤎🩵🩷🤍❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

A good friend recently reminded me that joy is a form of resistance.

Not because Pride ignores hardship, but because it exists alongside it. The ability to gather, celebrate, love, laugh, create, and build community after generations of discrimination and exclusion is something worth honoring.

This month and throughout the year and years to come, we’re celebrating the joy, courage, and humanity of the LGBTQIA2S+ community and the ongoing work of creating a world where everyone can belong.

🖤🤎🩵🩷🤍❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

My next read just landed at my door tonight!!!! 📚

The Anatomy and Physiology of Sports Massage by .portia Portia B. Resnick (with a foreword by .pathologyqueen Ruth Werner)

I’m really excited to dig into this one!

I want to see what’s changed in sports massage… how we’re currently thinking about its applications, recovery timelines, and where our understanding may have evolved.

Also… there are definitely some theories and syndromes that were popular in sports massage that don’t really have strong evidence. I’m interested to see where Dr. Resnick lands on those… and how that reinforces or challenges some of my own skepticism.

One thing I already love: Ruth Werner mentions that each concept is framed as “this is why you need to know this.”

Oh how this speaks to me!!!!

As many of you know, I’m not a follow-the-protocol massage therapist. I love use clinical reasoning and collaborating with my clients to build sessions that fit them and their individualized goals… not a cookie-cutter technique. So this is right up my alley!

Excited to read, practice critical thinking and share what stands out along the way!!!

👉 For my fellow massage therapists and movement professionals: what have you changed about how you approach a technique after understanding the “why” behind it?

There’s a moment every year when everything outside shifts almost overnight.

Bare branches turn into this.
Soft. Full. Alive in a way that feels impossible if you weren’t watching closely. The cherry blossom trees in bloom that line our parking lot take my breath away every year!

Meanwhile, inside the studio… things have been quietly blooming too.

I haven’t been posting much lately, but my schedule is very full. And I’m grateful for every person who trusts me to be part of their care, their stress relief, their performance goals.

Because I work one-on-one and keep my practice intentionally small, my availability for new clients is limited.

If you’ve been thinking about starting, this is your nudge.

New clients begin with a complimentary exploratory call so we can talk through what you’re experiencing and what you’re hoping for and make sure we’re a good fit before you ever get on the table.

You can book your 15 minute complimentary exploratory call directly on my website.

Move freely. Feel awesome.

That half time show was AMAZING. I have to rewatch the rest of this week to catch everything.

My cloud cover business licensed music account has a station!!! So any clients that wanna keep the Halftime show vibes going during their massage appointment this week, just say the word!

When fear replaces trust, Main Street can’t survive.

Tell the Senate: Reject DHS funding as written.

Sign here: https://secure.everyaction.com/KrHH5nm7GkKpWAh4beMPEw2

Update: Some compromises were made. But we have a new ordinance that we can live with. I’m thankful many including my fellow members of the Fairfax County Licensed Massage Therapist Business Owners, as well as the Fairfax County Health Department, Rachel Rozner, Fairfax County Small Business Commissioner-Dranesville and the entire Small Business Commission, additional Fairfax County Government staff, the majority of our Fairfax County Board of Supervisors that met with us including my district Supervisor Dranesville District - Supervisor Jimmy Bierman, my former district Supervisor Supervisor Walter Alcorn and Vice Chair Sully Supervisor Kathy Smith, Fairfax County Police Department including special units, county fire marshall and Deputy County Executive for Safety and Security.

While we didn’t agree on everything, all took time for appointments with us… and in many cases multiple appointments… to hear our safety and business concerns as small business owners.

I believe the end result is a good compromise and will allow us to keep our businesses in Fairfax County while keeping ourselves and our clients safe as we continue provide much needed health and wellness care to our community.

If you have any questions about the newly adopted ordinance, please feel free to reach out. My belief is the transition will be so seamless that clients should not see any relevant changes to how we work together and the safe environment we already provide.

Thank you all for your support over the past 5+ months. It tryly made a difference!
*******

Original Post:
Quick urgent request. Fairfax County is voting on the new massage ordinance tomorrow (Tuesday), and public comments are due by 12 noon on Tuesday 11/18.

If you can, please send a quick email to [email protected] to support.

You can copy and paste the wording from my email in link in bio or here (just ignore the dates 11/17 and 11/19 which I mistyped):
https://mailchi.mp/efe793d59af2/supportmassagetherapy

Thank you so much!!!!!

✨ Massage Therapy Awareness Week ✨

This morning, Mayor Keven LeBlanc presented a Town of Herndon Proclamation recognizing National Massage Therapy Awareness Week (Oct 19–25, 2025) the Fairfax County Licensed Massage Therapist Business Owners. In front of the Old Town Hall, a small group of us here accepted on behalf of the 50+ licensed massage therapist business owners and supporters in our group.

Our proclamation was also recorded by . The recording will be shown between programs in the coming weeks and available on the HCTV YouTube channel later this week as well.

Massage therapy is an evidence-informed, client-centered practice that helps ease pain, reduce stress, support emotional balance, and aid recovery.

I’m proud to stand alongside other small business owners and licensed professionals who bring compassionate, skilled care to our community every day. 💕

Here’s to raising awareness of the impact massage therapy has on health, wellness, and quality of life fir for everybody and every body.

Thank you Mayor Keven, Herndon Town Council Members, and for supporting licensed massage therapists and health professionals in our local community!

Congrats!

The 2025 list is out! We're honored to have GLMA Executive Director, Alex Sheldon, be a part of this year's incredible list.

Endorsed by PFLAG National CEO Brian Bond, who shared:

“I first met Alex Sheldon in an Austin courtroom. They had just become executive director of GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality, and here we were, voices of resistance against Texas’ cruel effort to ban transgender health care for youth by threatening health care providers’ licenses. Alex is the kind of leader who, in the face of unimaginable vitriol, brings the facts. They rise to the occasion time and again, leading GLMA to support providers dedicated to improving health for LGBTQ+ people, from challenging grant terminations that gutted their research to being our co-­plaintiff in PFLAG v. Trump to fight the Executive Order banning trans health care for youth. Trans and nonbinary people deserve the freedom to thrive. Yet attacks on trans health care threaten that truth and could affect all parents’ decision­making rights—and all providers’ ability to offer best-practice medical care. It’s why we need folks like Alex, who fight for all of us.”

GLMA celebrates this recognition as a reflection of the strength and dedication of our members, partners, and allies who work every day to advance health equity for LGBTQ+ communities.

Explore the full list: time.com/next or in our bio!