Erika Ryn, Licensed Massage Therapist
Portland, OR

I grew up dancing and performing in the theater. Through school and into adulthood, movement was how I understood my body and made sense of the world. Yoga deepened that relationship, and somewhere in that practice I became genuinely fascinated with anatomy, with how the body works, how it holds patterns, and how it heals.

Before massage, I worked as a medical insurance underwriter, spending years reviewing medical histories and learning how our medical system works. What I saw troubled me. The system treated symptoms while causes went ignored, and the rest of the person was left out of the equation entirely. I wanted a career where I could actually help people, directly, with my hands, in a way that considered the whole picture. That led me to East West College of Healing Arts in Portland, in 2015. I was enrolled in continuing education before I even graduated, and have continued to be a student of the body ever since. 

Every story, every experience, every injury, every period of stress or joy is written into our cells, our tissue. Massage helps the body integrate, release, and move what is ready to move. This is not just relaxation, it is a therapeutic practice. It is caring for the one body you will live in for your entire life.

I believe bodywork, movement, and self care are not luxuries. They are how we maintain mobility as we age, how we support the nervous system, how we find longevity, how we stay connected to ourselves. These are the rituals of being in a body.

My training reflects that breadth. I draw from deep tissue, neuromuscular therapy, Thai bodywork, structural integration, Anatomy Trains, Chi Nei Tsang abdominal massage, intraoral jaw massage, and integrative pelvic bodywork. Each session is shaped around what your body is actually presenting in the moment, as we listen together.