Be Held Bodywork

Hello!

I’m Elise (she/her/hers). It’s nice to meet you!

I am the owner of Be Held Bodywork and a massage therapist practicing in Ashland, Oregon and throughout the Rogue Valley. I went the traditional (in my known world at the time) four-year-college path after high school, majored in Anthropology (which was awesome), and fell into working in marketing and ecommerce (which was awesome at first). Several years later, in 2016 I quit a job that was making me miserable and said “ok self, what now?” A brief period of heavy introspection followed – how did I get so far off my path? what do I want my life to feel like? what are my core values? what feels good anyways? how can I be of service to the world? what is my mission? what is my purpose?

Luckily, during that period of introspection a long-held dream of being a massage therapist resurfaced. When I was about 7, my cousin and I opened a ‘massage clinic’ on our family vacation and booked our aunts and uncles for high quality massage at the going rate of 10 cents. There was a part of me that stored a dream of being a massage therapist deep inside, but the dominant part said “no that’s for hippies and you need to go to college and get a career and work for a corporation and wear a blazer and be proper” (wooo capitalism!). Needless to say, the dream was shelved.

That period from age 7 to now definitely contains a lot of changes and growing up. A lot of self-realizations, spiritual development, and energetic work. Humbling myself and healing myself. All that good stuff. Thank goodness, because all that healing opened the door for my massage dream to come back into being. I was finally ready to show up in the world as a healer for others.

Once the dream resurfaced, I found out that De Anza College offered a program for Massage Therapy and classes started (no joke) one week later. They started an accelerated program that allowed me to complete the classes on a faster schedule than they’d ever offered before. The Universe truly conspired to help me. Once I got into school everything just clicked – I could tell I had found my thing. And look, here I am!

I got certified and started practicing in 2019, starting at a day spa in California and opening Be Held Bodywork a few months later. The pandemic and later a broken wrist (snowboarding!) prompted a pause in my practice, but I’m healed, vaccinated, and seeing clients again!

I moved up to Oregon in June 2022 and am thrilled to bring Be Held Bodywork to the Rogue Valley. My office has been in Medford for the past two years, and I have just moved my practice down to Ashland – I am ready to be a part of the local community where I live! I am currently seeing massage clients at my office in Ashland, and via in-home mobile appointments in Ashland/Talent/Phoenix/Medford. I would love to meet you and hold space for you on your own journey.

Be Held Bodywork Mission

My mission is to hold space for your journey of healing and support your body’s innate ability to bring itself back into balance, using a range of therapeutic modalities so that you leave the table feeling seen, held, supported, refreshed, and rejuvenated.

I am dedicated to using my empathetic and intuitive skills to listen and respond to your body’s signals in order to customize each session to accommodate your requests and help you achieve your goals.

My Values

The values below are my guiding principles in all of life, not just massage. I also firmly believe in inclusion, acceptance, and equality. All races, religions, ages, countries of origin, sexual orientations, and genders across the spectrum are safe and welcome in my space.

GRATITUDE: the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and return kindness.

RESILIENCE: the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.

KINDNESS: the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.

FREEDOM: the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.

GROWTH: the process of developing or maturing physically, mentally, or spiritually.

Licensing & Professional Affiliation