Gabrielle Díona

Licensed Massage Therapist

Tell us about your massage school and other trainings: 

I had the honor of being able to attend Crestone Healing Arts Center run by the profound wisdom keepers Dan and Sue Beck Retuta. They retired the school a few years ago and I feel grateful that I was able to receive their knowledge from them before it was no longer available except through their many students. Dan and Sue taught us foundational knowledge of the bodies energy systems with a strong focus on the elements of Traditional Chinese Medicine. I was taught to treat each being on my table as a unique expression of divinity- and to create bodywork treatment protocols that are specific to their needs. No one size fits all approach here! Dan ran the school akin to a martial arts dojo with long grueling days of nearly 16 hours of giving and receiving to complete a 630 hour training in just 12 weeks. They taught me that I am capable of so much more than I think I am - and proved to me time and time again that the human body is miraculous in its capacity for repair and regeneration.
I have had the opportunity to train in the following modalities over my near decade of being a bodyworker: Acupressure, Shiatsu, Meridian Therapy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda, Structural Bodywork, Craniosacral Therapy, Prenatal and Postpartum Care, Womb Realignment Massage from the Mayan lineage, several Eastern Abdominal Massage lineages, Lymphatic Massage, Lymphatic Breast Massage, Herbal Care from many lineages, sound healing and also Reiki and Pranic Energy Healing.
My work addresses the most subtle to the most gross - and tailors each session to each individual in front of me. What you need, is what you get.

What bodywork are you currently studying?

I'm currently pursuing advanced training In Visionary Craniosacral therapy with the Milne Institute and exploring somatic modalities for regulating the nervous system. s.

 

What do you want people to know about their body?

You are not your body, and your body is a gift that you only have access to for a relatively short time. Care for it. Love it. Be kind to it. It lives through you and deserves respect and care for the ways that it is always always always doing its very best to care for you. 

When we come into congruence with our bodies, miracles happen, and often deeper shifts that wake us up to what really matters. I want this for you, and for all.

 

What do you want people to know about health and wellness?

That health and wellness are simple, but not easy. Drink water and spend time by natural bodies of water, sit in the sun, eat wholesome foods made from scratch, slow down, spend time in reverie and making art, stretch and receive gentle loving touch, move your body for work and for fun, spend time with others that make you feel alive and seen and cared for, love deeply. Simple, but not always easy.

Self-Care Advice

Love yourself, and others, well. For most that's enough, and the work of a lifetime.

What is your favorite system in the body?

No favorites here. Although I do think the female reproductive system is unbelievably badass and deserves way more credit than it usually gets.

Favorite thing to do in Sandpoint?

Eat at City Beach Organics, walk at Pine Street Woods, swim anywhere and everywhere for as long as it's warm enough to do so. Peruse the farmer's market and Winter Ridge. All of these made ineffably better if my sunshine of a daughter is in tow.