Inspiration From a Dream
Massage mentorship in action
On the eve of teaching a class on ethics and of publicly sharing my new website (this website!), I dreamt of my old friend and mentor, the legendary Colette Chavez Walker, LMT. She brought her intensity from a prior career in dentistry and dove deeply into the broader world of healing: orthopedic massage, manipulating internal organs, helping to soften fascia, and everything in between.
Colette embodied her business name; a true Eclectic Healing Guide for anyone lucky enough to know her. She was meticulous about some things. Airy about others. Fiery and dreamy and eternally hopeful, with an insatiable drive to help others heal. She was fiercely proud of her Indigenous roots, and worked tirelessly to make a positive impact on her community and the field of massage therapy overall.
Colette helped me prepare for giving birth through my first pregnancy. She taught me powerful self-soothing techniques I still use today. After my husband and the hospital staff, she was the first person to meet our son when he was born. She planned to support me with massage through labor, but to everyone’s surprise, baby arrived too quickly for her to make it. She arrived minutes after his birth and helped my nervous system recover with her healing hands. On a wild, life-changing day that was all about this welcoming a precious new life, my friend Colette rushed across town to spend the morning tending to me. I will never forget that.
We talked business a lot. Like, a LOT a lot. Always dreaming together: how to grow our impact, new collaborations, crazy marketing ideas, ways that we could partner up and help each other grow, despite each of us having our own separate massage practice with differing audiences.
Colette was the kind of friend I’d spend hours talking with, and then another hour and a half saying goodbye to in the doorway. Our conversations were never finished. Always more to dream about together.
She taught me reiki, in a formal class for one.
She taught me that one student is all you need to make teaching worthwhile.
She taught me that accountability and mentorship and having a place to talk through dreams can bring about courage: we encouraged each other into making plans, following through, and savoring successes, together.
I was her photo shoot model when she needed action shots for her website. Until recently, I could still visit her website, and I have to admit I’ve visited that site more than a few times over the years when I was missing her.
Colette passed away a few years back. I think she would be proud of my pivot into teaching massage. She would love seeing me sharing my knowledge, experience, and love for massage in new, impactful ways. Though it’s been many years since our hours-long, everything-and-anything conversations, I still carry a bit of her fire in me, and I take care to protect that precious flame. It holds countless dreams to turn into reality. And a continued burning to help make this world a better place.
