By Meg Peters
Review Co-Editor
Walking into Dragonfly Massage & Bodywork at 20 W. Clarkston Rd. is like stepping onto a ship.
Surrounded by the waves of Lake Buckhorn fronting the waiting room and each massage unit, customers are put at ease, knowing they are in the hands of experienced and licensed massage therapists.
The massage and bodywork studio opened just over a year ago in March 2014, and has been steadily gaining clientele, expertise and new opportunities focusing on health and wellness.
Owner and licensed massage therapist Susan Laporte specializes in connective tissue, and offers her current and future clients a passage from the daily stresses of life.
Describing her practice as shifting the muscles and getting to the core of the pain and the scar, LaPorte offers bodywork from 15 minutes up to 90 minutes.
‘My work is all’about structural alignment. I find the dysfunction, or the stresses in the alignment, and then I work through the fascia, the connective tissue to release it,? she said.
While Laporte’s body work is localized therapy aimed at particular areas of chronic pain or injury, clients also enjoy relaxing, full body massages by Cortney Causbie, the second licensed massage therapist just hired at Dragonfly.
Each line of massage is pain free, guided by the client’s articulated desire of pressure and focal points.
‘It’s a great health benefit for all patients,? Causbie said. ‘My patients are happy when they leave, and we feel good to make them happy, to help them in areas they need help in.?
Clients can choose their own light setting within each room, and have the option of using warmed stones throughout or at the end of a session.
Owner Laporte has been practicing since 1995, and has a strong foundation in chiropractic. A Lake Orion girl born and raised, Laporte has bounced around metro Detroit and Orion Township, from Spa on the Lake to LaVida Massage, before opening her own wellness center at the intersection of Clarkston and Lapeer Rd.
Everyone should try her body work, and Causbie’s body massages, she said, everyone interested in healing their body from the inside out.
‘I have clients from all walks of life. It doesn’t matter if you are a student or an executive. We all have similar stresses varying in different degrees. When you can find a therapist that you can trust, for when those big bangs of life come around, you have someone to go to to help work it out of your body. These are things you have no power over, except the way to address them,? Laporte said.
With three massage rooms, and a massage chair reserved for walk-ins if time allows, Dragonfly Massage & Bodywork is on the ups. Laporte is looking for an esthetician to occupy his or her own room to provide clients with a complete organic skincare treatment, and is looking to build one more massage room.
The business also offers a handmade line of organic skin care including exfoliations and bar soaps, and sells local artwork and jewelry in the vibrant setting.
Laporte is still seeking additional local artwork to hang on her walls or sit on her shelves, and encourages artists to drop in or call the store at?248-376-8905.
To schedule an appointment, or for more information on the different therapies offered at Dragonfly Massage and Bodywork, call?248-376-8905, view their Facebook page, Dragonfly Massage and Bodywork Lake Orion, or email’dragonflyandbodywork@gmail.com.
Pricing varies according to session length, starting at a dollar per minute for massages under an hour, $50 for an hour long full-body massage, $60 for an hour long session of targeted body work, $70 for a 90 minute full-body massage, or $80 for a 90 minute session of body work. Store hours are from’Tuesday’through Friday,?9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and’Saturday’from?8:30 a.m. until 2 p.m.