Pax Massage

Though massage can pamper and relax, Helena Hughes knows it can also heal. The owner and massage therapist at Pax Massage has believed in the power of touch ever since it brought peace to her terminally ill grandmother and her grieving mother. Massage provided her grandmother an hour to herself every week and raised her spirits. For her mother, “it was more of an emotional thing, of someone taking care of her for that hour.” After her grandmother passed way, Hughes returned to her job in PR but couldn’t muster much enthusiasm. “I kept going back to [the fact] that my grandmother and mother were able to get through this time with the help of a healing touch.” So, with the encouragement of her husband, Hughes decided to switch careers.

While her spa was being built, she took night-school classes in massage therapy and energy work. Now, she specializes in helping clients “who are going through a significant loss,” just as another therapist once helped her own family. Hughes observes that when people go through loss, they accrue tension in their neck and shoulders, which can lead to injuries and discomfort. “What I preach to all my clients is that it’s a choice to be in good health and to feel well, and I think that massage is very powerful in doing that [for them],” she says. Hughes joins nine other massage therapists and an aesthetician to offer healing massages and skincare services with Biotone products. Clients can request male or female massage therapists.