Ariana Orton, LMT, NCMMT
Owner of Oregon Clinical Massage

Ariana has been a massage therapist since 1996, and has been treating soft tissue injuries and dysfunction in a clinical setting since 2000. She has accumulated over 1600 hours of manual-therapy-focused classroom training, and incalculable hours increasing her knowledge and skills outside of the classroom. Her daily mantra is "I am a better therapist today than I was yesterday because..." If she cannot figure out what is wrong with a patient, you can bet you will find her with her nose in a book, calling her doctor friends, or sending out inquiries on the internet to see if she can find a solution. She likes to keep her patient load small so that she has time to research and take good care of each person she treats. She has a great sense of humor, and her treatment style is relaxed, calming, and friendly. Take a look at what she has been up to:

• She is Certified by the Medical Massage National Certification Board (MMNCB) as a Nationally Certified Medical Massage Therapist (NCMMT).

• She is certified in Advanced CranioSacral Therapy. She studied with Marshall Amini Peller at Heartwood Institute, and has assisted Marshall with teaching the Heartwood Intensive classes.

• She has studied the work of a wide variety of manual therapy instructors, including James Waslaski (Orthopedic Massage), Dr. Erik Dalton (Myoskeletal Alignment), Janet Travell & David Simons (Trigger Point Therapy), John Upledger and Marshall Amini Peller (CranioSacral Therapy and Visceral Manipulation), Hugh Milne (CranioSacral Therapy), Art Riggs (Deep Tissue Massage and Myofascial Release), Leon Chaitow (Palpation and Assessment Skills, Positional Release, Fibromyalgia), Rosie Spiegel (Rolfing and Yoga), Peter Levine (Somatic Education and Trauma Work), Michael Murphy (from the Rolf Institute - Advanced Body Reading), Tom Myers (Myofascial Release), Thomas Giammateo and Sharon Weiselfish-Giammateo (Positional Release and Integrative Manual Therapy), Robert Frost (Applied Kinesiology), Caroline Myss (Energetic Anatomy), Til Luchau (also from the Rolf Institute - Myofascial Release), Laurie Connolly, (Trigger Point Therapy, Myofascial Release).

• She is currently developing a manual therapy technique which uses the breath to increase oxygen to target areas in combination with facilitated stretching. She is using this technique in her practice at this time, and seeing amazing results with it.

• She has completed the Advanced Myofascial Release Certification through the Advanced Trainings.com and The Rolf Institute. She plans on studying Rolfing as soon as the Rolf Institute can bring classes to Portland.

• She is currently completing the Advanced Trigger Point Therapy Certification through Therapy Works.

• She specializes in Trigger Point Therapy, Facilitated Stretching, and Myofascial Release Therapy for pain management and reduction. She also specializes in increasing range-of-motion and decreasing pain using whatever manual therapy techniques are appropriate at the time.

• She is certified by CARE (The Center for Aromatherapy Research and Education) as a Raindrop Therapist. Raindrop is an invigorating massage and reflexology treatment using therapeutic grade essential oils applied neat (undiluted) to the feet and along the spine. It will leave you feeling awake and energized, and perhaps a little taller.

• She developed and produces the "Magic Goo" we sell in the clinic. This is an all-natural ingredient salve which contains herbs, olive and jojoba oil, beeswax, and essential oils. This is an amazing product, and we all use it at home and at the clinic. And since we don't have FDA approval, we can't tell you all of the ways this stuff is fantastic, but we can say it's really fabulous, and that we suggest you might try it, for example, on your next sunburn. Look for it in stores in Portland by the end of summer 2009.

• She is a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, and is certified in NLP as well. She received her certification from APositiva in Portland. In her practice, Ariana uses EFT, Emotional Freedom Technique, for pain management as well as phobia and anxiety release.

• She is the mother of two children, three cats, and one german shepherd. In her spare time she sits on her front porch and makes hand-crafted bead and wire jewelry with her kids, some of which she sells at the clinic. She's currently writing a hand-made jewelry instruction book.

• She is on the Advisory Board of the Wyatt Holliday Foundation as the Medical Massage/Bodywork Advisor. The Wyatt Holliday Foundation is a non-profit organization in Olympia Washington seeking to bring subsidised alternative treatments to special needs children. Ariana has written articles on massage therapy for children with special needs for publication on the Foundation's website.

• She has studied various forms of energy work, and has been a Reiki Master since 1995. She offers Reiki instruction on a one-on-one basis.

• She mentors massage therapy students as well as LMTs who are interested in learning more about clinical massage. She instructs them in insurance billing and handling of prescriptions, as well as teaching them manual therapy techniques to improve their treatment efficacy. She serves the LMT community as a free source of information on insurance industry standards and how to get paid for the amazing work that they do. Sometimes, even newly licensed doctors call her for information on navigating the insurance world. It is one of her goals to raise the bar for massage therapists nationwide, and inspire them to increase their knowledge and improve their patient rehab successes.

• She served as the Treasurer of her neighborhood association from 2004-2005, and as the volunteer newsletter editor/publisher at her daughter's school from 2004-2006.

• She served as the PR Representative of the Oregon Chapter of the United States Medical Massage Association in 2004. She designed and moderated the website for the chapter for two years.

• She is currently serving as the Treasurer and holds a seat on the Board of the Portland Village School, a Waldorf-inspired Portland Public Charter School which opened in the fall of 2007 in the St. John's neighborhood.

• She has taught anatomy, physiology and kinesology as part of a yoga teacher training course. She incorporates yoga into her movement therapies. She donated her time to build the website for the Lotus Seed School, where she received her Yoga Teacher Training Certification. The Lotus Seed is a non-profit organization offering low cost and sliding scale yoga classes, in the hope of bringing yoga classes to underserved populations in the Portland area.

• Ariana is currently involved, with April Neufeld, NCMMT, in the formation of the Oregon Clinical Massage Therapy Association. The Association's intention is to provide physicians with easy access to skilled, experienced massage and manual therapy providers for their injured patients. It is also the Association's intention to provide outreach and information to the public, to let them know that this service exists.

If you have an appointment with Ariana:

Please wear loose-fitting, comfortable clothing, preferably with a sports bra and shorts underneath. Or you may wear a t-shirt and leggings for some of the myofascial release work. We may check your posture, or have you on and off the table several times during the session, or turning over quite a bit. Wear comfortable shoes you have worn for awhile. I want to check them to see what your wear patterns are.

Unless we are doing a relaxation massage or a Raindrop Therapy treatment, you will rarely be fully undressed and draped on the table. Your comfort is the top priority, so if you need special accomodations, please ask.