By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Audrey Leslie was helping a friend when she found her mission.
The friend had a sore back and asked Leslie for a massage. Leslie obliged. “You’re really good at this,” the friend said.
“It wasn’t at until that moment that I realized I could do this for a living,” Leslie said. “That people would pay for me this.”
That was in 2011. She was at an occupational stalemate. She didn’t know what she wanted to do, but “I wanted a career where I could help people.”
She attended what was then the Healing Arts Institute in Perrysburg (now the Orion Institute.)
“I absolutely fell in love. I’ve been doing that for the last six years,” she said.
Leslie, after working inside a salon, is venturing out on her own, opening a studio within Blush at 100 S. Main St. in downtown Bowling Green this week. She sees clients by appointment only. Call 419-806-9317.
Leslie said it was time to hang out her own shingle and take advantage of tapping into the business acumen of veteran entrepreneur Lee Welling, owner of Blush.
“My passion is helping people with pain and fatigue,” she said. “That’s what I’m good at. … Massage is the oldest form of medicine.”
Some are recovering from injuries, some dealing with chronic disorders such as fibromyalgia.
A mother of three, she’s also certified to do prenatal massage. “I always had a plan in future to have classes for mothers of newborns on how to massage their babies.”
Aroma therapy and essentials oils, which she is also certified in, play a big part in her practice. Leslie does CBD massage using oil made from hemp – it’s 100 percent THC free, she notes.
“It’s amazing for auto immune disorders, fatigue, muscle ache and brain fog,” she said. She can use it as part of a massage. She also has products she can sell.
Leslie, 34, grew up in Bowling Green and graduated from Bowling Green High School. She attended Bowling Green State University for two years. She worked in preschool until she had her first child. “I became a mother and realized I just wanted to be a mother.”
She was looking around for options when she had her epiphany about massage therapy. She noted that Ohio has some of the strictest regulations on massage therapy.
She sees about 20 clients a week. Some come weekly, some every six week. Some show up just when they have an acute problem. One has been coming three times a week to deal with a chronic problem.
“People do massages for all sorts of reasons,” Leslie said.
“I see a lot of people who are really stressed and looking for a way to alleviate that stress. Some people like to treat themselves,” she said. “A majority are working toward a goal of better health.”
They may be seeking relief from chronic diseases such as Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis.
Leslie sees people who need “that affirmative touch,” she said. Often they are elders, or single moms. “To get that touch is so healing and protective to your overall being. That’s something I’m trying to stress to people to have a positive touch. I want people to leave feeling elated, relaxed, and wonderful.”
