Existential Bodywork: Angelica Jannone, Mixed Modality Massage and Acupuncture in Seattle, WA
As a therapist and human, I know there are multiple forms of healing modalities that can move you forward towards a calmer, more informed, kinder way to live your life in your body. This week I’m highlighting a fantastic provider within our community.
Angelica Jannone, L.Ac., LMP, MAc. EAM
Existential Bodywork
Angelica (she/her) has spent the last decade-plus working as a clinical massage therapist after a string of other physically demanding jobs. She fell in love with acupuncture as it presented a uniquely accessible option to manage chronic pain from work, as well as a compassionate environment that provides patients immediate treatment—something rare in our current system. She recently obtained her Master’s in Acupuncture and East Asian Medicine from the Seattle Institute of East Asian Medicine (SIEAM). Studying acupuncture has added another layer to her understanding of anatomy, fascial connections and how to treat pain. Her work is informed by orthopedic and structural training as well as life experience; she’s interested in how people use and hold their bodies as we make our way through life. She is also certified and trained through the National AcuDetox Association (NADA), as substance use management and harm reduction are of particular interest to her.
1. What led you to decide to open your massage and acupuncture business in Seattle?
I’ve been practicing massage for the last 11 years and in that time I’ve always worked for someone else in a variety of settings including spa, medical, subscription and private office. After getting my Master’s in Acupuncture and East Asian Medicine I decided that I wanted to practice both modalities together in my own way, incorporating my own style and setting. I have come to experience and understand acupuncture as a modality that, like bodywork, engages fascial connections, existence, the ebbs and flows that come with forcing ourselves through life. To me bodywork and acupuncture have always been kind of blended together; I started going to community acupuncture clinics regularly to deal with the pain of being a full-time massage therapist, especially early in my career. What I experienced in that setting was profound both in terms of sensation and relief as well as the feeling of having access to some kind of intervention. Pain is very complicated and it’s disruptive to our already precarious lives; following the steps to talk to someone about it can feel convoluted and sometimes impossible in our current for-profit healthcare model. I don’t think I’m here to replace the biomedical model and I obviously cannot provide imaging of bones and tissues, but getting to talk to someone and experience a drug-free intervention went a really long way for me. This is what I’m hoping to provide for others.
2. What kind of services do you provide?
In my practice, I provide mixed modality sessions of massage, cupping and acupuncture. The appointments I offer are either 70 or 90 minutes in length and we usually discuss what modalities clients are comfortable with before starting.
My bodywork style is centered around Myofascial techniques/ structures meaning that I begin my sessions more superficially because I’m manually assessing and releasing the weblike connective tissue that lays on top of the skeletal muscles and under the skin. It sounds weird, but I think it makes more sense once you experience it. From there I get more muscle-specific and direct; I consider this part of my work to be strong and it has been described to me as such. I also use cups to reinforce the structural patterns that I’m working with. Sometimes I slide the cups and other times I leave them stationary.
I use acupuncture in keeping with the patterns I’m treating. A lot of the time, I gravitate to sinew channels and Extraordinary Vessels because there is a lot of structural significance to them. Other times I’ll use Richard Tan’s Balance Method or Master Tung points. It really just depends on what I get the best result from. I choose my acupuncture points based on my fascial findings as well as some subtle bone listening.
3. How do your services help people with anxiety and other mental health challenges in Seattle?
I have a few different ways I look at this. There is the general understanding that massage/manual therapies can lower cortisol levels in the body, perhaps also increase oxytocin. Things like that have good evidence supporting them. Expanding on this, I always think of something one of my teachers (Micheal McMahon another dual license practitioner who specializes in Myofascial Release and Craniosacral therapy among other things) says, which is “allowing the body different ways to experience itself”. As I mentioned earlier, my work is myofascial in focus, both in terms of manual therapy and with acupuncture/needles. What I mean by that is I’ll focus on lines of tension, pulling, adhesions between groups of muscles, tissues and sometimes viscera; how parts of the body are connected can become apparent to the patient as they receive the work, or at least that’s my goal. In doing so, your world expands, your own understanding of your physical form deepens and you are changed as a result. For some people it’s like a shift from fear into curiosity, for others this makes them feel more “at home” in their bodies. I liken this to psychedelics sometimes when I talk to patients. My typical spiel on this is that the central nervous system uses a lot of energy. To conserve it, your brain can get accustomed to patterns or loops. This extends into how you perceive yourself. Chronic pain, disappointment, doubt and anxiety all live here. We all know these are things that don’t just go away; psychedelics gives you the experience of disrupting the loop and it can feel liberating to people. There is a small amount of promising research that this effect can be achieved with acupuncture, though it it much more subtle, of course. It’s less about just giving people enough relief to resume their resume their “regular productivity” and I must acknowledge there are stressors and systemic f*ckery that won’t just go away. I suppose I believe in creating sessions that can potentially be a tool to deepen and expand the story of yourself as you are living it.
4. What kind of people do you love working with?
Lots of people! I tend to work with a lot of service industry, musicians, artists, teachers, nurses etc. As I am interested in how people move and use their bodies, I look at what my clients do for work and their hobbies., “How are we destroying ourselves?” Is a joke I often make that’s not entirely a joke.
I find that I work on a whole bunch of people I really admire. They are generous even in the face of many obstacles, especially a city that seems hellbent on forcing them out. They continue to have spirit even when the grind wants to suck it out of them. I know people are much more than what they do for work so I find that the thread of people that tend to find me are what I call my fellow “void walkers”; basically we are walking a line constantly. Lines of how to make our lives work, how to keep going in providing our care and pursuing our passions in the face of everything falling apart. I think these modalities serve the doom-informed because it’s from a lineage of practitioners who faced mass death and catastrophe. I like to point that out because these times feel particularly urgent and precarious for people, myself included. In doing so, I want to get away from the narrative that this work is about helping patients “stay productive” and instead emphasize on how it helps us “meet the wall”. Every day we hit the wall; we crash right into doubt, into hopelessness as we run ourselves down to zero. Every day we wake up and have to rebuild ourselves. Maybe this is dramatic, but this is how I experience it. In East Asian medicine there’s a lot of themes of softness and rigidity and this plays into the “hitting the wall” image quite nicely. How are we meeting it? Do we try and meet it with too much force? Are we succumbing to it utterly, becoming crushed in the process? Is there a secret third thing? Maybe there is, but it’s different for everyone and it’s often changing.
5. What happens during a first appointment with you?
New patients fill out their intake form ahead of their appointment to save time. It can seem long for people, but it’s optional to fill everything out. All the questions are there in case it anything feels important to let me know. When you come in, we can discuss your focus of treatment. I actually keep this part brief, but some folks have more to say and that’s fine too. Next we begin the session- starting with the myofascial work on the back and then going deeper from there. Sometimes it feels most helpful to focus on that main issue or the area of the chief complaint, but other times I find something elsewhere that feels like it will be more effective. An example of this could be that you come in with knee pain but I’m drawn to something in one hip that’s causing the environment to put strain on that knee.
Patients are free to talk to me and ask me questions at any time during and after the treatment. Sometimes things are clearer at the end. I’ll tell them what I think is going on structurally and I’ll give a little recap of the session.
6. What do you wish people knew about services with you?
Talking or not talking are both allowed. I’ve had patients apologize for doing one or the other. I leave this up to you. Some patients feel more relaxed if they chat with me through the session and others prefer to go quiet and zone out. You’re also allowed to sleep during the session if it feels right. I’ve had patients apologize for that too and I’m like “you must’ve needed rest!”
Also no need to apologize for the appearance of your body. I’ve had people say “sorry I didn’t shave my legs!” And while I get that maybe you’re used to having to apologize so it may be hard to shut that off. However, I can assure you that after all my years of doing this, I’m not thinking about that kind of thing.
On a more serious note: I am a small business owner. It’s just me doing everything. I have dedicated years of study (and student debt) to be able to practice my chosen modalities. A lot of people are surprised to hear that you need a Master’s degree to practice acupuncture. It’s also one that is a minimum of 3 years full time to acquire. I have a lot of feelings on this that I’ll save for another time. This along with all of the challenges of running a small business and keeping myself afloat in Seattle’s rising costs mean I can only do my best. Your support, patience and understanding is part of how this all works.
7. How can people contact you to learn more about your services in Seattle?
I have a web site :
https://www.existentialbodywork.com/
And an Instagram that I’m probably on too much but I really like how I can show my work and other parts of my life on there. I also post a lot about books/literature and music because I think all of these things makes life worth living, which what my work is about too : @existential.bodywork
About the Author: Seattle Therapist Chelsea Kramer LMFT
Chelsea Kramer is a Seattle Therapist who works with individual and families facing grief, anxiety and trauma, with special focus on medical challenges, reproductive health, and life transitions.
Learn more about Chelsea’s specialties: grief, anxiety, infertility, pregnancy loss, chronic illness, menopause, medical trauma
Learn more about Chelsea
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