Northside Massage
Welcome! My name is Zackery Burgess and I am a Massage Therapist in Blacksburg. I integrate a wide range of massage therapies to prevent and treat chronic pain as well as a wide selection of relaxation techniques.
Book a Session with Zackery
Massage Therapist, Blacksburg
I'm glad you're here. Massage therapy has been a truly life changing part of my journey and I'm excited to share my practice with you.
While I look at massage as something that just feels awesome and is fun to do every now and then—I also look at massage therapy as a healing modality that is capable of changing years and decades worth of pain, freeing up loads of energy, and helping one integrate into a more relaxed relationship with their body.
Basically, I believe there is a lot more to massage than meets the eye.
When in the hands of a well-trained, aware, and attuned massage therapist we can see great improvements in the following ailments:
- Back and Neck Pain
- Plantar Fasciitis
- Sciatica
- Disc Herniation
- Slow Metabolism
- Allergies and Asthma
- Acid Reflux/GERD
- Migraines
- Scoliosis
- Shoulder Pain or Frozen Shoulder
- Sleep Disorders
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Zackery Burgess
Licensed Massage Therapist
Zackery attended The Pacific Center for Awareness and Bodywork in Kauai, Hawaii for massage training and The Sedona School of Massage for advanced structural integration.
For Zackery, being a massage therapist is a passion and a vocation. Massage is a true gift for both the giver and the receiver. It is a way to deeply heal the body from stress, injury, and chronic pain.
To receive healing touch is a basic human right. With all of the stress folks are inundated with these days, massage therapy is more important now than ever.
My Experience as a Massage Therapist
I've been practicing, studying, and apprenticing as a massage therapist since I graduated from The Pacific Center for Awareness and Bodywork in 2008.
Upon graduating, I applied my hands at Living Light River Studio, a Yoga and Wellness Center in Floyd, Virginia from 2008 to 2015. In the Spring of 2015 I began my training in Structural Integration at The Sedona School of Massage, which gave me even more tools and modalities to work with.
Upon finishing my training in Sedona, I began as a massage therapist at Primland Resort in Meadows of Dan, Virginia. I worked with Primland's Spa from 2015-2017.
In 2017, I was ready to begin a focused effort at opening a private practice as a massage therapist and I did so on the Northside of my home town, Floyd, Virginia, hence the name of my practice.
Since 2017, I've been working with local NRV clients who are looking to massage therapy as a way to relax, yes, and also to heal chronic pain, move through trauma, prepare for childbirth, and generally to allow the natural healing processes of their bodies move in their perfect timing and alignment.
In 2021, my family and I moved to Blacksburg, Virginia and my practice is now established in downtown Blacksburg. I'm incredibly grateful to be here, serving the Blacksburg community as a massage therapist.
I estimate over the years that I've given about 4,000-5,000 massages and counting. For many massage therapists, "burnout" is a common phenomenon. Massage therapists have a physically and energetically demanding task at hand. As a principle, I believe that a massage therapist (or any kind of therapist) must have upmost integrity in taking care of themselves, because their emotional and physical state directly affects their client's state. It is thoroughly uncomfortable and unhelpful to receive a massage from a stressed, burnt out, unaligned person.
I am beyond grateful for my teachers who trained me in awareness and consciousness practices and general lifestyle practices. My implementation of their teachings have kept me healthy, filled with energy, and excited about my job for 13 years and counting.
Modalities
These modalities are my favorites to offer. Each one has their purpose and therapeutic role depending on your needs. Follow the links to learn about each technique and to get a sense of what might be the best fit for you.
The pricing changes slightly for structural integration. All others are the same hourly rate.
See the bottom of the page for pricing!
Why work with a Massage Therapist?
Massage Therapy is an incredibly versatile tool. It can be applied to acute injuries just as easily as it can be applied to healing long-term patterns that one's body has formed around an injury or trauma. Massage therapy can look after the small things just as well as the big things.
Every person I work with has a different constellation of life experiences, background, injuries, strengths, weaknesses, achievements, and relationship to their own physical self (their body!) As such, every time I work with someone, I check in with them to learn what I can about their body-story. Then, when the massage begins, I employ awareness techniques to really listen and feel what's going on. Many of us cannot actually these aspects of our own self and we need someone else to be aware of them for us, and in the case of a massage therapist, to help us work through the imbalances, inefficiencies, and stuck pain.
Once I've listened to my client's words and to their body, I can have a clear sense of what modalities and areas need the most focus. Throughout the massage, I am consistently checking in with my client (verbally and nonverbally) to gauge their sense of ease, if the pressure I'm applying is too much or too little, and so on.
The result is a massage that is truly therapeutic for the person on several levels.
When I get to work with a client over multiple sessions the results truly begin to compound and the body's own, natural healing mechanisms—now aligned and energized—begin to move and take back their power. Most of us just need a little nudge in the right direction and the body's healing capacities take it the rest of the way. This is a central aspect of my philosophy as a massage therapist: we are all incredibly capable, powerful healers. A therapist just helps us get the process going.
"When the Body Gets working appropriately,
the force of Gravity can flow through,
then spontaneously, the body heals itself.”
-Ida Rolf, founder of Rolfing/Structural Integration
