Heart Felt Touch Massage Therapy Offers The Muscles A Welcome Respite From Everyday Stress

Ginger Spencer lives by this heartfelt message about touch — we need it more than ever.

That’s especially true today when many of us suffer from lingering ailments, including “tech neck” that stresses our muscles due to overreliance on technology, said Spencer, who owns Heart Felt Touch Massage Therapy in Gloucester Village. Yet the COVID-19 pandemic discourages even the most minimal touch, a handshake, let alone a bear hug as a greeting.

“Now we’re asked to avoid touch,” Spencer said. “Even in healthy people when we’re not able to give and receive healthy touch, it can lead to isolation, loneliness, depression and anxiety.”

Heart Felt Touch Massage Therapy has multiple protocols in place to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 so clients can feel safe and secure when scheduling an appointment for a full-body massage or a bothersome trigger point. In addition to enhanced sanitation measures, appointments are staggered to reduce traffic in the studio. Accordingly, when the business reopened last June after a two-month closure in 2020, it was busier than during pre-COVID times.

Spencer encourages people to dismiss the notion of massage being a luxury.

“We’re not just out to make you feel beautiful but to be part of your regular wellness routine,” she said. “Massage is therapeutic and essential.”

Clients can customize their massage specific to their needs. An aromatherapy option incorporates dreamy oils, such as lavender or coconut vanilla. The sports massage focuses on enhanced performance and improving recovery rates for athletes.

Spencer’s specialties include Compassionate Touch, an approach that combines skilled touch with interpersonal communication — ideal for palliative care.

“I’ve always loved grandmas and grandpas,” said Spencer, who regards that population as the most touch-deprived. “Using touch is a way to relieve stress and anxiety. It instills trust in the caregiver and brings people back to a place of safety.”

Spencer, an educator of Compassionate Touch, has been a licensed massage therapist for 18 years. Before that, she was a flight attendant who enjoyed making others comfortable and building trust, which led her to study massage therapy. She spent seven years at Riverside Wellness and Fitness Center before branching out on her own.

She remains increasingly passionate about finding ways to safely connect with others physically, even in these challenging times.

“Essential to life is the pure water we drink and clean air we breathe,” she said. “Touch is as essential as these. Without healthy touch, we — children, adults and those in later life stages — will fail to thrive and decline mentally, socially, spiritually, cognitively and emotionally.”

She named her business Heart Felt Touch Massage to emphasize that touch is both given and received on a heart level.

“We offer a touch from the heart, and our intention is that it’s also felt by the recipient on the physical and heart level,” she said.

Born in Wichita, Kansas, Spencer moved to San Diego, then Northern Virginia when she worked for the airlines, spending many years without a true home base. Extended family, including a mother and sister, brought her to the Middle Peninsula.

“My family is back together, and I knew we were going to stay,” she said. “I finally feel at home.”

Spencer and her husband, Ruben, have two grown children, two teenagers and three grandchildren. Her black Lab and two cats complete the unit.

Heart Felt Touch Massage Therapy at a7282 York Avenue in Gloucester Village is open six days a week. Call 804-693-9000 to schedule an appointment.