In Touch Wellness is an integrative health wellness center that offers therapeutic massage, intentional movement classes, and nutritional coaching and counseling to the predominantly Black & Brown community of Inglewood, CA. Through massage, movement, and nutrition, In Touch Wellness will offer a holistic approach to body repair and maintenance for long-term health outcomes.
For those who have seen me talk of In Touch Wellness before, notice any difference in that description? We’ll get back to that. It has been a while since there was an update concerning In Touch Wellness, the next step in my attempts to bring health and wellness to the community around me. So why today? What are the updates? Do I have a building? An opening date?
Not quite yet. In fact, I am still in the process of building the foundations to this wellness center, and to do it right it is taking time. Time well spent building business experience by continuing to grow and gain community exposure with In Touch Massage. Hi recent local clientele! 👋🏾 Please keep reading to get an idea of what is still to come. Head back to see pitch videos for the initial idea behind In Touch Wellness. But enough suspense, here are just a few steps taken in the past few months to set the foundations for a long standing community wellness center:
Built connections with local businesses including a community anchor organization with the Hollywood Park Engagement Team. This team are responsible for connecting local small businesses with opportunities within Hollywood Park including for events at the SoFi Stadium & YouTube Theatre.
Acquired several pieces of physical equipment that are required to operate the business. In Touch Massage now possess 4 Massage Tables, 2 Massage Chairs, and a stacked washer/dryer, a dream appliance for any business with as much laundry as a massage establishment requires. Festival materials were also acquired making community engagement and exposure even easier. Building a community takes getting into that community. Many of these items were purchased using the funds garnered from the initial round of fundraising.
I have returned to school. Yes, my efforts to become a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) is the direct result of wanting to better serve my community through health and wellness. By obtaining the credentials of a DPT, not only do I expand my current skill set and knowledge base, but also my scope of practice. As a DPT I can give medical assessments, diagnose ailments and injuries, and importantly prescribe holistic treatment plans for the body that include massage, therapeutic movement (stretching/exercise), and even nutritional alteration. This pillar of the foundation will be the businesses strongest asset, but will also take the most time. That is why you WILL see the opening of In Touch Wellness prior to the completion of my education. But the education is all in service to creating the best wellness community in Inglewood, CA.
Now for the big “change”. One of the In Touch Wellness health segments has changed: from In Touch Fitness to In Touch Movement. My original goal with In Touch Fitness was to deemphasize the connection between exercise and what the results looked like in the mirror or on the scale. That is why in the initial pitch, In Touch Fitness was always described as offering “body neutral fitness”, which was quite a mouthful. Aside from being a bit wordy, the concept of “fitness” was never really the intended goal of creating a space where people would be able to connect with their bodies through movement. Especially as one of those forms of movement was always going to be Yoga. Yoga is a spiritual practice as much as it is a physical one, and I wanted to ensure that goals of the practitioners brought in would be in alignment with the classes on offer. As movement for the direct and explicit goal of body modification will NOT be the focus of In Touch Movement, unless it is being done in a therapeutic manner. The name change also allows for the addition of therapy stretching and exercises classes to be options amongst the movement opportunities. Classes that can be added to a holistic wellness body plan as designed by the DPT in charge (eventually me).
So, both a little and a lot. If you were wondering if this business was still in the cards: yes. All roads lead to In Touch Wellness. If you were wondering if my recent studio space was a step in this direction…no. Not directly. Again, all roads lead to ITW, however this particular venture of opening studio space was specifically to expand the capabilities of In Touch Massage and offer more locations for clients to receive top notch personalized therapeutic massage. The future of In Touch Wellness is bright, and I look forward to continuing bringing you all along with me on this journey. Until the next update, feel free to ask about my progress and process. The more I talk about it the better my ideas get, and building a space for a community requires community input, so I am always looking to hear more from you.
Thanks for reading along. 🌿