Meet Christina Verdugo | Human and Equine Massage Therapist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Christina Verdugo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Christina, do you have some perspective or insight you can share with us on the question of when someone should give up versus when they should keep going?
First, quiet the mind, no matter how long it takes. Quiet the mind and start to feel the body. Put your hand on your heart, take slow deep breaths until you connect. Ask your question and feel what your heart says. Did it light up with electricity or did the beat just kind of muffle itself out? There’s your answer.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My therapeutic career began in 2010 in Occupational Therapy. I worked many settings, the most significant (timewise) was in inpatient rehabilitation. Of the many patients I’ve worked with over the years, there was one who was a quadriplegic who was on my caseload for contracture prevention and quality of life. We spent many mornings just massaging legs, feet, hands and arms. She had no voluntary muscle control but could feel everything. She helped me discover my niche for touch. She could tell me exactly where to go, how much pressure to use and when it was enough. I had thought about going to massage school for a long time but had never acted on it until I moved to CO. The world was shut down from the pandemic and I was in a new state and didn’t know anyone. People were so fearful & so scared of each other, making it so difficult to make friends. I decided that it was the right time for massage school. Things were great, school was exciting, I was looking forward to the future and brainstorming what kind of business I was going to create.
Tgen, I had an accident about half way through massage school, a meniscus tear, which I got through. While I was recovering from that surgery, I had a patient at work that turned me on to equine massage. I sat on that thought for about a year and decided to take the courses at Rocky Mountain School of Animal Acupressure and Massage. Now, I had never been this up close and personal with horses, didn’t grow up with them. I had only ridden horses on trail rides and stuff like that, just a handful of times. But, the idea had been planted and I took off. I met a wonderful horse trainer while I was getting my hands on hours at an equine rescue. I did a few horsemanship lessons with him which helped me be more comfortable connecting with and directing horses during massage. Then I got an amazing mentor who was one of my equine massage instructors. He helped me tremendously to be able to “quiet the mind to hear the whisper” of the horse. Once I experienced that and was actually hearing the whispers, I began reading and watching videos on Horse Speak so I could understand what my equine clients were saying. This has helped tremendously in my confidence being around such large animals, as well as the quality of the massages I give. I’ve since had 2 more surgeries (2nd repair for meniscus tear, and ankle replacement) in 2023 which pretty much put me out of work for about 8 months in the last year.

So, how do I overcome challenges? I quiet the mind so I can see not only the big picture, but where I need to make adjustments to the smaller pieces in order to move forward.

Lessons I’ve learned along the way:
1. You will have many mentors along the way. Some stick around for a lifetime, some are only there for the season. The lessons are eternal and apply to many areas of your life.
2. All things must pass. Yep, cliche but its true.
3. It’s ok to stand up for yourself. Not everyone has your best interest at heart. And there’s someone out there watching that needs to see you stand up. Even when you think you’re insignificant…someone is inspired by you.
4. The hardest one I’ve learned to date…Being authentic to yourself makes lots of people uncomfortable. That’s ok.

What do I want the world to know about my brand/story? It was created in love.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would start by getting all the city attractions done first. We’d start the day by heading to Plant Magic Cafe to get our coffees, head over RiNo, walk around and eat snacks along the way, then head to a Rockies game to catch the sunset over the mountains.
We’d head to Boulder, do a hike at Chattaqua, then finish with lunch or dinner at Avanti.
For the remainder of the week, we’re heading to the mountains for various day trips. One day will be a hike in Buena Vista followed by lunch at Cottonwood lake, followed by soaking at the Cottonwood Hot Springs.
One day we’ll head to Idaho Springs for a quick hot springs dip, then head to Georgetown and start a drive through Guanella Pass for fall colors. I’ve heard Loveland pass is great too but I haven’t made it there yet.
My guest will have a good mix of hiking, eating and soaking. All the things I love about CO.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My parents deserve the biggest shoutout of all. They’ve stood by me and supported me through every situation on this journey. Times when I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing (and I didn’t), times I felt lost, depressed and frustrated, times I was physically unable to work…they supported me through it all. My mom came out to take care of me after 2 different surgeries last year. She took care of me, my dog and even my roommate’s dog. Not to mention all the other ways both have helped me through some of the most challenging times of my life.
The other person is my best friend, my sissy. She’s also supported me through this journey. She’s been there through the physical challenges, through the emotional rainbow that entrepreneurship brings, as well as being a huge emotional support over the years. She’s been on an entrepreneurial journey of her own as well. We started our businesses around the same time and have been able to lean on each other through the ups and downs of business ownership, having each other’s backs, laughing together, crying together, growing together.
This has been the most challenging 3 years of my life. I’m most grateful for my family.

Website: https://sunflowersynergymassage.com

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