Aquatic Bodywork In Fort Collins: Malama’s Path To Calm Nerves And Better Movement

Warm water changes how the body listens. We sit down with Gina Michelle of Malama Massage and Bodywork to explore aquatic bodywork inside a purpose‑built, 22‑foot therapy pool in Fort Collins—and why buoyancy, heat, and gentle movement can calm an overworked nervous system faster than a traditional table session.

Gina traces her arc from the high‑pressure music industry to decades of massage therapy and a dozen years practicing in water. She explains how three‑dimensional access in the pool lets her work the spine and hips without triggering guarding, why warm immersion increases range of motion, and how expectant parents can use aquatic sessions to improve comfort and support optimal fetal positioning. We dig into accessibility too: ADA lift access, supportive floats for head and legs, and a consent‑led approach that meets clients where they are, whether they’re rehabbing injuries, managing chronic pain, or simply seeking real rest.

Then we add sound. Monthly sound baths featuring gongs, Tibetan bowls, and crystal bowls use water’s natural conductivity to carry vibration through the body, stacking benefits with heat and buoyancy. The result? Slower breath, deeper relaxation, and the kind of sleep that lingers long after you’ve toweled off. Along the way, Gina opens up about what it takes to build a community wellness hub—welcoming allied practitioners under one roof while protecting the boundaries that keep care sustainable and genuine.

If you’ve wondered whether aquatic bodywork is right for you, this conversation offers clear answers and real‑world examples: stress regulation, pain relief, pregnancy support, athletic recovery, and more. Join us to learn how environment shapes healing, why “Malama” means to care and nurture, and where to experience this in Fort Collins. Enjoy the episode, share it with a friend who needs calm, and leave a quick review to help neighbors discover the show.

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Nick George.

SPEAKER_01 (00:12):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of amazingmassage and bodywork here in
Fort Collins?
Well, get ready.
We found it.
I'm have the great pleasuretoday of introducing Gina
Michelle of Malama Massage andBodywork.
Gina, how's it going today?

SPEAKER_02 (00:30):
I'm doing great.
I'm talking to you in my therapypool.

SPEAKER_01 (00:34):
Yes, I can see that.
It it took me a second torealize that I've actually been
in that therapy pool with youbefore.
Um right before we startedrecording, it dawned on me, and
that's pretty funny.
And small world, and it was anamazing uh experience, like
nothing else.
Um, by reading the name, uh,there it doesn't really tell
people exactly what theexperience is.

(00:55):
I'm the I can tell people thatfirsthand.
How did you get into thisbusiness?

SPEAKER_02 (01:00):
Yeah, well, specifically for the water, um,
I have been practicing the umthe aquatic body work for about
12 years, but um a massagetherapist, um just obtaining
skills for the last 25 years.
So this has been my career andpassion for a long time.

(01:20):
Um, and it was it was a careerchange from being in the music
industry, that high stress, um,high ego um type of exposure,
and knowing that identifying thecreativity and passion of um of
changing people's lives throughart, but this is healing arts.

(01:41):
So um that's that is the mainthread, and it was a really easy
transition for me.
I I am a science person, I loveanatomy, kinesiology.
So um solving puzzles, solvingmysteries, especially around
pain and discomfort, is umsomething that um was very
intriguing for me, and so Idecided to make a career out of

(02:03):
it.

SPEAKER_01 (02:04):
Can you tell us more about your business?
I should have asked thatquestion first before I asked
you how to how you got into it.

SPEAKER_02 (02:10):
Tell us all of the things that different from this
percentage.
Yeah, it is different.
So um, so how I got into umformulating Aqua's Wellness Arts
was really about the idea of umfinding a place for this therapy
pool.
It's a 22-foot wide pool.
Um, it's warm, it needs a lot ofspace for the humidity and for

(02:35):
um all the activities that I Ilike to hold here.
And so um I landed on trying tofind a location specifically for
the pool.
And Malama is my practice thathas been um in existence for for
decades, and so it's just umbeen this natural follow-through

(02:55):
as a result of opening this umone location here in town, is
that um I get to have otherpractitioners who uh sublet and
rent in the front, and so nowit's kind of become more of a uh
an access for the communitywhere there's different
modalities happening, whetherthat's other uh styles of

(03:16):
massage therapy.
I've got a um midwife nursepractitioner who comes in and
helps with hormone um supportand um other um areas in the
birthing community, and and umit's just a really fascinating
group.
And Aquus means um like a conf,like a many many forms of water.

(03:40):
So when we're working with uhdifferent modalities and
different approaches to how wecan um create wellness, it they
do come from different sources,and when I think source, I think
water and naturally, you know,I'm and I am in water, so um
aquas was the was the word thatcame to mind.

(04:00):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (04:01):
Talk to me about the audio verb um aspect vibration.
Oh, yes, the audio vibration ofof you mean this the sound baths
is I I think I experienced a fewdifferent a couple of different
things at least, including agong, maybe.

SPEAKER_02 (04:19):
Um yeah, yeah, so the sound baths, we try to hold
those once a month.
Um, I have a rotation of uhdifferent sound therapists or
practitioners, and sometimesthey bring in gongs, they'll
bring in um Tibetan bowls or umthe quartz crystal bowls, yeah,

(04:40):
and um different um othermediums of sound, and you know,
sound carries through waterpretty easily.
So when you're floating andyou're relaxing and um receiving
these healing frequencies, uh, Imean, what I can't think of a
better combination, right?
The water and the sound, itreally does travel through, and

(05:03):
we're we're made of water.
Um, our composite is about 70%.
So what we're receiving throughthe this um exposure of the
sound uh journey is um reallyprofound.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (05:18):
I felt like I floated out of your building
after the greatest sleep anddream experience of my life and
left my flip-flops there.
And you guys made an effort tomake sure I got them back a
month later.

SPEAKER_02 (05:28):
So that's right.
You are the flip-flop guy.

SPEAKER_01 (05:31):
Yeah, I'm the flip-flops guy.
And those are some nice ones.
You know, you could you couldopen but uh uh bottles with the
the thing on the bottom of them,right?
So um thank you for getting thisback to me.
Very honest people, too.
Um so uh wow, Gina.
What um what is your targetclientele and how are you

(05:53):
reaching out to them through thedigital media now?

SPEAKER_02 (05:57):
Yeah.
So I've been so lucky so farwith on the massage side,
largely referral-based.
On the aquatic side, it's awhole different modality that
people really don't know a lotabout unless they go to Hot
Springs or maybe have watchedthat episode on New Girl where

(06:17):
they kind of made fun of youknow, some that that um older
therapist holding the uh one ofthe cast characters.

SPEAKER_01 (06:23):
Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (06:26):
It's uh um it's a um very unique and um different
approach.
Um, a lot of people don't reallyknow if is the water cold or
warm, and the answer is it'swarm.
Um a lot of people, when itcomes down to what is the common
need, it's really about people'snervous systems and how we can

(06:48):
regulate.
Um, I'm sure out there in theworld of internet and
information and Dr.
Google, um, the phrase ofregulating your nervous system
comes to mind.
And that could be through toptherapy, that could be through
meditation, um, and also throughbody work.
And this one in the water, youhave the warmth, you have the

(07:10):
ease of relaxing in the water.
There's this fluidity, I'mworking right with your spine,
increasing range of motion, um,the muscles soften a lot quicker
than on the table because you'rein warm water, it's almost like
you're taking a bath, and thenyou're also getting bodies.
That's a really goodcombination, right?

(07:31):
Um, and so then who is thistargeted for?
Almost everybody.
I have a lift for ADA needs, um,so you don't necessarily have to
be um climbing a ladder.
I have um pregnant women who arehaving issues um with their

(07:51):
comfort level during pregnancyor need help with um optimally
positioning their babies inutero uh before labor, which is
a very, very big deal.
That means that there's lessintervention.
Um, and in sports injuries,range of motion.
Um the warm water helps toprevent people from guarding

(08:12):
their body as if they were onland.
And so um it's almost like um Idon't want to say tricking, but
it's just like really workingwith how the body opens while
they're floating.
And people do float.
Um, by the way, I do I did bringlike people wear something like
this around their legs, sothey're floating, the bottom

(08:34):
part of their body is floating,and I'm either holding their
hand, their head in my hands, orI'm using you know something
like this, it's a head float.
So um it makes the body veryaccessible to work almost in a
three-dimensional way, and umthe results are really profound.

SPEAKER_01 (08:55):
Yeah, it's all the benefits of like a sensory
deprivation chamber, I wouldimagine, since I haven't been in
anything like that other than atyour place.
Um the sensories that the inputsthat you're controlling in that
situation are amazing, uh,creates a great environment.
Uh, so have you ever thoughtabout doing your own podcast to

(09:15):
educate people about this?

SPEAKER_02 (09:17):
I've done a few a couple of podcasts, and um,
yeah, I I I haven't reallythought about doing my own, like
heading it up.
I would love to uh collaborateand learn from somebody who's
who knows it better than I do,though.

SPEAKER_01 (09:32):
So what do you do for fun?

SPEAKER_02 (09:35):
I'd be up for I'd be up to here possibilities.

SPEAKER_01 (09:39):
What do you do for fun when you're not giving
people the dream stateexperience at work?

SPEAKER_02 (09:44):
Yeah, um, I I do enjoy a lot of uh solo um or
alone time because I am holdingspace for a lot of people.
Um, but a lot of times too, I'mwith my family, um, the the
people who are close to me andin my heart.
And so that might mean that I'minviting them into my space, uh
my home space, or traveling.

(10:05):
Uh, and um, you know, it's it'sjust um I'm I'm like everyone
else.
I have a family and I havededicated time for the ones that
I love for sure.

SPEAKER_01 (10:17):
Gina, we know every not everybody's had a perfect
life, and uh some of us havegone through amazing um
adversity and that made us thediamond that we are today.
Um what about you?
Is there anything you want toshare with us that uh was a
personal struggle that youovercame and made you stronger?

SPEAKER_02 (10:34):
Wow, so when I read that question that you um left,
I was thinking, does it pertainto business?
And so I I had I had an answerpertaining to business, and but
I also think it's um related toany kind of uh facet of my life.
And so that it it's it's reallyyou know, I'm a I'm a giver by

(10:57):
nature, and so um if some if youare a giver and can relate to um
the hurdle that it takes to kindof having an edge or you know,
working with boundaries, um, youknow, making decisions not just
from the heart.
As a business person, you know,there's it involves a lot more

(11:18):
discern, discerning and um a lotmore um working with what is
supportive and worthy of my timeand my energy, right?
And so that's everything from ifI speak about business, every
from collaborating with people,um subletters, um, you know,

(11:40):
just working with my ownboundaries and and when does
work time happen and when doespersonal time happen, and is
there overlap or not, likereally choosing and affirming
that.
Um and I think the um the growthhas been um, you know, it's it's
always an upgrade, it's not justone and done lesson.

(12:03):
There's always some kind ofsituation that has a variable,
right?
So um, so it it just eachexperience helps me affirm what
it is that I'm really all aboutand what is in my integrity, and
that I get to attract peoplewithin my integrity as well, and
that's super important.

SPEAKER_01 (12:22):
For those of you that are listening to this on
audio driving, uh Malama isspelled M A L A M A.
Um, what does Malama mean?

SPEAKER_02 (12:33):
Malama was um a nickname that was given to my
Hawaiian teacher or my kumu.
Um, when I was studying umHawaiian temple Lomi Lomi, I
would go back and forth to Mauiand we would have these retreats
and really get into thespiritual aspect of body work,
um, which actually translates alot in the water.

(12:56):
So malama means to take to carefor or to nurture.
And so um it it seemed prettyfitting, I guess, um, my style
and approach.
Um, there is a a very um heldspace, a contained space, and
I've just I've just I've made itbigger, you know, with this pool

(13:17):
space.
Yeah, it is a big container foreveryone to let go in.

SPEAKER_01 (13:22):
Gina, what are all of the ways that people can find
you online on social media andby phone?

SPEAKER_02 (13:29):
Well, thankfully, now I have uh this this link
with with you, the Good NeighborPodcast, um, where they can uh
click onto my website.
Um I'm on Facebook under MalamaMassage Therapy.
Uh you can Google me as well uhand um find all kinds of
pictures.
I try to stay up to date.
Um I'm not a natural uh mediatype person, but uh you know

(13:52):
you'll find all kinds ofpictures, um reviews, um, and
um, of course, where I'mlocated.

SPEAKER_01 (14:01):
Nice.
Yeah.
Excuse me.
Gina, I really appreciate youbeing on the show, and we
definitely wish you and MalamaMassage and Bodywork the very
best moving forward.

SPEAKER_02 (14:14):
Thank you so much.
I appreciate your time, and I'dlove to see you back in the
pool, okay, Nick?

SPEAKER_01 (14:19):
I'll be back.

SPEAKER_02 (14:20):
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (14:21):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
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