Andrea Fleming, LMTI

Head Instructor, Director

Andrea has spent the majority of her adult life studying and practicing massage. She began her massage training at Texas Healing Arts Institute, where she acquired basic skills in Swedish Massage and Trigger Point and Myofascial Release. Realizing there was something more to helping clients than just the mechanics of rubbing tight muscles in order to gain a release. Interested in what makes people tick, she began studying Asian bodywork and QiGong meditation at Tao Health Center in North Austin. Through taking many classes there, and through much of her own study, she began to cultivate a bodywork style that she felt was more integrated, bringing Western medical viewpoints of physiology and release techniques together with Chinese and Japanese theories of energy and movement. This approach to massage has proven time and again, that a holistic method of adressing a client's needs is usually most beneficial. 

In addition to working as a massage therapist at top day spas and salons, Andrea has spent years operating her own business, as well as managing and directing local day spas in Austin. During that time, she consulted for spas in developing product lines and spa menus that reflect the professional identity of the establishment. Andrea has learned much from experience, and brings that hard-earned insight to the classroom, especially enjoying working with new massage therapists and others who are completely new to massage. She recognizes the beauty in individuality, and appreciates the chance to help students find individual strengths and talents unique to them. Just as she considers it a privelege to touch people in recovery, she also sees it as a privelege to serve as a source of information for students, as well as a guide on their personal path of learning.

Andrea has taught over 1400 hours of Swedish Massage, as well as countless classes and individual tutoring sessions in Hydrotherapy, Health & Hygiene, Asian Bodywork Theory and Technique, Spa Treatments, Pregnancy Massage, Chair Massage, Teaching Adult Learners, Qi Gong Meditation, Acupressure, and other subjects. She still has a thriving massage therapy practice specializing in Pain Relief and Injury Recovery using Swedish and Deep Tissue Massage in conjunction with Chinese QiGong Massage.   

Andrea lives in South Austin, with her husband, Sean, and her sweet baby daughter, Djuna.

Shane Epperly, LMTI, CFT

Instructor

Shane’s massage therapy training began in 2005 at Austin’s Lauterstein-Conway Massage School and Clinic where he completed 300 hours of training in Swedish Massage.  In 2005 and 2006, he spent time studying PNF (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation) stretching at the International Flexibility Institute in Tempe, Arizona, where he completed their Stretch to Win program and became a Certified Flexibility Therapist.  In 2008, Shane went on to complete the 290 hour Clinical Massage Therapy Program at Texas Healing Arts Institute, where his studies focused on trigger point therapy and myofascial release techniques.  Shane is a licensed massage therapist in both Texas and Arkansas.

Prior to his incarnation as a massage therapist, Shane spent time working as a photojournalist for The Korea Herald, South Korea’s largest nationally-distributed English language newspaper.  While abroad, Shane also taught English and Photography at Yosu University in Yosu City, South Korea.  These experiences helped cultivate his ability to be resourceful, flexible, affable, and persistent.  He developed the ability to communicate and work with incredibly diverse groups of people and take communication barriers and cultural differences in stride, rather than allowing such challenges to discourage him.  Shane prides himself in being able to interact comfortably and respectfully with people from all walks of life, due in large part, to his experiences in Korea.  Shane’s friendly and outgoing reputation among friends, family, and colleagues has caused many of them to say that he “never meets a stranger.”