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Wednesday, September 22, 2021 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Massage therapist now in Sisters
By Ceili Cornelius
Correspondent
Alesha Faris, licensed
massage therapist (LMT) has
had a passion for helping peo-
ple since she was a young girl,
and she9s turned that passion
into her own practice.
Faris was born and raised
in Sisters, being a resident
since 1995.
Faris became officially
licensed to practice massage
in 2014 after realizing she
could make her lifelong pas-
sion a profession.
<I studied all areas of mas-
sage 4 Swedish, Thai, preg-
nancy massage 4 particu-
larly therapeutic massage, and
started working with athletes
and body builders,= she said.
Faris got her license
through classes at COCC
and focused on classes deal-
ing with chronic pain, hydro-
therapy, and mobilization all
within therapeutic massage.
Most of her focus during ses-
sions is helping to relieve
chronic pain issues, as well as
traumatic injuries.
<I try to just relieve the
most amount of pain in cer-
tain areas,= she said. <I focus
on the use of deep pressure
which is different than deep
tissue massage.=
Deep pressure massage is
when the muscles of the area
being worked don9t fight back
and it is more muscle use on
her part, with more direct pres-
sure applied in a specific area.
<This kind of massage is
specific to helping with inju-
ries and chronic pain,= Faris
said.
Faris9 decision to focus her
passion for helping people
on massage was multiplied
because she experienced deep
and chronic pain after being in
a car accident in 2015.
<I understand what it9s like
to be in that kind of pain after
a traumatic event,= she said.
As a young girl she would
do massage on her friends
and family friends after sport-
ing events. One of her family
friends told her she should do
this for a living.
<That next morning after
she said that, I looked into
what that would look like and
I got signed up for classes
that fall to become licensed in
massage therapy,= she said.
Faris worked at Massage
Envy in Bend.
<It was a good place to
start in the massage therapy
industry; you start to build up
the muscles that are needed,=
she said.
But Faris had always
wanted to be able to work for
herself and be home for her
son, being a single mom. In
2017, she rented space from
a chiropractor in Bend and
began branching out on her
own. She got her own space
in 2019 in Bend and was
there for around a year before
the pandemic, when she shut
down her practice.
<It was hard to keep work-
ing with the nature of my cli-
entele, and it was so unknown,
there were too many ques-
tions, so I decided to reassess
and shut down,= she said.
The shutdown ended up
being a silver lining for Faris,
as she was able to look for
a space closer to home in
Sisters. Faris and her son live
PHOTO PROVIDED
Alisha Faris has opened a massage
practice at Sisters Art Works.
with her father, and he was
instrumental in helping her
find a space in Sisters.
Faris has her own office
space for therapeutic massage
in the Sisters Art Works build-
ing on Adams Avenue
<I got the space at the Art
Works building in May and
re-opened once vaccines were
more rolled out,= she said.
Faris has a loyal following
of clients that followed her
from Bend to receive massage
from her. Faris doesn9t have
set hours for her practice; she
just has clients text or call her
when they need a massage
and they schedule one.
<My goal is to make people
that come in feel better, and I
just want people to know that
I am here,= she said. <I like
going home knowing that I
have helped someone.=
When Faris is not practic-
ing massage, you can find
her hiking with her son in the
summertime.
To schedule a massage
with Faris, call 541-306-9344.
Her office is located at 204 W.
Adams Ave., Ste. 103B.
SAR assists hikers in
forest outside of Sisters
Fall weather has arrived
4 which means that condi-
tions can change quickly. A
pair of hikers near Sisters got
caught unprepared for condi-
tions over the weekend and
required help from Deschutes
County Search and Rescue.
On Saturday, September
18, at about 10:30 a.m.,
Deschutes County Dispatch
Search and Rescue was
advised of two hikers need-
ing assistance at Camp Lake
near Pole Creek Trailhead
outside of Sisters. Deschutes
County 911 had received
a report from Garmin GPS
emergency response that they
had received an emergency
alert at that location from a
Garmin GPS receiver.
Emergency response was
able to make contact with
the user, who reported a
weather system had moved
in overnight and the user
along with a hiking partner
were now wet, cold, and
needing assistance back to
the trailhead. At the time
of this call, a United States
Forest Service (USFS) Law
Enforcement Officer was also
notified and responded to the
area. A Deschutes County
Sheriff9s Office Assistant
SAR Coordinator was able
to make text message con-
tact with 32-year-old Brian
Werter and 30-year-old Elyse
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Zukelich, both of Bend, and
learned they were uninjured,
but would not be able to
safely return to the trailhead
without assistance.
Fourteen DCSO SAR vol-
unteers responded to the trail-
head including ground teams,
medical teams, and a horse
team. The teams responded
up the trail from Pole Creek
Trailhead arriving at the
patients at 3:40 p.m. Upon
arrival, SAR teams found
the victims were not in need
of medical care, although
they would need assistance
with basic care (food, water,
dry clothing) prior to hiking
down the trail. Teams noted
at the time of arrival at the
hikers9 camp, temperatures
were in the low 30s with
mixed snow and rain falling.
At 4:40 p.m. SAR teams
began escorting the subjects
down the trail where they
met friends and went home
by personal vehicle. SAR
personnel and the subjects
arrived back at the trailhead
at 7:30 p.m. The Sheriff9s
Office thanked the Forest
Service Law Enforcement for
their help during this mission.
Conditions can change
rapidly; hikers be prepared
for varying temperatures and
rain/snowfall. Keep a close
eye on weather forecasts for
recreation areas.