Good Neighbor Podcast: Union
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Residents of Northern Kentucky! Based in Union, KY....The Good Neighbor Podcast helps the residents of Northern Kentucky get to know local business owners as people. We allow the business owners and influencers in NKY to tell the stories of how they started their business and why. We hear about their families, their personal interests and why they love living in and serving resident of Northern Kentucky!
Good Neighbor Podcast: Union
From Chronic Pain To Calm: Sea Of Tranquility’s Hands-On Approach To Healing
Pain doesn’t just live in muscles; it hides in habits, stress, and the hours we spend sitting still. That’s why we invited Leslie Shaw, owner of Sea of Tranquility Massage and Wellness, to walk us through a hands-on, whole-person strategy that helps neighbors move better, feel calmer, and get real relief without guesswork. From her start in a single room to a full studio across from Dixie Heights High School, Leslie has built a family practice with her daughter that blends therapeutic massage with smart tools and clear education.
We dig into the issues most of us feel but rarely fix: sciatica from desk time, neck and shoulder knots from screens, and the slow loss of core and hip strength that makes everyday movement harder. Leslie explains how red light therapy can dial down sinus inflammation and headaches in as little as 20 minutes, why reflexology and Thai yoga stretching ease tension and restore range, and how Reiki and craniosacral work help an overtaxed nervous system reset. She also connects the dots between breath work, the vagus nerve, and the gut–brain axis, showing how calmer breathing and better digestion translate into clearer thinking and deeper sleep.
What sets Leslie apart is how she lives the approach she teaches. After a head-on collision left her with numbness and limited function, one acupuncture session opened the door to recovery and a new career. Today she “walks the walk” with regular chiropractic and acupuncture, daily meditation, and consistent exercise, so clients get guidance that’s tested, practical, and tailored. We also share details on the studio’s new Edgewood space, the tranquility room for decompression, small-group stretch classes, and seasonal gift offers that make starting easier.
Looking to trade tension for mobility and stress for steady energy? Subscribe to the show, share this episode with a friend who needs relief, and leave a review with the one takeaway you’ll try this week.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Mike Murphy.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you, Charlie. My guest today is somebody who I'm just meeting for the first time today. So you're going to learn about her business along with me. Her name is Leslie Shaw. Quite often I say, you know, with me today is a longtime friend. Well, today is a friend I just met. So Leslie, uh whether you like it or not, we're friends now, okay?
SPEAKER_03:Okay, good morning. Hello, my new friend.
SPEAKER_01:All right. Good morning to you. So you are the owner of Sea of Tranquility Massage and Wellness LLC, correct?
SPEAKER_03:That's correct. That's correct.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. And um you're you're located across from Dixie Heights High School there in Edgewood, correct?
SPEAKER_03:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. So the rest of it um is going to be found out through conversation that we're about to have. So let's get it going. All right. So Sea of Tranquility Massage and Wellness. Um, in a nutshell, what do you do?
SPEAKER_03:Well, Sea of Tranquility Massage and Wellness is a massage spawn salon. I started it in 2017 and out of um basically a room, one small room, and it was me as a massage therapist, and uh we expanded uh over the last um nine years and uh well eight years going on nine years, and uh now it includes me and my daughter. So we my daughter and I are two full-time therapeutic massage therapists and uh love working with family. This is just it's a wonderful, it's been a wonderful experience. She's joined me in 2023, and uh we pretty much specialize in chronic pain, chronic back pain, shoulder pain that that normal. We also deal with people with uh Parkinson's disease or with chronic ailments like uh rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, uh autoimmune conditions, and then we do also work with people with just regular everyday stressors, ups and downs and the things of life. Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. So people don't have to think of you as uh coming to you if they've been in an accident, if they um have some sort of ailment or whatever, not necessarily, they can just come to take a break from life and to chill and relax and do a reset?
SPEAKER_03:Yes, yes, definitely. We even have a tranquility room specifically for that purpose where you can just sit and just decompress.
SPEAKER_01:All right. Well, good. So um, if you had to identify over the course of these years that you've um been in existence, is there a number one um type of service you tend to provide? Um, or you know, somebody with a particular need or ailment? What's it look what's that look like?
SPEAKER_03:Um, for the most part, I think most people come to us because they are having low back pain or neck and shoulder pain. Uh, we live in a very sedentary society, and so people are at computers all day, and so uh so what it looks like is mostly people having sciatic nerve pain, which is like numbness and tingling down their legs and down to their feet, or like uh chronic neck pain, shoulder aches, and things like that.
SPEAKER_01:So okay. So, aside from massage type services, are there other things like you've got the tranquility room? Um, what are the things uh in-house do you do you offer um that kind of support what you do at the massage table?
SPEAKER_03:Oh, okay. Well, uh we do red light therapy, which is good for inflammation, for skin inflammation, for like it helped with wound care, it helps with body aches. Um, we also do reflexology, which is for the feet and the hands, which where the um reflect reflexology is uh a modality that it looks at the feet and the hands and how it reflects what's going on in the body. So it actually attaches to the organs to help you to relax those organs as well. We do Thai yoga stretching, uh, which is basically we put you on the mat on the floor and we stretch you out because a lot of people don't get enough stretching. Uh, even people who work out, they don't stretch enough. Um, so um, so we to we try to incorporate a lot of different things. Um, we also do cold stone therapy, hot stone therapy, um Reiki and craniosacral therapy, which is more energy work. Uh, so I do breath work classes, and we also offer um what do you call this? Uh their um exercise classes twice a month. So we'll we used to offer once a month, but now we're going into we're offering two Saturdays a month for an hour, where actually you and a couple of your friends, up to six people, we will actually do stretching for an hour, just like you're going to an exercise class or a yoga class.
SPEAKER_01:So do you and your daughter kind of tag team things, or um are there times when you're both there at the same time? Are you most of the time there at the same time?
SPEAKER_03:Most of the time we are. Uh, she works more so during the day, and I work more from earl, you know, early in the day to the evening. Um so she has my grandkids, so she has to get, you know, you have to get kids off the school and you know, pick them up. So so she did, she's usually there mostly during the day. Um, but on the weekends, I'm there usually on Saturdays, and she's there on Sunday. So at least we have the weekends covered, but we're not always together uh during that time.
SPEAKER_01:Sounds like a busy life.
SPEAKER_03:Very busy.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you shared with me before we um uh started recording this that you have two kids. So your daughter is one of two children, correct? Yes, and then the two grandkids, yes, yes. So, do you want to shout out the kids and the grandkids? Uh, what what are their names?
SPEAKER_03:Oh, okay. My son, uh my son's name is Delano, he lives in Colorado, and uh he works for UC Um uh Boulder in Colorado, and then my daughter is Laura, she's the massage therapist. Uh, and then of course Iris and Carlos, those are my heart, you know. Iris is seven and Carlos is five, so they're so much fun. So yeah, they they keep me on my toes and they keep me smiling.
SPEAKER_01:So those are great names, uh, especially Delano. That's when you don't hear anymore, right?
SPEAKER_03:Like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, I'm assuming like wait a minute, and you got it right on the first try, exactly.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, okay, good, good. All right, so how often do you get to get out to Boulder?
SPEAKER_03:Um, we I try to go at least once a year, uh, sometimes twice. Um, I haven't gone this year, but we plan to go next year. Uh hopefully we'll get a chance to go. We're looking at trying to go on Amtrak to Colorado with the grandkids. So I think I think that would be great.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Yeah, like to go Amtrak all the way from here out to Boulder and uh yes. All right. Well, I hate to tell you, part of that uh trip's gonna be very boring.
SPEAKER_03:I know, but hey, kids kids make everything adventurous. We'll we're it's gonna be an adventure.
SPEAKER_01:But once you get out towards that mountain range, man oh man, um yes, yeah, there's there's a lot to look at, and so right, definitely, yes. Okay, so then um you know, have you ever uh done one of those trips? And I'm not sure exactly um how how old the grandkids are right now, but have you been brave enough to do like one of those family trips out to Disney or any other place together? And like have you have you tested the waters as far as how that goes?
SPEAKER_03:Oh yeah, we've done it several times actually. We just came back, we went to North Carolina down to the beach. Beach is there, uh road trip, and the the kids are they're remarkable. Uh my granddaughter, she was flying to Colorado as you know, small as she was less than a year old, charming everyone on the plane. So, yeah, so they're they're travelers, but uh like my kids, I they've grown up traveling too, because we've lived all over the US. So my kids knew about packing up the car and we moving out to California and living in North Carolina and Georgia, so we've lived all over.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Well, good. Um, yeah, I uh I I would love to um if if you could um share with me some of those photos as you make it out there to Boulder on that Amtrak train. That sounds like something that's pretty interesting. I had never considered uh going out there via Amtrak, but um you're gonna be my test dummy and you're going to tell me how it goes.
SPEAKER_03:And oh definitely.
SPEAKER_01:I'd like to be fly on the wall to that trip.
SPEAKER_03:So yeah, my parents, my parents are trained people. So my parents, uh, when I lived in California, they uh they came out on Amtrak to California from here, and they've gone up to Washington, DC on the train. And so yeah, so they're they love the my parents you know, before my dad passed away, of course, uh, they love the train. And uh, so yeah, they travel quite a bit on the trains. And we I've done smaller trips, but this is going to be the first big trip and the whole family trip. So we're excited.
SPEAKER_01:Well, speaking of your dad, I know you shared with me that he passed uh at at age 94, was it?
SPEAKER_03:94, yes.
SPEAKER_01:And mama's 95 right now, correct?
SPEAKER_03:Yes, she'll be 90, she'll be 96 next month if she makes her birthday.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, well, she's come this far. Let's just call her 96.
SPEAKER_03:Right?
SPEAKER_01:But yeah, she's for all intents and purposes, she's 96 right now.
SPEAKER_02:So right, right.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, what a blessing that is. So, and yeah, she's still active, as you told me. So that's just kind of a peek into what's in store for you, I think. As long as you um, you know, say your prayers, take your vitamins and all that good stuff.
SPEAKER_03:Yep, you're probably gonna live past a hundred. Yep, I that's the goal.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, and the services that you provide um at your um salon, your spa, is intended to kind of help us live better lives in the here and now, right? And maybe increase our longevity as well, correct?
SPEAKER_03:Right, yes. Okay, so the the the biggest thing I think people don't get enough of is flexibility and strength and core strength care. Um what happens over time is we lose our core strengths, our like what's in our abs, and uh not recognizing that our glutes and legs and things like that is what keeps us upright and keeps us strong. And so um, when you're sitting all day, those muscles break down. And so it's important to continue to build those things and stretch those things out so that you can continue to walk, be able to walk with your own two feet, not need a walker or cane and things like that. Not saying things are not going to happen, but if you keep your core strength strength and your glute and hip strength, you can stay stay upright as long as you can and basically stay independent as long as you can.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so you're kind of bringing to mind some things that um you know my wife has been learning about over the past couple years in terms of and it kind of goes along with the stretching and and the mindfulness, the breathing, and all that, and that is kind of resetting the vegas nerve.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yes, uh-huh. Okay, the vegan it does everything.
SPEAKER_01:See, that's what she's telling me. And uh, so she's paying a lot of attention to that, and um, that's that's kind of been her her thing the past couple years, right? And you would have thought that I would pay more attention since uh since I live with the woman. But um, but see, I I I have paid attention enough to ask you about it.
SPEAKER_03:So right, yes, that that nerve, it does everything, and the other part, big part about that is digestive health. The vagus nerve is that's the part of your second brain. If your digestion is not good, if you don't get the right nutrients in your body, you do not you can't think properly, you can't process properly, it prevents your your organ function from doing the things it needs to do. So, yeah, we the the stomach and the brain together is that one axis that we we are those are both the two brains that we need to work properly in order for us to overall work properly.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so people aren't just coming to you for services that are you know physical in nature, they're coming to you for education as well.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, definitely. And I I am a person, I take a lot of classes, I I love what I do, and it's very important for me to approach massage from a very holistic space. So, not just your physical health, but your mental, your your emotional, and your physical health. I I want to make sure that we're covering all those things or even the things that you're putting in your body. So I have experience in nutrition, I have experience in massage, uh, and meditation and breath work. And so I come try to combine all those things to give the person the best so that we can work together to get the best health outcomes.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, good. Well, that's a nice little commercial for you.
SPEAKER_03:Well, thank you. I might have to just pan that little part and yeah, yeah, yeah, do that little part for me.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, drop that all over social media. You're well practiced at that already. So you know your topic very well.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, thank you.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so um, going back to one thing you had mentioned before, one of the services is the red light therapy. Yes, I have noticed, I have noticed that that's really become big the past year. You see on TV, you know, mats and masks and hats and uh all the things, right? So I've always wondered um how how effective is it for certain things, you know, what's it really best used for, and how long does it take? You know, if you're going to treat it as an ongoing therapy, um, how long does it take to notice the results that you're looking for when you make that investment?
SPEAKER_03:Well, I'll tell you this I read light therapy, you notice right away. Um that I use a lot of it, especially I I use it a lot, especially for people with headaches and inflammation in the sinuses and things like that. I can I tell you, I and I from personal experience as well as client testimonials, they notice a difference after being under that thing for like 20 minutes. You can feel that pressure uh relieving that pressure in the head, that inflammation going down. Uh, I think for skin care, because it's actually used for skin, people with acne, uh, rosacea, and things like that. And those are more like the blue light therapies or the different light grade therapies. It might take a little bit longer, but I know for like headaches and muscle aches and backaches, I I do a 20-minute session on someone and they feel it. They feel it like after the session is done, they can feel the difference in their body. Um, but many people don't realize that red light therapy was initially used in World War One. It was to help people, it was helped the soldiers to um uh get better from like wound care. It was yeah, so they would put the red light therapy on there to help the wound to like close up and heal faster.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, yeah. So this isn't some sort of brand spanking new technology, this is something that's tried and true and has been around for a while. Okay, right.
SPEAKER_03:And and I think what happens is, you know, with different things, people think things are faddish, so they fall in and out, but actually it's something that has worked for decades, almost a hundred years. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01:All right, so um, you know, you're you're all the time busy caring for other people, yes, but you know, you you deserve to be treated well yourself and and take advantage of some of these uh treatments and therapies and all that. So um when it comes to um therapeutic massage and all that stuff, I think I know the answer to this question, uh-huh, obviously. But um, who do you go to? Who treats you when you need a good massage? When you need to just have somebody just kind of um bring you back to center and uh you know de stress you. Who is that person?
SPEAKER_03:Well, uh normally my my daughter is my massage therapist, she's my regular, but I go to a different massage therapist, okay? Yeah, uh all over the city. Um, also um, I get regular chiropractic care. I get acupuncture care. Um I exercise about six days a week. I meditate daily. And so I I'm I'm a firm believer in you can't talk to talk if you don't walk the walk. I I don't like hypocrisy. So if I tell you that I'm telling you that I'm about something, I've already done it and tried it. I try to make sure that I try it out first and say, this was my experience with it, try it out for yourself. Um, I've done like float tank, which is like the you know, the um deprivation chamber. Yeah. I've done the cold plunge. So yeah, so all these things I I think they're very important to a person's, you know, overall health. And like some things I might try, and it might not necessarily be for me. And but I do believe in actually holistic wellness care because that's that's health care to me, it's preventative care. Yeah, so I think you you know, people should give it a give it a chance. But I try if I recommend something, I try it, and then I tell you, hey, I like this, I didn't like that, or whatever. Let people make their own decisions.
SPEAKER_01:So, who in your past, um, whenever you started, you know, became aware of these therapies, um, you know, your journey, if you want to call it that, who introduced you to that and uh how long ago was that?
SPEAKER_03:Oh wow, um I I guess I was introduced to massage maybe 25 years ago when I got my first massage, and I I was like, oh, I love this, this is nice. And it was actually something I would do like at Mother's Day or my birthday. And um it wasn't until I went uh until I guess about 2011 when I decided to start my journey in massage that I recognized the overall scope of it, um, and what it could possibly do and how it could help people and how it helped me. So, but before then I was just like a lot of people, you know, oh I'm going to the spa, I'll get a massage, or you know, you just do it occasionally.
SPEAKER_04:Occasionally, right.
SPEAKER_03:Right. But I think with acupuncture, that happened because I was in a car accident and it was a head-on collision. It was pretty, it was pretty violent. And that was back in like 2000, about 2001. And I had numbness and tingling in my hand. I couldn't, I I couldn't barely use my right arm and things like that. And really, I shouldn't be able to be a massage therapist. And a good friend of mine who had multiple sclerosis introduced me to acupuncture. I went to an acupuncturist for the first time, and my pain was gone after one session.
SPEAKER_04:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:And I, and that was that was probably back in 2020. And I have been a huge proponent of acupuncture since that time because I had tried chiropractic. and massage and we went through a rheumatologist and we did all these things and my shoulder and arm I couldn't get it right. I went to one acupuncturist and that that really opened my eyes to the wellness journey and how you can treat yourself in other ways without just you know you you know you can look holistically as opposed to just taking a pill or things like that. All right that's interesting to know um yeah I'm just with that right there a lot of people leaned into the conversation just now yeah it was no it's been amazing and I I tell people my journey all the time yeah it was amazing. Good so um have you been um like I think you said uh 2017 is when you started the business correct and have you been at that location across from Dixie Heights high school the whole time oh wait you were in Florence at one time weren't you I was in Florence yes so I started off in Florence and like I said in my one room and I shared it with two other women and I was there um that was on Mall Road over there at the Mall Road Center and I was in the office with like four other women and that's where I got my start and uh moved into a suite on my own after three years and was able to move on my own and expand in that and so we moved to Dixie Highway um in and we have about an 1800 square foot facility. So we moved to Dixie Highway in last year 2024 and uh so we have four treatment rooms now and we have a tranquility room we have a stretch studio so really a nice facility that we can offer an overall wellness experience. Okay well good I'm sure people uh would want to come see your place so where are you located what's the address there it is the address is 3005 Dixie Highway suite 20 we're on the lower level and that's Edgewick Kentucky 41017 so we're right next to the the fifth third bank all right it's easy enough I'm sure people know right where you are just by that yeah um um tell us uh your um your website what's your URL uh the website is C oftranquility dot biz and so be careful with the eyes and the the q u I L Q U I L I T Y dot biz so sometimes yeah so just be you know it's a lot of eyes and C oftranquility dot biz. Yeah C of Tranquility dot biz. Yeah watch the eyes yeah watch the eyes and so if uh people just want to pick up the phone and call you what's your what's your business line it's 407 212 5814 okay so the 407 um I I assume that that's a number you've had for a long time yes I've had it consistently uh we've I moved here about in well 2014 uh my mom had a fall and I moved from Florida so I lived in Winter Park Florida and so when I moved here I transitioned my phone number and everything and so it's been the same and I went to change it and I was like oh goodness it was it's just one of those things like I don't want to change it because then I'm gonna lose people right yeah I don't blame you.
SPEAKER_01:I mean I know a lot of friends that have those you know they're in the same situation yeah for the for the reasons that you just mentioned yeah so I think more and more it's becoming common for people to understand that just because you see um you know uh an area code from outside of the area doesn't mean you're living outside the area right you're you're here local with us you're not down in Florida yes I'm not in Florida and you know what and I I people they they kind of know so I think it it distinguishes me so they know I'm not spam in most cases yeah yeah okay well I'm telling you what I mean the the we're almost at a half hour right now 25 minutes that conversation went quick okay so um yeah you've you've covered a lot of things in that time is there anything we haven't talked about that you want to make sure people know um how about you know we're coming up on the holidays here although people will be listening to this past the holidays do you typically run like um specials around the holiday or do you do uh you know gift um certificates or gift cards or special services for mom just for pampering at Mother's Day do you do things like that?
SPEAKER_03:Oh actually I do and we do have a special going on right now um basically if you buy one service and you get the second service like if you buy a 60 minute service right now you get the second service for$15 off. If you buy a 90 minute service you get the second service for$20 off and if you buy a two hour service you get the second service for$25 off. And uh then we have gift certificates on sale now and this is going on through uh to um Christmas Eve is uh if you buy increments of$2550 and$75 you get 10% off and then a 100 125 and$150 you get 20% off.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
unknown:So yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So we'll we'll get this thing posted um well before Christmas although it's creeping up on us I mean it's just it's right around the corner. I know next week right I know yeah I started paying attention to the calendar when all these Amazon packages started showing up at our front door right and I realized my wife was doing the Christmas shopping this year online.
SPEAKER_00:I don't blame her normally I'm thinking what are you doing you know all these packages but now I'm like thank god right because it makes it so much easier it really does okay well um we're wrapping up now then um okay it's been nice it's been nice meeting you you too learning about your business um I hope to see you at some point um in person yeah definitely be there at your spa yeah come on and see us please if not then we'll run into each other at a networking event of some sort okay um you know we're we're holding events every now and again over there um at the pub there in uh Crestview Hills Town Center okay so um if if we hold another one out there I'll make sure that you get a a personal invite to come over and meet other local business owners oh that would be that would be terrific I love that more friends more friends more friends I like that all right well okay well thank you so much I pretty I truly appreciate the opportunity to share I like and I enjoyed meeting you and talking to you and so and I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas season and yeah yeah merry Christmas to you and your family and um yeah again don't forget to um think of me when you take those beautiful panoramic photos of the mountain definitely yes because I love photography photography is my passion that's one of my passions so definitely we'll be taking some some photos perfect well thank you leslie it was a it was a pleasure speaking with you today you too um make sure uh anybody out there that uh needs to be pampered uh leslie's the woman to see and her daughter as well yes so yeah get out to to Sea of Tranquility Massage and Wellness LLC across from Dixie Heights high school yes next fifth third bank right so well that wraps up this uh latest episode of the Good Neighbor podcast um until we meet again everybody I'll say everyone out there be good to your neighbor so so long everyone and so long Leslie Shaw bye all right thank you thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Union to nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show go to gnpunion.com that's gnpunion.com or call it say 859 651 8330