FXBG Neighbors Podcast
Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast
FXBG Neighbors Podcast
EP #148 Trauma-Informed Bodywork For Chronic Pain
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Chronic pain has a way of shrinking your world, especially when you feel like no one is really listening. We’re joined by Stefani Sellers, founder of Sage: Healing and Guidance, a Fredericksburg, VA healing practice built for people who feel unseen, misunderstood, or simply worn out from trying to explain what’s going on in their bodies. Her first principle is disarmingly simple and surprisingly rare: we listen to everything you’re experiencing and we don’t interrupt. From there, the work becomes personal, specific, and responsive to what you need that day.
We talk about who she serves best, including people navigating chronic pain and chronic conditions like Lyme disease, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, fibromyalgia, and chronic migraines. Stefani shares how she built a flexible “toolbox” that can include massage therapy, energy work, and crystal healing, and why a tailored approach matters when symptoms fluctuate. If you’ve ever been bounced from provider to provider, you’ll recognize the relief in her focus on care that’s both skilled and human.
We also dig into the big misconceptions that keep people stuck, like the idea that massage and self-care are luxuries instead of real wellness. Stefani explains how small warning signs can turn into bigger issues when we keep pushing through, and why blaming everything on “getting older” can miss the role of daily habits. For anyone building a business, she offers one of the most practical tips we’ve heard: when in doubt, hire out, so the tasks that drain you don’t derail what you do best.
You’ll also hear a quick slice of Fredericksburg life, including Stefani’s favorite local stop, Agora Downtown Coffee, and how she creates a safe, non-judgmental space for clients. If you want to connect, she shares where to find Sage Healing and Guidance online and details about an upcoming workshop on Eventbrite (June 12 at 6 p.m.). Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs it, and leave a review to help more listeners discover local Fredericksburg wellness and small business stories.
Stefani Sellers
Sage: Healing and Guidance
Welcome To Fredericksburg Neighbors
SpeakerThis is the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Dori Stewart.
Speaker 1Welcome back to another episode of the FXBG Neighbors Podcast, where we share the stories of our favorite local brands. I have a special guest joining me today. We've got Stefani Sellers with Sage: Healing and Guidance. Stefani, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2Thank you so much for having me.
What Sage: Healing And Guidance Does
Speaker 1Well, I'm excited for this interview. I want to learn more about you and your business. So let's start there. What is Sage: Healing and Guidance?
Who Benefits Most From This Work
Speaker 2Well, Sage: Healing and Guidance is a healing practice in a nutshell. So it's a space for the unseen, the misunderstood, and the beautifully complex. So that's a roundabout way of saying if you are experiencing chronic pain, if you have complex or chronic conditions, we want to see you and we'd love to help in a very caring and open way. Our primary thing is that we listen to everything that is going on with you and we don't interrupt. So that's probably the primary. We do massage therapy, we do energy work, we do crystal healing, like a whole bunch of stuff. And every session is tailored to you and not just to you, but to you at the specific time of your appointment. So it adjusts every time. So that way you're getting the best quality of care for you at that time.
Speaker 1Amazing. I absolutely love what you're doing. Who would you say is your ideal client?
Speaker 2So my ideal client is the person who hasn't felt heard in a long time, who is experiencing some kind of issue. Wow, whether it is chronic pain or you have a chronic condition like Lyme, Ellers Danlos, fibromyalgia, uh, chronic migraines, all those conditions are things that I specifically love to work with, and my business also loves to work with.
Speaker 1Amazing. Those are often conditions that have uh doctors bouncing you around from one to the other trying to figure out what's going on. So I love that you say that the first thing you do is listen.
Speaker 2Yeah.
How Stefani Found Her Calling
Speaker 1Yeah. I love that. So important. So I want to learn more about you. Tell me about your background and how did you get into this?
Speaker 2Yeah. So I started working hands-on with people, not professionally, but just, you know, I have uh a very big heart, which I think if you get to know me, you'll you'll find that out. Um, I didn't like seeing others in pain, whether that was emotional pain or physical pain. It first manifested itself as more the physical pain. So I would like walk on my grandpa's back to make him feel better. I would massage my friends or uh their parents at like summer parties. I'd work on my the rest of my family as well. So just wanting to alleviate that that pain because I was like, well, you don't have to be in pain. This is something we can work on. Um and I went like through education, higher education, a master's degree, and then I was like, this isn't what I'm supposed to be doing. Um so right after my master's, actually, I enrolled in massage school. Uh and I haven't looked back since because I had that knowing like this is where I'm supposed to be. This is it. Uh and yeah, since then I've just catapulted myself through all forms of healing that I could get my hands on. Um, and that's why I have this really big essentially toolbox that I can use and I am able to shift from one thing to the other depending on what somebody needs at a specific time. And I I find it to be a very beautiful way to help people because it's not just like, oh well, I only do this one thing.
Speaker 1So yeah, it's so valuable what you do. And I imagine you just fly out of bed in the morning because you get so much out of what you do, and you're truly changing lives. And so congratulations on finding that, even though it it didn't, you know, you didn't find it in the most traditional way, but but congratulations on finding really what you're what you're meant to do and meant to help other people.
Speaker 2Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, I kind of levitate out of a bad mind.
Massage Is Health Not A Luxury
Speaker 1I love it. Do you find that there are any myths or misconceptions about what you do?
Speaker 2Yes, there are a lot. Um so I'd say some of the most common are like that massage or taking care of yourself are like a treat or a luxury. Um a lot of people have been giving the metaphor like you put your like face mask on before you help somebody else, like as in an airplane. You put your oxygen mask on first before you help others. But in our day-to-day lives, a lot of people don't do that because they think, no, no, I I can keep going, I can still do a little bit more, I can still do a little bit more. It's like, yes, you can, but then all of a sudden you're gonna wake up and you're in excruciating pain, or you just can't move, or you have some kind of muscle cramp, right? So you really need to take care of yourself, and it's not a treat, it's not a luxury, it's actual wellness, it's actual health. Um, because if you don't do that, that's when people are like, oh, you know, I'm just getting older. No, it's it's not about age. Uh it's sometimes it's about acute pain, uh, like you might have fallen, but a lot of times it's the habitual actions that we do in our day-to-day lives that cause issues down the line. And it's not about you know, getting older or anything like that. So I think those are yeah, a few of the misconceptions.
Speaker 1And as I think women, especially and mothers too, it's you know, so easy to put your family and everyone else above your needs. And so I'm I imagine that's a difficult message to get out, you know. Uh, don't ignore the signs. This and even the smallest sign is you know is gonna lead to something much bigger. So I imagine that's maybe a little bit frustrating on your end to see it happening. It's like, come see me before it gets too big, you know?
Speaker 2Yeah. Well, it's like I also don't want to like impose myself on people because like I could see somebody walking down the street and like, uh, you know, I could help with that. I could help you. That's so funny. Which like, you know, I know people wouldn't necessarily respond favorably to it a lot of the time, but some people might be like, oh yes, great. Um yeah.
Starting A Business Without Burning Out
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah. So this has been, I imagine, a lot of work for you building up this business because you know, there's the the skills side and the passion, and then there's also the business side, which you know doesn't always uh fill our passion. So what advice would you give someone who is thinking about starting their own business?
Speaker 2Well, first, congratulations and you can do it. Um but then when in doubt, hire out. Uh, which is something that a mentor of mine told me. So, like uh because the business side of um being an entrepreneur isn't always what lights us up, right? Uh it's actually like working in the business, not on the business. So for the the working on the business portions, like marketing or uh bookkeeping, right?
Speaker 1So much fun.
Speaker 2Yeah. Uh just hire out to somebody whose passion it is, because there are people who are passionate about like bookkeeping or for marketing, you know, things like that. So don't let it drain your energy. Just hire somebody you know, like, and trust whose passion it is to do the things that you don't enjoy doing, and it'll make everything a lot smoother.
Life Outside Work And Local Favorites
Speaker 1Yeah, great advice. So when you're not working hard in and on your business, what are you doing for fun?
Speaker 2That's a great question. Uh spending time with usually I'm spending time with family um because they just you know fill my cup, uh, family and friends, actually, both. Uh so a lot of times I grab coffee with friends uh or we we grab a meal, so eating out. Um I also garden. I do a lot of things for fun. Um yeah.
Speaker 1Nice, nice. What are some of your or maybe even just one of your favorite spots in the Fredericksburg area?
Speaker 2I love Agora uh coffee. I think it's Agora Downtown Coffee. I don't want to get it wrong. Um, but they always have like the the most friendly staff. Um, everybody's so welcoming. They're like, I welcome in. Oh, thank you. Um, they'll put little designs on your your coffee or your hot chocolate. And they have something for everybody, which I like because I have a lot of dietary, um, I don't want to say restrictions, but things I shouldn't eat because otherwise it'll lead to my chronic pain returning. So I like that they are more accessible for everybody.
Speaker 1I'm glad that you mentioned them. They're such a they're such a gem in our community. I love that.
Speaker 2I do too.
Speaker 1So, what is something that you wish the listeners knew about Sage: Healing and Guidance?
Speaker 2Something I wish they knew. That I'm a safe space, that my business is a safe space. So no matter what you have coming in, like if you feel comfortable enough to share it, it's gonna stay in that space. Uh and very much non-judgmental because everybody has their stuff. So it's just about you know, what would you like to achieve and how do we get there?
Speaker 1Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that. That's so important.
unknownYeah.
Speaker 1So if the listeners want to work with you, if they want to learn more from you, where can they find you?
Speaker 2Uh sagehealing guidance.com, which should be in the links. Um uh I'm also on Instagram, um, so at Sage Healing and Guidance. And then I'm actually going to be having a workshop coming up online. It's on Eventbrite uh June 12th at 6 p.m.
Speaker 1So attend if you'd like. Amazing, amazing. Well, Stefani, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today and sharing stage with us.
Speaker 2Yeah, thank you so much for having me. It was great.
Closing And Nominate A Business
SpeakerThank you. Thank you for listening to the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to FXBj Neighbors Podcast.com.