Hello everyone I'm Jessica Smith the founder of Ideal Balance, here is some general information about myself, I was born in Northern California and started my massage therapy career when I was 19 years old. I was trained primarily through Healing Arts Institute in Northern California and gained so much knowledge and skills from the school and their many talented instructors. I went through continuing education programs regularly and still continue to pursue training to benefit my clients and practice to best of my abilities. Currently I am training in the Ankrum Institute and also Teacher Assisting with the program as I finish out my last year in the Advanced Body workers program. I moved to Tulsa Oklahoma in September of 2010 and have been here ever since. I truly enjoy Tulsa and enjoy being involved with the great community that is here. My reasons for pursuing bodywork as my career is simply that massage saved me. I had a traumatic kick to the head by a cow when I was 10 years old which affected my neck and left me with whiplash, arthritis, and bone degeneration. These combinations of issues lead to my teenage years being ones of pain and a constant struggle both physically and emotionally. After many doctors gave up treating me a nurse sent me to a neck specialist who used an MRI to discover the bone degeneration in my neck and she declared that there was nothing at this time they could do for me and that I should pursue massage and acupuncture for relief until I am 30 then return for surgery to replace my degenerating vertebrae. After receiving massage from a very talented lady named Dorothy my neck pain lessened enough to be able to use my arms freely and get through my days without medication. I even got to the point where I went to France and England for 18 days as a student ambassador. I was then 17 years old, after this experience my view of massage from being a relaxing art to being a therapeutic science emerged. I signed up and started my massage training on my 19th birthday and have been providing body since. I feel truly blessed in my choice of bodywork as my career I get up everyday excited to go to work and to help others on their healing journey. Body to me is about understanding the body and its many layers, knowing how to bring balance to the body so it can best heal and stay in balance for longer. That is why I do customized work and don't charge extra for therapeutic addons that can make a big difference in how the body responds to the work. I want to provide the type of bodywork I would wish to receive with the client being the top priority and to help long term relief that keeps making progress towards their health goals.  I feel everyone deserves a bodywork session that helps to established their own unique balance that is ideal for them.