Danielle Valicenti MT #9299 BCTMB 870704
Danielle (Dani) Valicenti has worked as a massage therapist for the past five years in Santa Fe, NM. She graduated from the 700 hour program at the former Santa Fe School of Massage in 2019 soon before it closed its doors. She lent her hands to the cherished community at Ten Thousand Waves Spa for the last three after starting out at Massage Envy. She will be working in Albuquerque as of November 2024. She recently earned the BCTMB credential, meaning she is certified by the National Certification Board for Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB) which is the highest standard for practicing massage therapists.
Dani comes to massage from a varied background and is happy to have found a career that is at once creative and helping to others. A large part of what originally led her to massage was a desire to find an outlet for sharing her compassionate nature. She has also held an interest and curiosity for learning about health and anatomy for as long as she can remember.
While attending the Santa Fe School of Massage Dani was fortunate to receive instruction from impassioned and skilled educators and therapists. The foundation of her personal working style was laid through a combination of the core bodywork courses “Nurturing Therapeutic Massage” and “Integrated Deep Tissue Body Work” as taught in the vein of Janet Travell’s neuromuscular therapy. In essence this means relaxing Swedish massage paired with myofascial and trigger point type work. Val Guin’s DVD Forearm Dance also heavily influenced her. However, Dani still connects with every client as an individual and her treatments are tailored to each person’s specific needs.
Dani approaches the body by considering the basic planar relationships of top/bottom, right/left, front/back as an initial way to assess tensional patterns in each client. She combines this analytical structure with a felt sense of the work; understanding that massage therapy must first originate from the heart and hands over the practitioner’s mind.
Her work has been described as “firm, yet gentle” “strong and sensitive” “powerful, yet kind and detailed” and it is this type of dynamism she hopes to offer her clients through massage. Her main intention is to aid her clients through pain management and relaxation. There are many who have fallen asleep under her care and later report back that it was the first time they have slept during a massage treatment.
She has experience working with clients who have conditions such as fibromyalgia, PTSD, high anxiety, scleroderma, lipedema, chronic fatigue syndrome, autoimmune disorders, or anyone who may have heightened sensitivities. She strives to meet her clients where they are on a day by day basis, seeing as this is something that can fluctuate.
Dani has lived in New Mexico since her family moved to Los Alamos when she was four years old. This is where her twin loves of nature and science grew. She has many interests and hobbies outside of work. Some of which include: making pottery when she finds a studio, knitting through the winter, making home fermented foods, reading, watching movies, riding bikes, going for walks, running and travelling.
“Listening is perhaps the most powerful tool of healing. It is often through the quality of our listening and not the wisdom of our words that we are able to affect the most profound changes in the people around us. When we listen, we offer with our attention an opportunity for wholeness. Our listening creates sanctuary for the homeless parts within the other person. That which has been denied, unloved, devalued by themselves and by others. That which is hidden. When you listen generously to people, they can hear the truth in themselves, often for the first time. And in the silence of listening, you can know yourself in everyone.”
—Rachel Naomi Remen