Come back to your body.
Moves with your breath
Brings you home to your body
What myofascial release is and why it matters
Your fascia is a living web of connective tissue that wraps every muscle fibre and bone, and it is richly supplied with sensory nerves. Research suggests it may be one of the body’s largest sensory organs. When we feel threatened, the whole body braces, the fascia around our muscles included. When we feel safe, it can soften and glide.
Science has not settled where the body holds its stories: in the brain, in the tissues, or somewhere wider that we do not yet have words for. I hold that question with curiosity. What I can do is meet your tissues with slow, skilled touch, and talk you through breath, active contractions and movement, so your body takes part in its own release.
You set the pace. You can say stop, slower or more, at any time. This is bodywork, not psychotherapy, and it can sit beside counselling or other care. If this sounds like you, you are welcome here.
Book your appointmentWho it’s for
Carry more than tension
An old accident, a hard chapter or a long stretch of stress that your body never quite let go of.
Feel braced or disconnected from your body
Slow, paced work that invites breath, presence and a little more safety.
Sense patterns older than your own story
You are welcome to explore what feels inherited, without needing to explain.
A bigger toolbox
Myofascial release
Sustained, skilled touch for tension and restricted movement.
Therapeutic and deep tissue massage
Individualized work for persistent tension and everyday strain.
Graston® and instrument-assisted therapy
Specialized instruments, used in selected cases.
Trigger point therapy
Focused work on sensitive muscular areas.
Craniosacral techniques
Gentle, attentive touch, when it suits you.
Dolphin Neurostim
Targeted microcurrent, as an adjunct, for selected muscular pain.
Vibroacoustic sound and vibration
Low-frequency vibration with sound, to help you rest.
Hot stones and therapeutic warmth
May be added when they help.
Five ways to return to ease
How it may feel
- Softening in places that have been braced and guarded
- Breath that travels further into your ribs and belly
- Feeling longer, more grounded and more embodied
- Less tension through your neck, shoulders, back and hips
- Fewer or less intense headaches
- A little more space between life’s demands and how your body responds
What to expect at your first visit
Before you arrive
Complete a short intake and health history online when you book.
We review and assess
A health history review and assessment come first, as BC requires of every RMT. I listen to your story and look at how you stand, breathe and move.
Your hands-on session
Slow, skilled touch, with breath, movement and your feedback setting the pace.
We plan together
We decide what feels right next, including whether three sessions would help.
Three sessions. A little more room for change.
Listen and begin
We talk, I assess, and we see how your body responds.
Build and adapt
We build on what we learned and adjust your treatment.
Reassess and plan
We review your progress and decide what comes next.
A light-filled space to reconnect
Tall ceilings. A wall of windows. A view over the Napier Greenway.
Welcome to Massage Oasis at B90 Yoga on Commercial Drive. My treatment room is bright and peaceful, inside a beautiful yoga studio upstairs from the much-loved Sweet Cherubim.
Whether this is your first massage or your hundredth, you are welcome. Come as you are. We begin there.
Vancouver appointments are limited, as I divide my time with Hornby Island.
Book your appointmentMeet Ali-Joy
I’m Ali-Joy Cross, a hands-on, kinaesthetic therapist who has always trusted touch and feel. I spent a decade studying the traditional bodywork of India, Japan and Thailand, then trained in the anatomy and science of massage therapy. I am a Registered Massage Therapist licensed with the CCHPBC, a regulated health profession in British Columbia. My training also includes Graston®, craniosacral work and clinical hypnotherapy.
I am fascinated by fascia: how it connects every part of us, and how it responds to breath, touch and movement. I come to this work with respect for the stories bodies carry, and with care for the pace each person needs.
I begin by listening: to your story, to your concerns, to what your tissues tell me as we work. I see treatment as a collaboration, and I want you to feel confident, welcome and cared for.
Your next step starts here.
Add yourself to my waitlist on my booking site, and I’ll do my best to open one for you.
Join my waitlistalijoyrmt.janeapp.comMassage Oasis at B90 Yoga
1109 Commercial Drive, Vancouver