After a few months away from the podcast, Gretchen is back with a personal conversation about what’s been happening behind the scenes. Over the past three years, she’s sold her clinic, moved across the country, shifted deeper into online education and coaching, returned to hands-on work, and slowly realized that even though she had physically left her old practice behind, she was still carrying its identity with her. In this episode, Gretchen shares how Boulder Cupping Therapy was shaped not only by passion and opportunity, but by anxiety, financial survival, a need to prove herself, and a desire to be taken seriously without a traditional college degree. She explores the strange realization that after selling the clinic and moving to Virginia, she recreated almost the exact same treatment room inside her new home, while simultaneously teaching other bodyworkers how to question the identities and expectations shaping their own businesses. Now, as a completely different practice begins to take shape, she’s experimenting with what happens when cupping, herbalism, hot stones, pain relief work, coaching, nutrition, and nearly twenty years of experience are allowed to exist together instead of being forced into one specialized identity. This episode is ultimately an invitation to look at your own practice and ask: How much of what I’ve built is genuinely mine, and how much of it belongs to somebody else’s expectations? Gretchen also walks you through a simple reflection exercise to help you identify one part of your practice that may no longer fit, imagine what happens if you carry it for another twenty years, and explore what could become possible if you gave yourself permission to make one small change. ----more---- ✨ VISION MAPPING FOR A FULFILLING PRACTICE ✨ Join Gretchen live on Saturday, October 24 at 11 AM Eastern for this 2 CE Sustainable Bodyworker webinar. We’ll begin with a guided grounding and visualization practice to help you step outside your current business problems and connect with what you actually want your future practice and working life to feel like. From there, we’ll map your vision across client work, visibility, systems and support, and personal sustainability, then turn that bigger vision into clear 90-day priorities and practical next steps. You do not need to be a Sustainable Bodyworker member to attend. Live attendees will receive 2 continuing education hours and a CE certificate after class. ✨ Register here now for only $30 and 2 NCBTMB CE Credits! ----more---- CLICK HERE FOR A FREE BREAKTHROUGH EXPERIENCE WITH GRETCHEN ----more---- If you’re a massage therapist who wants your practice to feel sustainable again, the Sustainable Bodyworker Membership is where we go deeper. Inside you’ll find practical tools, honest conversations, purpose-driven continuing education, and support for building a practice that actually works for your body and your life. Whether you want to grow your private practice more sustainably, develop higher-level client programs, create online education to supplement your hands-on income, or build a massage team around a shared mission, this community is designed to help you grow without simply adding more work to your plate. Click here to learn more and join us for $27 for your first month. ----more---- Affiliate Links: We’re careful about what we share here. Everything in this section is something we personally use and come back to again and again, tools that support our own bodies, nervous systems, and day-to-day work. Bon Charge: Use code SUSTAINABLE for 15% off! Swanwick Glasses: Use code GRETCHENPOPP for 10% off! InHarmony Meditation Mats: Use code NEURO5 for 5% off! Global Cupping: Use code NEURO for 20% off your first order! ///////// We are so grateful for your support of the Sustainable Bodyworker Podcast and would love to hear how we can better support you! Click here to give us your feedback on the show. ///////// The ideas and techniques shared by our guests on the Sustainable Bodyworker Podcast are their own unique perspectives and don’t necessarily reflect those of Gretchen Popp or the Sustainable Bodyworker team or community as a whole. Click HERE for your FREE Mindset Shift Hypnotherapy Session with Gretchen!
