Welcome to Jubilation Massage Therapy, a petite sanctuary offering therapeutic body work in the heart of downtown Columbia since October of 2023. My name is Lindsey Walker, the owner and operator of Jubilation. Although I became a licensed massage therapist in Houston, Texas in 2017, I am so pleased to be back in my hometown with the knowledge and training I have acquired, offering a uniquely nurturing experience to the individuals who come to me. I grew up here spending countless days exploring downtown and its various fascinations (I have especially fond memories of Ragtag, Peace Nook, The Blue Note and The Twilight Festival), so to be a part of the landscape with my own business is still surreal.
You may notice the cheerful aesthetic of Jubilation Massage Therapy and wonder why? I want my space to be cheerful, vibrant and warm. Jubilant, if you will.
When I envisioned the business I wanted to create, I had many influences. I wanted to incorporate the professional strengths I had developed from my years providing customer service at LUSH Handmade Cosmetics, the training I had acquired from a number of seasoned instructors and my work in the spa industry, a vibrant aesthetic, and an authentic expression of connection, care and integrity. My goal is to continually curate a space that promotes connectedness, healing, honest communication, empathy, artistry and joy. I want to encourage those I work with to give voice to their physical and emotional experiences and foster curiosity and compassion for their “body consorts” (a phrase borrowed from a magnificent author Clarissa Pinkola Estes). I love to see how people develop when given the space and care that makes embodiment and presence inviting.
LUSH Handmade Cosmetics was where I began my educational journeys into touch therapy, aromatherapy, herbalism and ethical business models. LUSH is a privately owned company which originated in the United Kingdom best known for mastering perfumery, inventing the bath bomb (and an array of glorious body care items) and its multiple ethical campaigns around the world concerning social justice, climate justice, human rights and animal rights. I deeply enjoyed working for this company which was something I had never experienced before, primarily because employees were treated with dignity, recognition and generosity in ways that were unfamiliar and because I was able to authentically trust the products and brand I was representing. I gained a lot of confidence at LUSH, establishing trust for my abilities to anticipate the needs of those around me as well as my ability to offer touch as an effective tool for demonstrating the anticipation of those needs. I also sustained an enduring association between sensorial enjoyment and realizing our deepest values and visions for the world we share.
Having gained the confidence and motivation to expand on the same strengths that made me successful at LUSH, I enrolled in massage school in 2016. I am forever grateful to the instructors who taught me, especially Ms Shirley, my primary massage and business/ethics instructor. She impressed upon me the importance of nurturance and care in addition to the effective Swedish and Deep Tissue techniques she taught. My other instructors specializing in medical and sports modalities were also excellent, but I continually found myself incorporating the flow I cultivated while learning from Ms Shirley, eventually blending what I learned from each modality into a personal style emphasizing relaxation even through medical or sports techniques. I found myself naturally drawn to the dry-room hydrotherapy course, having expounded upon the benefits of hydrotherapy during countless demonstrations of bath bombs and bubble bars in a previous life, and I now implement dry-room hydrotherapy techniques in every session I provide. In the years following licensure, I would work for established private spas in Houston and enhance my training and certifications, including Hot Stone Massage, Cupping, Bamboo Rolling, Perinatal Massage, Scar Tissue Reduction, Wet-Room Hydrotherapy (Vichy Shower), Red Light Therapy, Herbalism and Aromatherapy.
When it came time to choose a name that could embody my vision and fortify my dedication to the daunting endeavor of launching my own business, I decided to name it after my best kitty friend Jubilee. She was the most consistent and beloved part of my life for 15 years. When I was only 21 and feeling rather grown up, I adopted an orange kitten born into the elements off of Texas Avenue here in Columbia. That sweet girl would expand my heart and be my companion through my move to the state of Texas and be there with me through every joy and heartbreak. During every aforementioned lesson learned, Jubilee was there with me along the way. She returned to Columbia with me in 2020 and we started fresh, albeit older and wiser. We had a few more precious years together but in June of 2023 Jubilee fell ill and would pass away without much time to prepare my heart or mind. I was devastated and not ready to let her go. Jubilee had become synonymous with “love” and “home” for me. That little guy was a monument in my life; honoring her by naming my business after her and dedicating myself to the values and tenderness she helped me cultivate in myself seemed incredibly fitting. You can see inspirations from her adorning my room, from the bright orange chair to the rainbows (a symbol of beauty, joy, and ephemerality). She is very much in my heart and the expressions of what matters most to me. Columbia gave me Jubilee, and in return I offer Jubilation Massage Therapy.
When I am not offering my services I am making art, enjoying the company of my beautiful partner Bea, our kitties, my dear friends and family. I am deeply interested in healing justice, social justice, creative expression and humor. I spend much of my time endeavoring to incorporate personal growth into my daily life while also maintaining an unhealthy volition for consuming definitively terrible reality T.V. shows.