Community Highlights: Meet LisaMarie Arreguin of LA Bodywork

As seen and featured in VoyageLA.

Today we’d like to introduce you to LisaMarie Arreguin.

LisaMarie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My Success & Credibility – I’m a fascial/ sports/medical manual therapist, movement specialist, and overall health coach. I own my private practice, LA Bodywork for 12 years now. But I have been in this career for 16 years.

I have certifications in Massage Therapy, NASM: CES, FMS, Stick Mobility, RFTL1 Coach, and Rock Tape in Kinesiology.

I’ve put my hands on over 25,000 bodies

I’m a retired ballroom dancer & triathlete and I feel that LIVING an ACTIVE LIFESTYLE has really helped me understand the human body & movement

Turning Point: Leaving my ballroom career & Real Estate Career & my husband passing away all in 2008… lead me to massage therapy. I had no idea doing bodywork was going to turn into something so meaningful. You start showing up for people and they start showing up for you.

I do this because I realize my clients became my gift. They healed me. They educated me. They believed in me. I believe you start healing when you heal others. I found compassion and curiosity in my clients, which is why I ended up with several certifications. The best education came from observing, listening and repetitive motion.

It didn’t always look this way: I started at $21 an hour working for The Massage Place for six years, I worked 6 days a week, 12-hour days, 10 hours of massage work.

But I knew I couldn’t do that forever. So I eventually went out on my own and after two years, hired my very first business coach. I rented space in a chiropractor’s office & physical therapy offices and This allowed me to get referrals. I continued to work hard & continued to invest in my clients and my education.

I started off charging $47 an hour and every two years, raised my rates. Today, I am grateful for two locations. I now see why the work was worth it and how it has built credibility. I also have other sources of income such as selling products and educating other practitioners.

I am Grateful For: I value my clients. They have helped me belong in my community by highly referring me. Today, I’m extremely grateful for My family, my friends, and my resources. I’m a trusting person in the industry. And everything I just told you is Why I am so passionate about what I do. And I want to help other Bodyworkers reach their success in their careers and maintain a full practice of clients as well.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I feel all entrepreneurs have our highs and lows but our highs is what makes it all worth it. Alot of times, I felt lost on the financial side of things. I was always willing to reinvest in myself and my business. I understood that it would benefit my clients and everyone else around me.

Initially, I wasn’t sure if I could pay my overhead. The very first room I rented was $500 a month. I had 5-10 clients a week. Clearly not enough. But eventually, I had more clients than I could handle. I had that space for seven years.

I eventually go into a nicer space. A Physical Therapist in the local area had been referring clients to me for years, she expanded and asked if I’d join her in her space. I’ve been there ever since. My overhead got larger of course. You make more money and you want a nicer car, a nicer place to live and no more roommates. Transitions are scary but if you have the desire for more, you eventually figure it out.

Covid was a huge setback for me, as it was for many others. But even after three months off, clients came back and I got even busier. I struggled with how much I was growing and I knew I needed to hire and train others.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Hi, I am LisaMarie Arreguin

I am a healer, an educator, a movement specialist, and an entrepreneur.

I own a company called LA Bodywork Massage and Recovery.

We are not your average massage facility. We want our clients to feel better about the way they move. Whether it’s an active lifestyle or being able to accomplish everyday tasks, such as picking up your children, reaching behind your car seat, picking up furniture, playing with your children, or just simply sitting down

We specialize in manual work, breathe work, fascial work and corrective exercises. Not only are we there for your body maintenance needs, we are here to help educate you, help you understand why your body is prone to injury, lacking mobility, flexibility, or strength.

We combine modalities like manual therapy, fascial, stretching, corrective exercises, and body maintenance tools. All of these modalities give you and the therapist feedback and a sense of awareness of where your body currently is.

We take every client through seven movement patterns that are meant to challenge everyone across the board. This is The Functional Movement Screening Process. Everyone and myself included. Based on these movement patterns, we learn what your body needs, what it’s prepared for, and what it’s not prepared for.

We protect your body from movement patterns that you are not quite ready for, however, we give you what you need to eventually accomplish those movement patterns comfortably. We’re here to make you feel hopeful about adopting the movement’s principles. Every session, the therapist is here to do manual work, healing, work, breath, work and movement work with every individual.

Our goal is to make sure you leave feeling better than you did before you walked in. That we build a relationship with you that keeps you coming back!

I am so proud of building this brand because we are more than just massage therapists! We are Professional Bodyworkers with a deeper understanding of physiology and anatomy.

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I have two offices now in LA County. Studio City has been good to me and LA Bodywork. I’ve been in this community for over 15 years. I loved that it catered to small businesses.

I feel the one way to separate yourself from the rest of the community is to be reliable. Show up to work. Be consistent. Many of our clientele base has been with us for over ten years.

I moved to Redondo Beach over a year ago and now I have a whole new set of eyes. And I love the coast! I’ll never move back to Studio City, however I don’t mind the commute. I’ll never leave my clients.

LA has enough business for everyone! I love the diversity of ethnicity and cultures. It keeps me alive to be excited about learning!

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