Scott Schumacher
Massage Therapist, Reiki Master Teacher, and Energy Bodyworker

“I never want to be a cookie-cutter student of life, nor a cookie-cutter healer.”

I remember well the time I said these words to one of my favorite teachers at the Minneapolis School of Massage and Bodywork. Back in 1999, the field of massage therapy was quickly changing. Many states began heading toward a “national certification model” of teaching massage. With very strict and prescriptive curricula, standardized learning, and very little if any room for elective coursework, I decided to graduate “early” with 242 hours within a Massage Practitioner program, and then find another complimentary path.

To supplement my massage training, in the year 2000 I studied aromatherapy, reflexology, bodywrap techniques, and took a 100-hour acupressure course at the Saint Croix Center for the Healing Arts. I also became a Reiki Master (and now a teacher!). In other self-designed coursework at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, I have studied Business Management, “Earth Ethics for Holistic Healers”, Zero Balancing, Nonviolent Communication, and Creativity and Holistic Health.

I believe that I am a better holistic practitioner, massage therapist, and healer today because I took control of my own learning at an early stage, and allowed my passions and curiosities to guide me. My style is in no way “cookie cutter” – as the ecclectic nature of my training and focus has allowed me to carve a unique breadth of knowledge and technique for bodywork.

I have 10 years of experience, and have worked as a massage therapist in Madison, WI; Minneapolis, MN; and now Duluth, MN. Arriving in Duluth became a turning point for me as I felt I was being “called by the very stones” that surrounded Lake Superior. Of all the teachers I have had in my life, Nature, herself, has been my most trusted, and the source of the most profound knowledge.

I’m a staunch believer in Bioregionalism, and Simple Living. I believe it is time not only to practice sustainability, but to “fall in love with the Earth” once again.

As a lifelong learner, I have also studied music and vocal performance (I’m a classically trained Tenor), sustainable living, permaculture, nonviolence, and unschooling (the belief that following one’s passions and curiosities is the truest path to learning and being).

I love learning from Nature. I love to touch trees. I love to hold rocks and stones, and now I use them in my Reiki healing sessions as “extra helpers” in bringing the Earth’s energy to the present.

I like to ferment foods, and make Kimchee, Kombucha, Saurkraut. The metaphoric power of “fermentation of our lives” appeals to me greatly. We can learn to co-exist with all that is damaging and toxic – then transmute and change it into something beneficial, positive, and radically healing.

I am licensed as a Massage Therapist by the City of Duluth, having completed a portfolio of 545 hours of massage and bodywork specific training and education. I am liability insured by Hands On Insurance.

I fully support the Minnesota Complimentary and Alternative Healthcare Freedom of Access Law, and am an activist-supporter of health freedom legislation in the United States.

I enjoy digital photography, singing, eating organic food, riding my bicycle as much as possible, taking public transit, and learning about ways to reduce my impact on the planet. I grew up in a home in Iowa that had big solar panels on the side of it.

My approach to holistic health and healing encompasses my values of sustainability, permaculture, cultural sensitivity, inclusion, and social justice. For more information, please read my Philosophy page.