Our Foundation

We acknowledge the harm and violence perpetrated by the beauty and wellness industries in which we participate. We are committed to decolonizing our practices, reimagining beauty standards, and actively confronting racism, ageism, and ableism.

We recognize the complex tension between the human desire to feel beautiful and our existence within patriarchal systems that commodify and weaponize beauty. We are forever reconciling and questioning these contradictions in our work.

We treat all clients and prospective clients with dignity and respect. We affirm wholeheartedly that each client is the ultimate authority on their own body and experience. We champion body diversity and welcome clients of all ages, genders, sexualities, beliefs, abilities, nationalities, and ethnicities.

Vena Cava operates on the traditional, stolen lands of the Indigenous peoples of the Lower Columbia, including the Cowlitz, Clackamas, Atfalati, and the Confederate Tribes of the Grand Ronde.

Teacher acknowledgments from the founder

I am deeply grateful to the teachers, mentors, and practitioners who have shaped my understanding and practice, in no particular order: Rose Minasian, Heather Wade Mills, Signy Erickson, Eric Moya, Suzanne Scurlock-Durana, Alex Susbauer, Jonathan Primack, Renee Stenbjorn, Marlene Howell, Dr. Ethan Johnson, Evan Healy, Dr. Tiina Meder, Dr. Pedro Catalá, Athena Hewitt, Cecily Braden, and Kristin Shaw.

My work with flower essences builds upon the foundational research of Dr. Edward Bach, Patricia Kaminski, Richard Katz, and Julian Barnard. I am especially grateful to my flower essences teacher, Ruth Toledo Altschuler, for her guidance and wisdom.

As a white practitioner working with modalities rooted in Classical Chinese Medicine, I acknowledge the profound privilege of studying and practicing traditions that I was not born into. I am deeply grateful to my gua sha and cupping teachers, Kellie Chambers, L.Ac. and Amber Wodtli, LMT for sharing their knowledge with respect and integrity.

Above all, I am grateful to my past, present, and future clients. You teach me daily and allow me the honor of doing work I love deeply.

—Jessi