About The Practitioner

Karen Paavola BSN, RN, CMT
Professional Massage Academy.  St Cloud, MN

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I believe massage is a combination of skill, craft, and attention to detail.  Each massage given is unique to the person receiving the massage.  I pride myself in having the skills to assess my client's needs and addressing those needs using a variety of mediums (lotions, oils etc) for optimal result.  My goal is to improve the way you feel when you leave my space thus improving you quality of life.

I wanted to be a massage therapist many years ago before massage therapy was recognized for its health benefits.  It was an interesting time because St. Cloud had an abundant of schools producing massage therapist the market became saturated. I was advised by a massage therapist working in the field, finding employment was exceedingly difficult for graduating massage students, so I detoured an became a nurse.  Working as a nurse, I found though I was often told to give back massages to clients and patients at bedtime it remained an unlearned skill.  Before Covid, I decided I was going to try to pursue my masters in nursing with an emphasis in massage therapy, only to find this was not possible.  Still wanting to massage, I decided to get my certificate in massage and the rest is history!!!

I am happily married and living my best life.  I have 3 boys- all young adults who are amazing.  When I am not working you can usually find me close to home.  I have a small dog we adopted from the Humane Society.  She is small but thinks she is big and mighty (aren't all small dogs like that?).