Mitchell County resident Jessie Bomar is offering a unique, medication-free way to recover from injuries and relax.
Bomar is a licensed massage therapist and the owner of Ohana Massage, located at 51 Summit Avenue in Spruce Pine, near First Baptist Church.
Ohana, which opened its doors in February 2018, focuses on mind, spirit and body work. The business offers injury recovery through deep tissue massages and cupping— a process that involves the placement of suction cups on the skin that help regulate pain, decrease inflammation and stimulate blood flow.
In addition to injury recovery treatments, Ohana also offers traditional relaxation massages to promote peace and wellness.
Bomar said she typically puts her clients on a three-phase plan that begins with preparing the body to relax. Throughout the three phases, she also works with the client to establish treatment goals and reach a point where the goals can be met and maintained through regular treatments.
“I have a few clients who don’t even realize how stressed they are,” Bomar said. “We’re working through that.”
Bomar’s massage therapy goes far beyond just treating stress. She regularly treats clients who have sustained sports injuries, been in car accidents, have mental disabilities or have sustained other serious physical or mental trauma.
As such, no two days are the same for Bomar.
“It’s really a very wide variety,” she said about her clients. “I love that. I have a different experience every day.”
Bomar’s treatments are highly customizable because each client’s needs are different.
She knows firsthand the importance of developing an individualized treatment plan.
Bomar got introduced to massage and holistic approaches to medicine after sustaining an injury while working with horses.
Growing up in Sarasota, Florida, Bomar was a devout athlete and she gravitated mainly toward equestrian. Her work with horses took her out west to Las Vegas one summer.
While working with retired rodeo horses that summer, she had a painful accident that changed her life.
“This horse was a wild one,” she recalled. “I worked with him for a whole summer but there was a fluke accident. He threw me over a four-foot fence and I hit a telephone pole.”
Bomar didn’t immediately realize something was wrong, but it didn’t take long for the problems to set in.
“I immediately got back up and chased him,” she said. “But about two weeks later, I started feeling what felt like a knife in my back.”
Bomar started out by trying therapy through a chiropractor and then got a massage in the hopes of fixing the problem.
“I thought I just needed one massage to fix it,” Bomar said. “It was actually a very long injury history.”
Bomar started to get massages regularly and her pain began to decrease.
Much to her surprise, her mental health improved, too.
“I’ve had panic anxiety since I was about six years old,” Bomar said. “Massage therapy fixed a lot of things mentally and physically.”
Bomar said things have recently started to pick up for her business after a slow start.
Bomar came to Mitchell County about two years ago with her husband Stephen Bomar, who grew up in Mitchell County.
Initially, Bomar focused on getting the word out about her business by marketing at some golf tournaments and doing promos at the gym.
“At first, no one really knew what massage was,” Bomar said. “Slowly but surely, this has turned into a full-time thing. Now I have regulars and it’s been really rewarding.”