“I very much enjoy the ‘upscale village feel of Fayetteville,’” the Camillus native said. “It reminds me of a hilly version of East Hampton or Sag Harbor.”
Renaud, who resides just a short walking distance from her job, works at Terra Organic Spa, 105 Spring St. She specializes in relaxation massage.
“Swedish – with quite a bit of energy work thrown into the mix,” she said, using Trager bodywork as an example. “That’s a gentle rocking that serves to disrupt the muscular holding patterns in the body by ‘overloading’ the system with tactile information. Basically, the mind doesn’t know where to put its attention, so will ‘reset’ or ‘reboot’ like a computer, and the body can return to what we call ‘homeostasis.’”
Renaud is also proficient with reflexology and pregnancy massage, and is looking to further her strengths by becoming certified in Ashiatsu therapy, a deep tissue barefoot massage while holding onto Oriental bars that are hung from the ceiling.
Renaud got her start as an amateur masseuse by coming to the aid of her younger brother John, a high school athlete with sports-related aches and pains, and by offering fellow theatre friends neck, back and shoulder rubs. She said she wasn’t serious about massage until the early 90s.
“I didn’t begin to consider massage as a career until one evening when my former husband, and, later, business partner, woke in the middle of the night with a back spasm,” Renaud said. “Using only a soothing voice and gentle, kneading strokes, I put him back to sleep. He woke the next morning 90 percent pain free and encouraged me to look into massage school.”
Upon graduation from the Florida School of Massage in Gainsville, Fla., Renaud and her former husband opened Hands-On Healing Therapeutic Massage in the Hotel Syracuse.
They “appeared” live on 93Q-FM and Y94-FM for massage-related events, and held college-sponsored workshops at both Syracuse University and Le Moyne College. When Renaud moved downstate, she was employed at world-class spas such as Naturopathica in East Hampton and Gurneys Inn and Spa in Montauk.
“One benefit of my massage career is simply having learned how to touch another being with compassion,” she said. “But the single most amazing benefit of a massage career has been seeing the physical, emotional and mental transformations that can occur in any of my clients. The difference in their bodies and demeanors between the beginning of the hour session and its conclusion can be dramatic and very affirming.
"When I leave the room at the completion of the massage and my client emerges with a smile and says how amazing she or he feels, I know this is the work I was born to do,” Renaud added.
In addition to being a licensed massage therapist, Renaud is also a certified yoga instructor at The Spring on Brooklea Drive in Fayetteville. She teaches 90-minute classes at 6 p.m. Wednesdays and at 9:30 a.m. Thursdays.
For massage or yoga home visits, Renaud can also be reached by calling or texting her at (631) 375-9277.
