Drew Warkentin, LMT
Licensed Massage Therapist

Who are you? Tell us a little about yourself.

I'm Andrew Warkentin, but everyone knows me as Drew. I entered this world on a fruit farm in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Growing up, my world revolved around hockey and roaming the expanse of our family farm. My teenage years took me to Muskoka, Ontario, where I took a leader in training program, became a camp counselor and later an assistant program director.

During my late teens and twenties, I resided in downtown Toronto, Ontario. Art College became my home. I thoroughly enjoyed the late '90s and early 2000s, a period that, to me, marked the culmination of an era laying the groundwork for the transformative shift brought about by the technological revolution. A shift that reshaped the way we communicate, access information, and engage in various aspects of our lives. During those years, I became an associate of the Ontario College of Art & Design by completing my formal education in Editorial Graphic Designer. I found myself immersed in a vibrant art and music scene, freelanced at Toronto Life Fashion Magazine and earned my keep at an art supply store. From my late twenties until last year, I dedicated myself to the progression of web standards based design, crafting solutions for diverse projects, including collaborations with the United Nations, Truthout and The Annie E. Casey Foundation. The experiences were too vast to enumerate, allowing me to travel and call many wonderful places home.

These days, Radnor, PA. is where I hang my hat, alongside my incredible wife, Michel (pronounced like 'Michelle'), our three girls, and our feline companion, "Adventure Cat". Outdoor distance running is my exercise of choice, though I'm into a multitude of activities and have a keen love of plants both inside and out and also travel, Iceland being a recent exploration. Amidst my active pursuits, a realization dawned – my body, despite its resilience, started protesting. Another way to say it is that my body was in pain and I was stressed. For a long time I masked the discomfort by self medicating and aimlessly rolling on a foam roller. This motivated me to get out of the office, away from the computer screen and gain a deeper understanding of the human body, discover where issues originate and why they occur in the first place.

Preserving an active lifestyle became the goal. "A runners gotta run" and rest and as I strive for continued activity and health in the journey of aging, I've come to understand that an educated insight into how our bodies function, especially the intricate balance of our muscles to maintain health, is key.

What modalities do you incorporate in a session?

Like most massage therapists, I was initially trained in the Swedish massage sequence as a foundation. So, that's certainly a part of my practice, but I also integrate elements of Lomi Lomi. I envision a session as having layers, mirroring the layers within our bodies. Superficial massage techniques should not be underestimated for their capacity to align our minds and bodies for healing and movement. Deeper work, including trigger point therapy, is applied where and when appropriate to facilitate muscle release, alleviating pain referral patterns that may lead to headaches and reduced range of motion (ROM). While I adhere to a general framework, each session and client present unique needs, and I use those as my guide. Consequently, no two sessions are identical.

What has life taught you?

We are a collection of everything we experience; the good, the bad, all of it, and we are always changing. We are all part of something bigger than the individual called humankind, and we need to work together to take care of each other and the world we call our home. It's not about competition; it's about collaboration and living harmoniously with each other and nature so we and the generations to come can live beyond the struggles that plague and limit us as a species.

Being born in the 1970s means I remember what life was like before technology overtook the conversation and what feels like our lives. And while I love technology, and what we can accomplish with it, I also feel it's important to preserve the past and relearn lessons we are collectively forgetting. Technology can make us lazy and waste the most valuable thing we all have, time. It's about quality controlling our existence and not forgetting where we came from and what we've been through to get here.
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Today, I bring a unique blend of creativity, empathy, and a profound understanding of anatomy to my clients as a Licensed Massage Therapist.

My life journey has made me a person creating and living with purpose. My commitment to self-care and desire to make a positive impact on the lives of my loved ones and the clients I serve.

"I wanna live, breathe, I want to be part of the human race." – Radiohead