Hidden Gems: Meet Jill Fuleky of Jamhands Bodywork

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jill Fuleky.

Hi Jill, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My story begins at birth.

I give my parents credit for getting me started on my massage therapy career.

Between a stone mason/Vietnam veteran and an x-ray tech – they got me… someone who is strong and fierce, fascinated with life and experiences, and loves being active.

Because my dad was in Vietnam, as a marine sniper, my family wore the weight of the war. PTSD runs through our blood in my veins. My father is my hero. My father never got physical with any of us, ever. In fact, he’d do anything for his family. But he has lots of emotional trauma that have never learned to release. So, when he got mad, watch the fuck out he didn’t need to hit you- his anger was scary enough.

I remember one family fight (I am the youngest of 3 siblings; my brother is 7 years older, and my sister is 11 years older than I am.) My parents would fight about money when my sister went to college, and these fights were scary. I believe I was 5 or 6 when I was witnessing a fight between my parents and my dad picked up a dresser from my parent’s room, he was so angry. I thought he was going to hit my mom. But he didn’t. I remember after he calmed down, I started massaging his back- and realized, my dad just needed love. Moving forward, my high school sweetheart, who was incredibly abusive, and 3 years older than me, would demand I give him back massages, every night. Or he’d fight with me. We ended up getting pregnant and getting an abortion- and fuck am I grateful for that.

Because I can’t imagine what my life would have been like tied to him that way the rest of mine.

Moving forward, I fell in love with a sailor when I was 18. I hadn’t even graduated high school because I was traumatized by my ‘high school sweetheart’/ drugs. U name it I did it- never an addict- just curious- I ran away w this sailor- to upstate New York- bartended there. Moved to Jacksonville Fl, and worked at hooters while my x was assigned to nuclear submarines where I couldn’t contact him for 3 months at a time. It was hell. We were in love- but as a 21-year-old bartender at hooters, the weight of war in Afghanistan weighed on me, and the fear of the unknown of the job of a nuclear submarine got to me too. My perfect relationship fell apart, and I think my ego wanted it to work out more than anything. So, I tried to force it to work. We got home one night and my x fiancé beat the shit out of me- gave me black eyes/ broke my nose. There wasn’t enough stage makeup to cover up the damage. I was hospitalized. I was depressed. Alone. Living in Florida. This was in 2009.

My dear friend, Brennan Andes, a local rocker about to have a baby, called me and I told him everything. Afraid to admit defeat to anyone else. He told me to come home and be with friends. I got fired from hooters for flashing my hooters and went back to Michigan for a visit. Brennan was my stable force through this crazy unknown for me. He just had a baby and his band, The Macpodz was playing in a music festival called Rothbury- now electric forest. He suggested I come, not even having a ticket, and I did and it changed my life. I helped them promote their shows/ hang posters on port-a-potty doors/ hand out future show promos/ started dance parties/ ate LSD/ had the time of my life… all with the freedom of an artist wristband. I met and was backstage hanging with all these famous rockers—- I couldn’t believe that happened to me. I promised myself I needed to change- and I wanted to change. I don’t know what. But right now, being my best friend’s band merch manager worked.

I moved back to Michigan and worked for Brennan’s bands/ and nannied babies- and worked for multiple Michigan bands/ helping promote/ put on events/ manage their merchandise. It’s been great. I love my place in the music scene… being hyper-aware of energy, I was fascinated by what musicians did to their bodies on stage- holding different instruments for hours- I became so fascinated with helping and massaging them. People didn’t call me a slut on the road- they questioned my ethics. I decided to go study Thai massage in Thailand, but had a month off from touring with bands- and I freaked out because I didn’t have much money. I dragged my ego into the roadhouse applied for a server position- and was only planning on working for Zingermans for 3 weeks or so until I left for Thailand. I fell in love with Zingermans and Ari and how they run their biz. My mind was blown that as a server if I paid attention, I could learn to run my own biz.

So that’s what I did. I continued working for bands/ serving at the roadhouse/ going to massage school. I graduated top of my class and was asked to be a teaching assistant at the massage school- which was the top 3 massage school in the country. I studied under Jocelyn Granger and David van Eak, as well as Jen Giacomelli for Thai massage. I was all of their tasses. I taught at the Ann arbor institute/ ran my own massage biz/ served at the roadhouse/ worked for bands. Ari always got a kick out of the aspect that I was an African dancer too. After a year of the massage thing, it showed me how hard this career was on my body. But I love it! I love touching humans in a safe and helpful way. I just needed my own movement therapy. I found ashtanga yoga and my yoga teacher Matthew darling. Ashtanga yoga was my first experience with real meditation, and I had been to Buddhist temples for meditation retreats in Thailand.

Ashtanga yoga, Ari, Matthew, and Brennan all helped me find my soul- my jill. Not the scars of my life that I thought were jill. The serving shifts started dropping. And I just became this yogi/ massage therapist/ band merch/energy worker. I ended up being authorized to teach ashtanga yoga (level 2) in India by my guru. I have made it back to India 4 times to study ashtanga yoga with him. My husband is Indian, and although I wish we had a sweet story as we met on meditation on the banks of the Ganga; the truth is we met on tinder. And I’m proud of that. He is from Shimla India, in the Himalayas.

We have 2 girls – Zinnia Grace and Azalea Juliet. And 2 dogs- Frodo and Peach.

Life is crazy. Awesome. And good!

We just got to work on ourselves!

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Jamhands Bodywork?
Pain management/ postural distortion bodywork. thai massage. Energy work.

I’m in the biz of helping you feel good.

I’m also an authorized level 2 ashtanga yoga teacher. (Only a few hundred teachers in the world are authorized to teach yoga in India only by Guru Sharath Jois).

I also help manage band merchandise.

I am looking into making ‘an energy manager’ biz- to help struggling businesses.

Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
The yoga sutras of Patanjali. The Bhagavad gita.

Pricing:

• 1-hour table massage $95
• 90 min table massage is $125
• 90 mins Thai massage $150
• 2 hr thai massage $175

Contact Info:

• Website: Jamhandsbodywork.com
• Instagram: @Jamhandsbodywork
• Facebook: Jamhandsbodywork

Image Credits
Mark Gebert and Drew Goddard