Meet Kjersti Vandesande of Haslett/Lansing

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kjersti Vandesande.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My journey started when I found yoga in college, like so many others. At the time I was studying Kinesiology and on my way to becoming a Licensed Physical Therapist Assistant. Something clicked, like a light inside my body turned on and I became very aware that everything I was learning about the human body was inside of me.
For the first five years of my career in PT I worked for a group of orthopedic surgeons in Brighton. Part of their benefits package was a healthy stipend towards continued education classes and I spent every penny and then some. I was sent to get certified in an Australian Osteopathic Bodywork, called Bowen, and various other hands-on-healing modalities, manual therapies and movement therapies: some of the most intriguing were Visceral Manipulation, and Mat Pilates. I also invested in Yoga Teacher Training (2014), AromaTouch technique, and Reiki Master training. My last PT job was for a local Lansing hospital where I volunteered to be part of the Breast Cancer/Lymphedema Rehabilitation team and took an extensive course in Manual Lymph Drainage and Complete Decongestive Therapy (2019).
While practicing and teaching at the yoga studio in Brighton I was also introduced to Peruvian Shamanism and Transpersonal Coaching. I met my mentor, Natalie (Naughty Shaman) and took all her classes on modern shamanism (2015-2017). The main program is called Dharma School and comprises of Fire Keeper (online), Earth Keeper (hybrid of online and in-person), and Star Keeper (also hybrid) courses. After completing Star Keeper students can take the Wisdom Keeper courses: Time Bending, Shadow Walker, Destiny Retrieval, and Advanced Extractions are some of my favorites and I have attended all of them several times. They offer a lot of depth and richness that have given me the tools to co-create the life I love and live today. I am very grateful to be a part of this community and am excited to be teaching the Fire Keeper course this winter!
A major transition in my life came when the Covid Pandemic shut down the PT department of the hospital I was working for in March 2020. I started gardening to fill my time. And I decided I did not want to go back to the health care field, not in the same capacity, at least. In August 2020 I signed up for Massage Therapy school and graduated May 2021. After working for several spas and chiropractic offices I realized I wanted to open my own practice. In June 2023, I launched True North Wellness Mi to share my skills as a Bodyworker, Yoga Teacher and Transpersonal Coach/Modern Shaman with the Lansing community. Still a glutton for continued education I took a modern Ashiatsu/Barefoot Massage class, and am currently studying SMRT (Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique) an osteopathic style of massage, and getting my certification to offer bodywork to balance the Vagus Nerve, and CranioSacral Therapy.
Overall, I would say I am passionate about the art and science of how the human body operates, heals, and how I can support myself, and others on their wellness journeys. It almost always comes back to the relationship we have with ourselves. I feel blessed to attest to the saying, “when the student is ready, the teacher appears.” I have been in the company of many knowledgable teachers and do not take the gifts I have uncovered and honed lightly. It is a tremendous honor to hold space for my family, friends, and patients as we walk through stages of life and navigate transitions together.
In closing I will say I can only do my own personal work to heal. I don’t heal others; only hold the space for them to connect with their own embodied wisdom- be it through bodywork, movement, or coaching- and realize they have the power to heal themselves.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
A smooth road, no. I got in my own way a lot. In my twenties I prided myself on being part of a reputable therapeutic field and was influenced by many who looked down on Massage Therapy, Yoga, and alternative/natural/holistic health. If it didn’t accept insurance it wasn’t considered on the same level of prestige and effectiveness. Not that insurance companies know squat about healing. I am hoping that changes in the future, and I also know what has helped me and so many others isn’t always covered by third party companies. It’s great when practitioners can bridge that gap, but it is also a lot of work to deal with companies whose heart isn’t in it for the “right reasons”. Having to justify services to an insurance company, repeatedly has driven many quality doctors, therapists, and alternative health personnel to find a way to not have to deal with the headache and still do what they love. I am fortunate to have a successful small business and loyal clientele who find value in the services I offer and often refer their friends and family to me as well.
Physically it is a lot to devote so much of my time to continued education, especially now that I am not at a job that pays me to go. I have to be financially responsible and set aside money from the days I do work to cover not only the cost of the classes I am taking but also to cover the time I will miss away from work while taking them. It’s doable, but not easy. It is also time spent away from my family, and that sacrifice can be tricky to navigate as well. Mostly I am grateful to have a support system at home that is always happy to have me back when I return.
Starting a business that solely relies on me to generate income has its own challenges. As much as I love networking, building, educating, and empowering my community, I also had to learn things that weren’t as fun for me, like filing taxes, using software to do the bookkeeping, and navigating the legal system of what I can and cannot offer or sell.
In Massage Therapy there is also the threat of what we call “creeps”. People, usually men, who are looking for a Massage Therapist who will perform illegal sexual acts under the guise of massage. This is why you won’t find me doing much advertising online. For many in my field it is a great way to be seen, and build clientele, unfortunately it also comes with the risk. Red flags include men looking to book same day/evening, asking if you can work on their groin, grooming with gifts, or gyrating on your table. I don’t speak much on it because I am not trying to manifest that reality, and am blessed to not have had to deal with it in my present day practice. Still it is something I have to be aware of and prepared to navigate.
There is also the struggle of finding a space conducive to offering massage. I prefer quiet, tranquil spaces with nature nearby, not always easy to find in the city. It also needs to be a location with handicap accessibility since a majority of my clients see me for Clinical Massage and Bodywork, and have varying levels of mobility and function.
For the most part I have been blessed to follow my soul’s calling and am surrounded by support in my community. The challenges generally lead to growth and for that I can reflect with gratitude on how far I have come.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Sometimes, I tell patients, your body is like a record, my hands are the needle and in our time together, I read the music your tissues want to tell me.
So much of what we carry, stressful situations, toxic beliefs and ways of being are held in the physical container of our body. Folks who don’t want to do the deep, soulful work, don’t usually come back. Which is ok with me, I know I am not for everybody. Plenty of people appreciate the space I hold, safe and sacred, to do the deeper work and be seen without judgement. Especially in a culture that has glorified the cognitive (logical) intelligence and neglected the afferent (emotional) intelligence and all but damned the conative (intuitive) intelligence. We are more than our thinking minds, we are also feeling, soulful beings and a safe space to explore all parts of who we are is what I offer. It’s more than just a massage.

Although with my background in Physical Therapy I developed a knack for helping people find relief from chronic pain, I also hold space for what caused that pain to manifest in the body. I am a detail oriented person, and studying body mechanics and ergonomics allows me to look at how people move and rest and advise them on what they can do to improve their quality of life. I will never forget when a detective came to me in PT with knee pain. He was weight-bearing heavily to the outsides of his feet. We worked on even weight-bearing and using proper body mechanics through the feet and lower legs. The next visit he came back and told me he has been implementing what we worked on and now his knee pain was gone. Another client was seeing me for shoulder pain, it was healing relatively well, and one day she said it wasn’t her shoulder, it was her low back that was causing the most pain. I taught her reverse abdominal breathing to balance the pressure differences in her trunk cavities and activate gentle core strength. She told me the next visit that her low back pain was gone. In my ten year long career at Physical Therapy facilities I saw thousands of people. I got real good at tracking where energy and matter were getting blocked or overactive in the body, and what patients could do to balance those tension patterns.

I have been a spiritual person since I was seven years old. That was when I had my first “spiritual awakening” and really began to pray and talk to God. I believe in a higher power, and the soul. Christianity was the first spiritual practice/language I was raised in and the message I received from it, was God is love (1 John 4:8). In Yoga I began to embody the spiritual work and be the lotus in the mud, as they say. Dharma School taught me the practices of the medicine wheel and how to listen for whispers of the soul. All these teachings helped shape the practitioner I am today.

One day my daughter brought home a sheet of paper covering the next section they were learning in science about energy and matter. I remember thinking, why isn’t this applied to all forms of science? Why has health science forgotten this? Energy and matter are inseparable, I remember that when I go into all my sessions with clients and do my best to meet them wherever they are at on their journey. Not everyone wants the energy work in their massage and bodywork sessions, or they don’t want to know about it. (One client told me “I let the bakers make the bread.”) Some people do. Either way, the sessions aren’t about me and I do my best to honor where people are at and empower my clients in their own ability to heal.

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
My favorite childhood memories almost aways revolve around being outside. My younger brother and I would pack a lunch and spend all day in the summers exploring the land around us. There was a small creek at the other side of the field and we would walk up and down it making up all sorts of games and adventures. Wild strawberries, red and black raspberries grew along the dirt road where we lived and, we would eat as many as we could find. Family vacations were camping at campgrounds all over our beautiful state, although my dad always insisted on going to ones near the Great Lakes. He didn’t like small ponds filled with little kids pee, he said. We lived in the thumb of Michigan and there were no nearby cities to lend high levels of light pollution, which meant I could see so many stars on a clear night. Those are my favorite memories, being close to nature, eating delicious food and feeling a sense of freedom and connection amongst the trees and stars that I never felt in the classroom as a child.

Pricing:

• 1 Hour Massage: $90
• 1 Hour Shamanic Healing: $125
• 45 Minute Yoga Class: $13 Drop-In
• Add-Ons Valued at $10-$18 are complimentary with all Massage & Bodywork sessions
• $10 discount for Seniors/Students/Military personnel

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mitruenorthwellness.com