VortexnergyFlow Massage and Bodywork

phone convo with my mom as i drove to an appointment with chris:
MOM: what do you have planned for today?
ME: big plans — i’m getting a massage and eating ice cream.
MOM: ambitious.
ME: i ran 10 miles yesterday. it’s a wonder i am even sitting upright.
MOM: [laughing.] ok, you get a pass. go get your kinks worked out.
ME: um… poor choice of words, mom. we don’t use that kind of talk b/​c people invariably make the «happy ending» joke.
MOM: [howling] oh! right! sorry. but, seriously, i hope you get a good massage. how’d you find the person anyway? isn’t it weird /​hard for a massage therapist to be the one on the table?
ME: it can be. but chris is a teacher at the school, so i already know his work. and he’s GOOD. i’ve gone to him for sessions before.
MOM: ah. makes sense. so you’ll get me an appointment with him when i come to visit?
ME: yes, mom…
it’s true:
1 — is *is* hard to get on the table and receive a massage /​find a practitioner you like when you are also a massage therapist. (i am.)
2 — full disclosure — chris is an instructor in the massage programl i attended, so i already knew him in another capacity [and was therefore confident in his abilities/​getting on his table].
after i graduated from the massage program, i was anxious to try out a bunch of the teachers from the school now that i could be a client and not a student. chris was the first one i went to, and is the one i see most /​continue to see now. i love his work, and his space is nice too.*
the studio is convenient — just a couple blocks from the tenlytown metro stop (red line) on wisconsin — and quiet, in an old mixed-​use building with other offices, wellness studios, a consignment shop, etc. chris is warm and welcoming, with a wonderful presence and even better hands. he does an intake to find out how you use your body on a regular basis, any past/​present issues you may have (scars, injuries, conditions, etc), and what your needs/​wants for the session are before starting. then, the magic happens.
tennis elbow? runners knee? low back pain? tight hamstrings/​glutes/​calves? carpal tunnel syndrome? crick in your neck? achy shoulders/​upper back? you name it, chris can get to it. let me tell you — while training for a ½ marathon i hobbled into the vortexnergy flow studio on more than one occasion, wondering if i’d ever walk upright and like a normal person again… but after an hour on chris’ table, that’s exactly what i did! he does a lot of sports massage so i tend to refer my runner /​active /​athletic friends for same, but he also does swedish massage and chair /​seated massage.
go see him for yourself; you won’t be disappointed. that’s coming from another massage therapist. and if that’s not enough, i’ll offer this extra tidbit: my mother is the absolute MOST pickiest person i know on planet earth– in general, but even more specifically, about massage. i — her child and a licensed massage therapist — am nervous to work on her! but as per our convo from the beginning of this review, i will send her to chris without reservation, when she comes to visit. he’s that good.
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*i believe he’s moving to a new location soon, but it’s still in DC and i’m sure his website and the Unilocal listing will be updated accordingly.